Latinos and the healthcare reform act

Behind The Healthcare Reform Act
Part 2 of 3
The Latino Journal E-News, August 17, 2009

The America's Affordable Health Choices Act is a 1017 page proposed legislation that is requiring Legislators to attend workshops so they can learn what it does. The Act would not provide immediate resolutions to healthcare becuase it will not be implemented until 2013. As mentioned last week, we are looking at the pros and cons of this legislation. The following are the cons, from a Latino perspective:

Provisions of the Healthcare Act:
1. Coverage and Choice
The Act says it will protect current coverage and allow individuals to keep the insurance they have if they like it - and preserves choice of doctors, hospitals, and health plans. Unfortunately this won't be possible. As employers find it either more difficult to compete for healthcare insurance or are unable to afford it, Americans will be shifted to a government-runned healthcare program where a medical board will decide overall patient coverage and outcomes based on age and value to society, like in England. In addition, the Latino population takes care of its elderly through Medicare. Through this portion of the Act, Medicare for seniors would be cut forcing them to look for services outside the system.

2. Affordability
It will cap annual out-of-pocket spending, create competition among healthcare insurance providers, expands Medicaid, and improves Medicare. It will actually put insurance companies out of business, creating only one competitor, the government. It will expand Medicaid, but cut back on Medicare Advantage for seniors. The Office of Management and Budget has predicted that the cost of this Act will reach over $1 trillion, a cost that will be forwarded to future generations. Additionally, it will prohibit the purchase of medications or seek medical care outside the U.S., again eliminating competition. Finally, the lack of healthcare providers will also drive the costs up.

3. Shared Responsibility
The bill creates shared responsibility among individuals, employers and government to ensure that all Americans have affordable coverage of essential health benefits. This is based on the economy recovering and predicting business growth by its implementatio year of 2013. In actuality, it will be small business owners that will pay for this program as they are forced to purchase healthcare for their employees or face fines. Small business owners will not have an option, creating tough decision if they should hire another person, or let go of one to pay for coverage, the fines, or both. Small businesses are the country's largest employers.

4. Prevention and Wellness
This includes a focus on community based program and new data collection to better identify and address racial, ethnic, regional and other health disparities and funds to strengthen state, local, tribal and territorial public health departments and programs. This means organizations like NCLR, ACORN, AARP, etc., and others with strong political presence will receive funding to get folks educated on wellness, instead of using that funding (hundreds of millions) to improve healthcare access, like helping struggling small businesses pay for their employee's healthcare.

5. Workforce Investments
It will expand health care workforce and expand scholarships and loans for individuals in needed professions and shortage areas. Of all the medical school graduates, only 6,500 seek to work in general healthcare areas because of the long work hours and low salaries, creating an expanding void each year. There is no provision to address the void, like using foreign physicians. In addition, the Act discusses providing college scholarships, but the problem is getting Latinos students to finish high school.

6. Controlling Costs
The bill will reduce the growth in health care spending as it is implemented. This is a misrepresentation of the basics of supply and demand. In actuality, the costs will continue to grow as competition is minimized and demand increases, including employers shifting from independent healthcare to government-runned healthcare.

The Latino Journal E-News will be providing pro comments from a Latino perspective regarding the components within the provisions of the Act next week. If you want to chime in, please write to us and let us know your position on this hot topic. You can email your comments to: latinojournal@gmail.com.