Op-Ed: Government-run health care threatens coverage, access

Government-run health care proposals being discussed in Washington would increase taxes, reduce access to care, and threaten private, employer-sponsored, and union-negotiated health plans that serve millions of hardworking Arizonans. This is not the right way to “fix” America’s health care problems – it is only going to make things worse.

Introducing a government-run public option for health care would disrupt the insurance marketplace, either pushing private and employer-sponsored plans out entirely or causing premiums to skyrocket. That includes plans that unions fought long and hard to secure for their members through years of collective bargaining and negotiations.

As a retired UFCW government relations director, know firsthand how important union-secured health care coverage is for union members. The medical benefits offered through the union help them and their families access comprehensive, affordable, and highly specialized plans that meet their unique needs.

It would be wrong to jeopardize this high-quality coverage for our first responder community by replacing it with a one-size-fits-all system. That is especially true considering that this kind of top-down approach could also require higher taxes on American families, according to study from earlier this year.

So not only would we see fewer options and higher premiums, but we’d also be paying more in taxes as well. That doesn’t sound like the kind of health care reform most Arizonans want to see out of Washington. We need solutions that actually lower costs instead of raising them, expand coverage instead of shrinking it, and increase options instead of taking them away.

Meanwhile, Medicare expansion proposals could be just as devastating for Arizona’s seniors as the public option would be for Arizonans with private, employer-sponsored, or union-negotiated health care coverage. Opening up the Medicare program to millions of new recipients by lowering the minimum age requirements could push this already-financially troubled program to its breaking point.

A study on the impact of Medicare expansion found that it could result in a key part of the program – the Hospital Insurance Trust Fund, which administers Medicare Part A benefits – being depleted a full two years earlier than currently projected. Similar to the public option, Medicare expansion could also require any number of tax increases, resulting in higher costs for patients.

It is not right to threaten access or increase costs for millions of seniors in Arizona and nationwide, especially when they have paid into Medicare throughout their entire working lives in order to access its benefits now. Congress must come up with a better solution.

We need lawmakers to pass sensible policies that will actually lower health care costs, increase options, and expand access to care for all Arizonans. That should include protecting health care for America’s seniors and defending union-negotiated plans. Ultimately, neither the public option nor Medicare expansion will address the real problems in our current health care system and, in fact, will only create new ones.

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