Give Montanans a Healthy Choice
Posted on April 10th, 2009 by Molly Moody, NWFCO in From Our Partners
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Rural Americans, such as those that make up 65% of Montana's population, are being hit hardest by America's health care crisis.
We are far more likely to pay higher out-of-pocket medical costs and incur greater expenses for emergency room care, and we are 70% more likely to be underinsured, according to a research paper published in Health Affairs entitled "Out of Pocket Health Spending and the Rural Underserved." As Lil Anderson, Jim Paquette, and Nicholas Wolter - all Montanan health care providers - explained in the Billings Gazette last week, one in five Montanas is uninsured, rising health care costs are squeezing even families that have health insurance, and Montana's small businesses and by extension, our families, are suffering:
We all have a stake in fixing the health care system, and the fix is one vital step toward reviving the U.S. economy. As the economy falters, businesses - especially small businesses - are struggling under the weight of rising health costs. Many businesses are forced to choose between providing health coverage or eliminating jobs. And families are forced to spend more of their incomes on health care. We need to get the economy back on track and develop a health care system that protects human dignity while delivering high-quality, affordable care to everyone.
Montanans are suffering in a large part because there is no meaningful competition in our state's health care market. According to the American Medical Association [pdf], one insurer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Montana, controls 75% of the market. With competition like that, no wonder prices are soaring even faster here than in other regions of the country!
While I realize something needs to be done about the cost and availability of health care in this country I also know that a socialist approach to ANY problem, including health care, will not work in this country and will only harm our freedoms and rights in the long run. History is our best teacher, and history is rife with examples of nations and empires that failed because they adopted an entitlement mentallity. One has only to look at the finances of three key career paths in our nation to see the true problem; 1:education- 2:government- and 3:healthcare. If you were to examine the wages, benifits and lifestyles of people with careers in any of these fields you would find that compared to the average working class person they do much much better. Now, I don't begrudge anyone a good life, but I rightfully am skeptical of anyone with a financial stake in something so big that will affect so many and be paid for by ME! Those in these fields under the changes universal coverage advocates are asking for and implementing would in essence have even more job security and financial gain and it would always be at the expense of everyone not in those fields as it already is. The biggest difference between what we now have and what they plan is that we will in reality have no choice, no say at all in what we will be forced to pay in the end as it will be law and policy instead of individual choice and the marketplace setting the tone and prices. Furthermore, things like this tend to start out fairly benevolent and degrade into some monstruous master plan for everyones lives, in ways those with good intentions or complete ignorance supporting them never intended.