COMMENTARY: Here’s Reform Arkansas Needs

Arkansas is suffering from a health care crisis, with 500,000 people uninsured, and health insurance premiums expected to rise from $11,472 to $19,575 in the next 10 years. The House of Representatives took a big step toward solving this problem when they recently passed a health care reform bill, including the choice of a national public health insurance option. The Senate just passed a bill that is far weaker than the House version, but is most notable for its lack of a public option. A law that requires individuals to purchase health insurance but does not offer the choice of a public option will result in a giant new client pool for the insurance industry with no incentive for these companies to lower costs or provide higher quality care.

Unfortunately, our own Sen.

Blanche Lincoln played a key role in forcing the deal that watered down the bill and allowed Big Insurance to keep its stranglehold over the health care system. By refusing to commit to allow a vote on the public option, she was one of a small handful of legislators who blocked the original bill from proceeding. Now the House and Senate must produce a common bill through the conference committee process. Senator Lincoln has one last chance to bring real health care reform to Arkansas by asking Sen. Harry Reid to support the public option in committee.

Health care reform that gives Americans the choice of a public option will expand coverage to millions of Americans and at the same time lower health care costs. My wife and I own a small business and, along with many other small-business owners in our Natural State, our business cannot afford to give our employees the health insurance they deserve; not without a public option that would lower premiums and make the insurance more affordable.

Let’s face it; a health care crisis could happen to anyone of us and at any time. Too many of us in Arkansas are having to choose between taking care of our living expenses or taking care of our health care expenses; between using our savings for our older years or spending it on a health care crisis that could force us into bankruptcy; the single most cause of bankruptcy above all others. It doesn’t have to be this way.

Over 70 percent of Americans still support the choice of a public option as part of health care reform. But, insurance and HMO interests have spent nearly $5 million per week to defeat health care reform, with a special focus on killing the public option in order to protect their profits. Lincoln has accepted over $717,000 in campaign donations from these sameindustries. And she is not alone in receiving these contributions. So, it’s not surprising the Senate chose to drop this critical policy element from their bill.

The Senate bill has several other shortcomings in relation to the House bill: It fails to enforce antitrust measures on insurance companies; it fails to allocate required funds to make insurance affordable for vulnerable, lowincome families; and it pays for reform by taxing the benefits packages of hard working American families, rather than a small tax on the wealthiest Americans as in the House bill.

As negotiations between the House and Senate begin, Lincoln has a clear choice: Stand with working families in Arkansas or with special interests who want to keep our choices limited by continuing to block the public option. We need Lincoln to ask Majority Leader Reid to make the much needed changes to the Senate bill in conference by adopting the stronger reform provision in the House version.

Already, too many Arkansans lack health care coverage or face skyrocketing health care costs.

We ask Lincoln to have faith that standing with the people of Arkansas will insure that the people of Arkansas will stand with her.

MOSHE NEWMARK IS A SMALL-BUSINESS OWNER AND RESIDENT OF FAYETTEVILLE FOR NEARLY 30 YEARS.

Opinion, Pages 5 on 12/28/2009

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