Should health care be reformed?

When Chris Craft was 19, his father died from pancreatic cancer. Craft delayed going to college while he paid the mortgage, the phone bill, the electric bill...

"We had enormous bills," said Craft, now 36.

So Craft believes access to health care should be a basic, fundamental right. America, he says, is too good and too wealthy a country for seniors to make decisions between buying food and prescription drugs.

That's one side of the health care debate, from Craft, a Democrat and a St. Lucie County commissioner who announced last week he's running for Congress.

The other side of the debate comes from U.S. Rep. Tom Rooney, who is against President Obama's proposals.

"The big picture is that there are 300 million-plus people in this country, and 30 to 50 million are uninsured," Rooney said. "Are they under 30, in between jobs, illegal immigrants?"

Ask any doctor, Rooney said, and they'll say that the biggest reason why health care is so expensive is that they're practicing defensive medicine, in case they get sued by a patient.

Nothing in the bills before Congress address medical malpractice reform, Rooney said. "Why the president thinks that is not a vital concern is missing the point."

Instead of a government-run health care system, Rooney prefers minor reforms to the insurance industry.

"No one claims the insurance providers are working with clean hands," Rooney said. "That's the bad guy in this whole process. I would agree there could be reform with the insurance providers."

But, he added, "Sixty percent of the people rate their health care as very good or excellent."

Craft enunciated his three health care reform principles: costs must be reduced, the right to choose doctors must be preserved, and reform can't bankrupt the country.

"That's what I'm looking for in a health care bill," Craft said.

Rooney is concerned about three provisions of a current House bill:

"The bill establishes a new Health Benefits Advisory Committee within the Department of Health and Human Services that proposes a minimum coverage standard," Rooney wrote in an op-ed. "If a public option is implemented, not only will it underpay physicians and hospitals in the same manner as Medicare and Medicaid, but it will result in an increase in wait times at the hospital and a decrease in your quality of care... Additionally, the employer mandate under consideration would require employers that do not offer adequate insurance to pay an 8 percent payroll tax - including those with an annual payroll over $250,000."

Fear tactics

Both Craft and Rooney are concerned about fear mongering.

Rooney doesn't like it when the political right is attacked for being in the pockets of big insurance.

Craft decried what former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin said Aug. 7 on Facebook: "My parents or my baby with Down Syndrome will have to stand in front of Obama's 'death panel' so his bureaucrats can decide... whether they are worthy of health care."

"There are no provisions for any panel such as that," Craft said. "The extremes of either party are controlling the message right now ... If we are going to truly have meaningful health care reform, if it's cutting health care costs, we need to work together to do that."

Congress is in summer recess. There are reports of protestors shouting down congressmen in town hall meetings.

Rooney is planning a town hall meeting at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug, 25, at Lake Placid's Camp & Conference Center, 2665 Placid View Drive.

"I guess we'll see what happens," Rooney said, but he agreed with their right to protest, and said that shows how frustrated people are about the issue.

Sen. Bill Nelson hasn't decided among several versions Congress has proposed so far, said Bryan Gulley, his press secretary. "As a member of the finance committee, his focus largely is on making sure it's fair to seniors, small business and working people. And he wants to make sure we find a responsible way to pay for it."

The Senate Finance Committee isn't scheduled to complete work on its version of health care reform until lawmakers return in September.

What Obama wants

•Can't be turned down for health insurance because of pre-existing conditions

•No exorbitant out-of-pocket expenses, deductibles or co-pays

•Regular checkups and tests, like mammograms and diabetic exams, to prevent illness

•Can't drop coverage for seriously ill

•Can't be charged more because of gender

•No annual or lifetime caps on the coverage received

•Children would be eligible for family coverage through age 26

•Policies must be renewed if premium is paid in full

•Renewal can't be refused because policyholder became sick

Source: www.whitehouse.gov/health-insurance-consumer-protections