Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Why the Obama Health Care Plan is Important

The Obama health care plan, whether you believe in all of it's tenets or not, is one that at least gets us pointed in a direction. Putting it another way, the cost of inaction will drive us even further into a country that cares more about political lobbying than the real needs of our people. It's important to really understand what Mr. Obama's health care plan is about in order to make a fair judgment one way or the other.

I'm a small business owner without the comforts of a big company medical plan. Fortunately for me, my wife IS employed by a large company and we DO have decent, not great health care. But, what if neither of us had this luxury? I was with two of the largest technology companies in the world, Oracle and HP, but was eventually laid off some years back, like so many other unfortunate individuals.

The Obama health care plan is trying to fix some serious flaws in it's system. I recently visited a terminally ill college friend of mine. He was initially denied even a visit to the hospital. He finally got approval and was diagnosed as having only a few weeks left to live. His family then lobbied to have insurance over his cost of home care to live out his short life in dignity and quality. Now, it has been proven over and over again that home care for the terminally ill saves money and provides for a much better quality of life than a hospital stay. Why deny someone this option?

We all recognize that employers are struggling during these tough economic times. And, costs of hospitalizations and the like have increased over 100%, but consider the options for no health care reform. It will continue to be pushed out to the next generation and then the next. The answer then would be to burden our children and our children's children. Is this the legacy we want to leave behind?

The Obama health care plan really is about a few key tenets. Probably the most important component to me is that of preventative health care. This hot button is debated amongst so many people. On the one hand, the bloated medical systems want to care for you only after you come down with an illness. Wouldn't it make more sense to prevent the illness in the first place? Things such as quality screening to make sure you are exercising regularly, eating properly, etc. Wouldn't you rather stay well, rather than go to the hospital when you're sick?

Another key component of the health care plan is around the use of technology. The US is one of the few developed countries that really are a leader in this area. How is it possible that we cannot figure out how to fix our antiquated medical reporting system? Transportable medical records would reduce errors, increase efficiency and save all of us money! Why can't the doctor that I saw for my dislocated shoulder 10 years ago be able to easily share that information to my new doctor who's treating me for arthritis? An efficient sharing and collaborating of medical records would allow for a better health experience for the patient.

Finally, competition in insurance coverage is a serious flaw in our system today. The Obama health care plan is target to correct this problem. Why should a few insurance companies make the bulk of the money? If there is little to no competition, there's no way to know whether you are getting insurance at competitive rates and whether the quality of care is at its highest.

The real answer to the debate on the Obama health care plan, though, is the cost of INACTION. We all know that the health care system is severely broken. Let's make a step forward, instead of lobbying to take two steps backward.

David Chan is a small business owner who cares deeply about health care issues insurance. Having once worked for two of the largest global technology companies in the world, he has personal experiences with the US health care problems we face. David Chan's latest blog on the Obama health care plan discusses the key components of the plan and why they are important to all of us.

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