Tuesday, September 4, 2007
"Time for Change"
EDITORIAL
Louisville Courier-Journal
The time has come for fundamental change in the American health care system. A recent Census Bureau estimate that the number of uninsured Americans has risen to 47 million, coupled with clear and expanding evidence that the quality of care received by Americans is often badly flawed, argues for a new approach. When both access and quality are lagging, the public will demand something better.
It simply isn't true, as the likes of George W. Bush and Rudy Giuliani glibly claim, that this country has "the best health care system in the world" or the "best medical care in the world."
Making the Kentucky pitch in the AFL-CIO's national drive for universal coverage, state president Bill Londrigan said that "in America, no one should go without health care." He's right, and most folks agree.
About the same time, Gov. Ernie Fletcher was releasing his 10-point health care agenda for the 2008 General Assembly session, which was not, as suggested by a spokesman for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Beshear, so premature as to constitute using the governor's office for campaign purposes. The Governor laid out a specific plan. Good for him. The voters know where he's headed.
In a recent radio debate, Gov. Fletcher claimed Kentucky has made progress by revamping Medicare and helping small businesses obtain health insurance. Mr. Beshear said he would expand a children's health program and Medicaid to cover uninsured kids, and promised state help in plugging the coverage gap in the Medicare prescription drug program.
Sadly, neither supports something as simple and effective as raising the state cigarette tax by, say, 30 cents a pack, to reduce smoking and raise money for health services and smoking prevention. As Mike Kuntz from the American Lung Association of Kentucky observed, "That's sad."
Of course, real progress can only come at the national level. Any comprehensive fix for the health care system will have to be designed by Congress and approved by the president. That's why the AFL-CIO initiative is so timely.
Conservative scare tactics, like the recent National Review headline warning about "socialized medicine," won't work this time.
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