Public option isn't socialism
As a nurse for thirty-eight years, I know that Americans are worried rightly about being dropped by insurance companies after getting sick, paying costly deductibles, or reaching lifetime caps on coverage. Some formerly middle class families are now bankrupt due to medical costs. In some neighborhoods, cocaine is more readily available as self-medication for depression than are mental health services.
Health risks exist for the general public when some people cannot get affordable treatment for illnesses. Public health risks result from untreated communicable diseases, such as H1N1 and resistant strain tuberculosis, or events like substance-abuse-related motor vehicle accidents and random violence perpetrated by persons with undiagnosed psychiatric disease. If an employee flipping burgers at the local restaurant should develop symptoms of a disease like hepatitis A, most of us want to know that the person will be able to seek a medical diagnosis readily.
The failure to emphasize effective preventive approaches has contributed to higher costs for US citizens compared to other countries. The U.S. medical community has not improved tracking of common medical errors, resulting in higher financial costs and years of potential human life lost. Yet, proponents of malpractice tort reform have not insisted on new legal requirements for improved reporting of medical errors.
Access to health services for all is essential for U.S. public health. Americans must fear any continuing drain on our nation's economy from an unchanged, broken health system. As with our national defense, the role of the federal government in health care, such as a public insurance option, is not socialism. Rather, a competitive public option in health reform legislation would assure social justice of equitable access to health coverage for every U.S. citizen.
Susan J. Misner MS, RN
Glen Ellyn