Clearly, West Virginia firms have millstones around their necks, dragging them down financially. They have trouble competing against foreign producers who needn’t provide employee insurance because their nations have universal care for everyone. Clearly, America’s out-of-control health costs must be curtailed.
West Virginia’s insane medical escalation was outlined by Kate Long in her series analyzing what the historic health reform in Congress will mean for this state.
If congressional Democrats resolve differences between House and Senate plans, then pass the final makeover for President Obama’s signature, it will be a U.S. landmark as great as creation of Social Security in the 1930s and passage of Medicare in the 1960s. America is on the brink of another humane advance, despite militant Republican resistance.
It’s shameful that the United States currently is the only major democracy without universal coverage. It’s shameful that 47 million ‘‘working poor’’ Americans are left unprotected, forced to seek charity care. It’s shameful that the GOP is fighting to thwart any help for those 47 million.
Long’s series listed these improvements the reform will bring:
At least 177,000 uninsured West Virginians would gain coverage. They no longer would need to beg free care in hospital emergency rooms, which must dump such cost onto other patients. (Mountain State Blue Cross Blue Shield estimates that $1,000 of each client’s annual premium pays medical bills of uninsured people.)
Commercial insurers would be forced to spend 80 percent to 85 percent of premium dollars on actual care, instead of shareholder profits and CEO salaries. They couldn’t revoke coverage of people who get sick, or refuse to pay for pre-existing conditions.
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