Senator Begich’s Comments on Health Care Reform a the Dena’ina Center

Someone (I think it was his wife) once described Senator Begich as a wonker: someone who gets very engrossed in the details of a subject. That may not be the technical definition, but it works for me. That was the first time I had heard that term used. Being something of a wonker myself, I appreciate this trait in both my President and Senator Begich, especially when it helps to dispel the myths surrounding health care reform. In true form, Alaska's junior Senator passed out several informational flyers to attendees before his speech Monday at the Dena’ina Center. I thought I would share a couple of them.

The first flyer outlines the Senators case for health insurance reform and includes specific figures related to the cost of current and future health care in Alaska. It is of no small significance that the title of the flyers is "Time for Action: The Case For Health Insurance Reform" as opposed to simply "Health Care Reform". The latter cannot happen without the former.

These numbers speak volumes, and I need not add further comment save to say that figures similar to these have been posted and discussed (civilly when possible) in town hall and Chamber of Commerce meeting throughout the United States.

The second flyer lists the benefits to be had with Health Insurance Reform. How much more clearly can a Senator state their case?

All over the country people have come forward to testify to the widespread prevalence of the practices of health insurers listed in this flyer. With these examples in mind, one can sit down and review their insurance policies, and perhaps identify potential problems with coverage. Many of us have actually dealt with some or all of the problems listed in this flyer at some point in our lives. Mr. Begich's figures seem to indicate that, in Alaska at least, this is the case.
I have heard the argument stating Americans are already protected by provisions in Title XXVII (Requirements Relating to Health Insurance Coverage) of the Public Health Service Act (TXXVII PHSA). However, the evidence of both personal experience and testimonials from thousands of people across the United States seems to conflict with that argument.
For instance, in the matter of discrimination of pre-existing conditions, TXXVII, PHSA states only that an insurer offering group coverage cannot deny an individual within that group a policy because of a pre-existing condition. It does not, however, prevent that insurance company from denying coverage for a pre-existing condition within that policy.
On the matter of gender discrimination, yesterday, Randy Rhodes had a quest on her show, a former CEO with Cigna Health Insurance, who spoke of the practice of health insurers whereby they required companies to disclose how many of their employees were female, then adjusted the premiums up or down based on those numbers. As of today, I have not been able to locate a provision in the PHSA that prohibits gender discrimination as it occurs in the above example. If it does exist, it has not been properly enforced. Either way, the problem needs to be addressed in some version Health Care reform.
Senator Begich addressed an assemblage that included some of the top business leaders in Alaska. His point was clear that Health Insurance Reform would directly benefit small businesses in Alaska. Medical practices comprise a portion of those small businesses. Here is a link to a document released by the America Medical Association regarding benefits of reform to medical practitioners:
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama1/p...
I apologize if the images may be to small to read. They can be read if they are printed. I believe that copies of these flyers can be obtained on Senator Begich's website.
http://begich.senate.gov/public/
Although the end of the Congressional recess is drawing closer, there is still ample time to contact Representative Dong Young, http://donyoung.house.gov/, and Senator Lisa Murkowski, http://murkowski.senate.gov/pu... and learn more about their views on Health Care reform. Although the outcome of their decisions may already have been decided, we should not count them out. Mr. Young did not win by a landslide, and we may still be able to capitalize on those numbers. Senator Murkowski also may be vulnerable to poor result at the polls in the next election. For your vote to count at the polls, you must exercise your first amendments rights today, and we need to be clear when we say, "Reform Health Care now or we will find Congressfolk who will!"