Health Care Again

(Really, there's nothing else in the news.)



Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said that the Senate will take the first vote on the 848 billion dollar health care package on Saturday. This measure may extend health insurance to 31 million more americans and cut costs by a projected 130 billion dollars over the next few decades. This Senate bill differs from the alternative bill in the House of Representatives (There's more than one. Huh.) in that, while the House version will require all sizable companies to offer afordable health care, the Senate bill will merely fine companies that do not offer reasonable rates.

Yay, public option: Every citizen is entitled to thier Health, proponents say. Good health care coverage is correlary to good health. If someone gets sick, they deserve the right to not have to go into debt for treatment. Heath Care is currently privatized, with independant companies dolling out the insurance and making great profits on the extra costs they add overhead. WIth a government-funded public option, Health care can be guarenteed to almost everyone while, through competition, keeping private health care costs reasonable.

No public option: There is an ingrained fear of large, controlling governments. Should we grant the Government a monopoly on health insurance? Shouldn't the individual be responsible for his or her own actions? But the bigger reason is that there is no insurance that the measure will be effective. Participation, costs. Sure, it might be nice to give everyone health care, but the costs have to come from somewhere. If everyone already has private insurance, the public option may only atract 3-4 million people, forcing such costs higher to raise revenue.