Surely enough when an economic crisis hits, the first to feel the impact will be the ones losing their jobs and their health insurance. As this group grows, because bad situations can only get worse before they get better, reform will eventually require everyone’s participation. Economic crises create a domino effect of people losing jobs and healthcare until changes are made. Private insurance companies, doctors, and pharmaceutical companies that have resisted reform will have to give in to compete with the financial crisis. Prices will have to be lowered so people can afford the product/service, and the services will have to be altered so they appeal to the users among competitors. Changes will have to be made even if they are not the changes we hope for. As far as not letting a good crisis go to waste; how many more crisis will the U.S. have to undergo, and how much more ruthless must a crisis become before everyone realizes that universal health care reform is necessary?

The future of Health Care

I think we need to stop questioning why Obama hasn't implemented a universal healthcare plan, and instead question whether or not his proposed stimulus package is going to work. 

Sound economic theory is apolitical! If Obama's stimulus package is successful, then with economic recovery, there will be more jobs, and more health care coverage. Basically, we need to meet in the middle instead of pushing one side's agenda. I also think it's important to try and change the entire infrastructure before we do anything else first. 

This economic crisis is not just felt by people losing their jobs and their health insurance. In reality, this economic crisis affects EVERYONE. Therefore, they all need to participate in the reform.

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“Of all the forms of inequality, injustice in healthcare is the most shocking and inhumane.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The Country As A Whole Against The Select Few

Perhaps the true reason why insurance companies, drug companies, and for-profit agencies will not contribute to health care reform is for the exact same reason mentioned above in this cartoon. NO SURPRISE!!!!

Interesting Cartoon

Whenever there is an opportunity for major change or reform, there is also the tendency of resistance to change; especially from stakeholders in big companies. With critical time like now, I think the major hurdle for universal health care reform will be very big like this cartoon has depicted.

Cartoon I found funny

It's the Economy Stupid!

First, as layoffs at respected companies like Caterpillar, Pfizer, Home Depot, and Sprint Nextel continue to mount, there will obviously be higher unemployment rates. With increasing unemployment and with the economy not getting better anytime soon, more people will be unable to afford health care. This will affect the bottom-line for private insurance companies. These insurance companies will obviously fire their own employees to cut costs but if the unemployment rate surpasses 10% and more people stop paying their premiums to health insurance companies, how much more can insurance companies do to stay afloat?

Second, if Americans start managing their money so tightly that they cut down on their doctor visits and opt not to get certain drugs... the physicians and pharmaceutical companies will definitely take a financial hit.

Therefore, insurance companies, physicians, and pharmaceutical companies will be under pressure to make changes. The fact that health insurance in the U.S. is going up many times more than inflation and continue to go up, is not sustainable particularly in this economic climate. In the next four years, I do not see President Obama and state governments pushing for some sort of universal health insurance in this economy because their main focus will NOT be on having universal health care... but instead the focus will be on fixing the economy. However, just as Social Security came out of the Great Depression, just maybe this economic recession will produce major health reform.

Quote

I just want to quote an alternative viewpoint on healthcare reform, pointed out by Victor Fuchs in his fabulous book on health economics, Who Shall Live? Health, Economics, and Social Choice, which you can get on Amazon for something like 10 bucks:

"According to many observers, the US health care system is in "crisis." But a crisis is a turning point, a decisive or crucial point in time. In medicine the crisis is that point in the course of the disease at which the patient is on the verge of either recovering or dying. No such decisive resolution is evident with respect to the problems of health and medical care. Our "sick medical system," to use the headline of numerous magazine and newspaper editorials, is neither about to recover nor to pass away. Instead, the basic problems persist and are likely to persist for some time to come."

Then later:

"There are only two ways to achieve systematic universal coverage: a broad-based general tax with implicit subsidies for the poor and the sick, or a system of mandates with explicit subsidies based on income. I prefer the former because the latter are extremely expensive to administer and seriously distort incentives; they result in the near-poor facing marginal tax rates that would be regarded as confiscatory if levied on the affluent."

Just a thought.

This week's blog....

...is optional. Lack of participation will not count against you, but I strongly encourage you to post, add pictures, comment, and look at what others do say! In addition, take a look at the New York Times article link posted on the side regarding health care reform.