Ezekiel Emmanuel, Rham's brother, Ezekiel is an oncologist and chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health. With his brother in a prominent spot will hopefully have an inroad to the president. He wrote a great article in the Huffington Post regarding health care reform:
Ezekiel Emanuel
Posted October 21, 2008 | 03:27 PM (EST)
More Reform is Cheaper: The Paradox of Health Care Reform
The American health care system is filled with paradoxes. The United States is #1 in the world for per person health care expenditures, and yet is not #1 -- and often near the bottom of developed countries -- for almost all major health outcomes. In the case of heart disease, researchers at Dartmouth have shown that more tests and treatments do not lead to better outcomes, but actually worse outcomes. This paradox of more care being worse arises because having more doctors treat each patient leads to more tests -- and higher costs -- but fragmented care.
Health care reform is filled with similar paradoxes. One of the most important, is that incremental changes produce higher price tags, while more comprehensive reforms actually generate lower costs. When it comes to health care reform, more is actually cheaper.
Sen. McCain's reform proposal is incremental. It does not aim at fully achieving any of the major goals of health care reform -- universal coverage, cost control or improving health care quality. It focuses on changing the health insurance market. Currently, people pay no income or payroll tax for their employer-based health insurance. McCain would tax this benefit but instead give families $5000 tax credit and individuals a $2500 tax credit to buy health insurance. His proposal would also allow interstate sales of insurance, circumventing most state regulation of health insurance.
The cost of McCain's proposal is substantial. While there is some controversy, a recent non-partisan assessment has McCain's plan providing 21 million Americans health coverage -- fewer than half the uninsured -- at a cost of over $200 billion per year.
Sen. Obama's reform is more comprehensive. It retains the employer-based health insurance system, Medicare, and Medicaid while mandating that children be covered and that large employers insure their workers or pay a penalty. It subsidies poor individuals so they can buy health insurance as well as gives a 50% tax credit to small businesses that provide their workers with health insurance. To reduce costs it creates a national insurance exchange where the government as well as private health plans compete to offer a standard health benefits package.
According to recent estimates, Obama's plan will insure 26 to 34 million more Americans -- lowering the uninsured to about 5-7% of the population. And the cost will be lower than the McCain plan at $120 billion per year.
The biggest surprise is that even more comprehensive reform, not only achieves universal -- true 100% -- coverage of all Americans but does so while controlling costs. Prof. Victor R. Fuchs and I have proposed Guaranteed Health care Access Plan. It phases out employer-based insurance, Medicaid, and Medicare. Instead each American would receive a voucher to buy a standard benefits package modeled on the federal employee health benefits plan through regional insurance exchanges in which private health plans would compete. Workers would receive a pay increase from their employers who no longer pay for health care; state taxes decline because states no longer have to devote 32% of their budgets to health care. The plan is financed by a value-added tax.
There's more to the article here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/zeke-emanuel/more-reform-is-cheaper-th_b_136609.htmlThis is the biggest reason I support the choice of Rham Emmanuel. He is very close with his brother and he also agrees with health care reform.
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