Several weeks ago I was sitting in the emergency room at Penn State Hershey Medical Center because my youngest was feeling a bit under the weather for comfort. The wait in an emergency room is never a short one unless the emergency is dire, so I found myself between sifting through my phone and looking around. I happened to notice a sign that I was familiar with but happened to give me pause. It was a notice from the hospital indicating that even if you are unable to pay, the hospital will treat you. That is the law.
That law is the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor act which was signed into law by Republican superstar Ronald Reagan in 1986. Part of the legislation required hospitals to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. Prior to this, there were numerous incidents of people with serious medical conditions being turned away, including women going into labor who saw the hospital lobby become a makeshift delivery room.
Because healthcare in this country is delivered through private hospitals this law forced these private institutions into taken on the financial burden of those not able to pay for treatment. This seems to run against conservative beliefs about the role of government in telling private businesses what to do. Not only was it signed by Reagan but was also passed through a Republican controlled Senate and a Democratic House of Representatives. In this moment the two most prominent sides of our political divide came together to do the right thing.
Fast forward to 2017 and we are witnesses to the systematic dismantling of landmark Affordable Care Act. Instead of fixing the very real flaws with the legislation, Republicans simply want to rid millions of Americans of their healthcare coverage while replacing it with, well, nothing in particular at this point despite strong support for various pieces of the bill. The one portion of the bill which does lack support is the individual mandate which requires everyone to find health insurance or face a penalty. The rising cost of health insurance premiums will certainly make anyone’s head’s spin, but because of partisan squabbling a public option was never added to the bill. A public option would give the private insurance companies a competitor with the freedom to realistically set prices and thus aid in lowering the cost of healthcare. This would make purchasing healthcare much easier for the average American.
The Affordable Care Act was put into place for much the same reason as the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act; nobody should have to go without quality healthcare. In the case of the Affordable Care Act the idea was to get everyone covered to lower the premiums. Unfortunately, without enough younger people signing up coupled with the lack of a public option, insurance premiums have continued to rise. Rather than dismantle this complex piece of legislation, it should be amended, expanded, and renewed.
If the Affordable Care Act should be repealed and replaced with anything it should be a Medicare for all system. This would be a reasonable middle ground between competing ideologies. Everyone in the country would be automatically insured by virtue of being a citizen. Private hospitals and doctor’s offices would continue to dispense medical care as they did before. Included in the legislation would be a job retraining and rehiring program for insurance company employees to transition more easily. Switching to a system like this would save a tremendous amount of taxpayer dollars in administrative costs alone.
In a country as wealthy as ours there is no reason why we cannot guarantee quality preventative and emergency care to all of our citizens. Healthcare costs have gotten to a tipping point where something must be done to alleviate this burden for so many Americans. If we ask those at the top to pay more in taxes and perhaps make do with a few less bombs in our arsenal proposals like Medicare for all can become a reality. Yes, I am in favor of government stepping in. If market forces acted in the way conservatives idealistically demand they do we wouldn’t continue to see insurance companies raise their premiums. Why do they feel the need to raise premiums? At the end of the day their main goal is profit and they will do whatever it takes to maximize returns for their shareholders whether or not it’s the right thing to do for their customers. If we as a country can decide that no one should be turned away at a hospital door, we can take the morally correct next step and make sure death due to a lack of healthcare coverage is a thing of the past.
