Time to implement health-care reform finally

IN a Jan. 30 editorial, "A yardstick of goals to size up health reform," this editorial page professed, "Real reform is difficult because it requires fundamental change in one-seventh of the U.S. economy. It will prove even more formidable as the health industry grows. The system is in trouble now, and it won't cure itself by delay."

The year was 1994.

But Sunday, in the editorial "President Obama, Congress should set health-care reform aside," delay is exactly what this page recommends.

What's changed in 16 years?

Health care now makes up one-sixth of our gross domestic product. Premiums have more than doubled and are rising five times faster than wages. Medicare will go bankrupt by 2017. About 14,000 Americans lose coverage daily, including nearly 400 Washington state residents. And 51 million have no coverage at all.

That's no recipe for delay. It's a call to action.

Action is exactly what's happening in the U.S. Senate.

As this editorial page declared "the timing is all wrong," the Senate cleared a major hurdle that puts us on track to pass health-insurance-reform legislation by Christmas.

As this page called on Congress to forget health reform and instead help small businesses, it was hard to forget the largest private insurer in our state recently hiked rates by an average of 17 percent, with some small businesses reporting increases of up to 40 percent.

And as this page rightfully bemoaned the federal deficit, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office declared that the Senate bill will reduce the deficit by $132 billion.

I have received more than 10,000 letters and e-mails from Washington residents sharing their health-care stories.

Many people I hear from have health insurance and like their doctors, but find it harder to get the treatment they need because insurance companies won't approve it. Or their premiums are getting so high they don't know if they can keep paying. Or they have been dropped by their carrier because they got sick or had a pre-existing condition.

These rising costs are hitting families and small businesses hard.

I've also watched day after day as Republicans have made outrageous claims, delayed votes and turned a serious debate into a sideshow. That doesn't mean the timing of reform is wrong, it means it's time for leadership.

The Senate bill lowers the cost of care and puts personal choices back in the hands of patients and their doctors.

We create an exchange where people can shop for coverage that meets their needs and, for the first time, force insurance companies to compete for the business of the American people.

We end discrimination based on pre-existing conditions and make it illegal to drop people when they get sick.

We give tax credits to small businesses and help the self-employed afford care.

We make preventive services free, end lifetime coverage limits and cap out-of-pocket fees.

We extend the life of Medicare without cutting guaranteed benefits. And we shrink the "doughnut-hole" gap in drug coverage for seniors.

After months of negotiations to build support in the face of united opposition, this bill may not do absolutely everything either I or this editorial page had hoped. But it's a much-needed step forward.

With our economy hurting and Washington state families worried about keeping their jobs or making a mortgage payment, the last stress they need is to worry about the cost of getting sick, being dropped from their plan, or opening the mail to see yet another premium increase.

The system is in trouble now, and it won't cure itself by delay.