Opinion - Our View

POSTED: Saturday, Aug. 29, 2009

Health care reform is absolutely necessary

The American health care system is broken and needs an overhaul.

Too many people still don't have insurance coverage, meaning too many people either don't get health care or, when illness and catastrophic events happen, they receive medical attention they cannot pay for. That cost is always borne by hospitals and doctors, who must pass on the costs to people who do have coverage.

In some communities, including ours, many citizens find it difficult to find doctors. That's especially true for elderly Whatcom County residents as doctors try to avoid having too much of their business reliant on federal medical systems that don't reimburse them at fair rates.

Meanwhile, the cost of coverage has been spiraling out of control for more than a decade. Spending on health care will make up an estimated 15 to 17 percent of our country's entire gross domestic product this year, according to some estimates.

Our nation has some of the best-quality care in the world and access to an amazing array of the newest technologies to fight disease and illness and to mend broken bodies. But we pay for such availability every day, through health-care premiums that take up more and more of our paychecks.

We also agree with chamber of commerce officials and most other small business people that the current system places an undue burden on businesses - particularly the small businesses that are the backbone of the Whatcom County economy. We have seen first hand how much health care costs have forced a switching of the burden onto employees.

Our board has consistently called for changes to the system. We are not interested in the politics of the day - who is president and who is leading the charge for change. We called for changes under former president George W. Bush and will continue to do so under President Obama. American's health-care system is simply too expensive for so many of our citizens not to have access.

It's sad then, that so many people are showing up at health care forums and demanding nothing change. Our community will be home to a forum tomorrow, as state Rep. Doug Ericksen, R-Ferndale, hosts a town hall meeting from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. at St. Luke's Community Health Education Center, 3333 Squalicum Parkway.

We urge citizens to attend and hear what ideas Rep. Ericksen shares and to share their own thoughts. We also urge calm discussion. Too many of these meetings across the country have turned into screaming matches.

We find it troubling that citizens on both sides of the issue have resorted to anger and interruption. What can be learned by such outbursts? How does yelling at an elected official or your fellow citizens help deal with the inadequacies in the health care system?

As a board, we remain open to any and all ideas - except the idea of leaving things the way they are today. The system must be changed and runaway costs must be controlled. We hope in the current debate some real solutions come to the forefront.