Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them ... "
-- Matthew 9:33
Healing was Jesus' most characteristic activity. In his name Christians have founded hospitals. When Jesus sent out his first disciples, he instructed them to "heal the sick." (Matthew 10:8; Luke 10:9)
Christians should be particularly encouraged and gladdened by some recent good news. More neighbors now have access to health care and our health care costs are going down.
In its first year, Arkansas' private option is a huge success. The private option is the program lawmakers passed in 2013 to use Medicaid dollars under Obamacare to buy private insurance for lower-income Arkansans.
More than 200,000 Arkansans have gained medical insurance coverage through the Medicaid expansion of the private option. Figures released Aug. 31 show 10,532 low-income people here in Washington County and 9,154 in Benton County are benefiting from the program. That's good news for a lot of our neighbors.
With the first year's roll-out of the private option, Arkansas was No. 1 in the nation in reducing the percentage of our uninsured. We cut our rate from 22.5 percent to 12.4 percent. Last year we were at the bottom, 49th. (Texas was 50th.) This year, we're up to No. 22.
More good news. The insurance companies who serve the Arkansas private option announced last month that they have proposed a net reduction in premiums of 2 percent. Amazing! Medical insurance costs are going down! For decades medical insurance has been one of the fasting-growing costs in our entire economy, consistently increasing 6 to 10 percent per year.
The private option has also been a big boon to Arkansas' economy, creating new jobs in the health care industry as more neighbors can afford to seek regular, preventative care.
Our Arkansas hospitals are benefiting tremendously. Their costs for uncompensated care have decreased dramatically. For years people without access have used emergency rooms as clinics, a very costly form of medical care. For years, hospitals (and the rest of us with insurance) have been swallowing the expense of uninsured patients. Now people and hospitals are healthier.
The national health care picture is also improving. Obamacare has given access to medical care to 8 million people on the exchanges, 7 million under Medicaid extension, and 5 million who bought insurance outside the exchanges but benefit from new regulations like the one that stops insurance companies from refusing coverage to people with preexisting conditions.
Medicare costs have slowed dramatically throughout the country. That means the projected federal deficit has dropped significantly. One reason: Effective cost-control measures are an important part of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare). Insurance rates now are dropping, not rising.
Many critics of Obamacare predicted 2015 rates would skyrocket; some warned of doubling and tripling of premiums. Wrong. Costs are actually decreasing. My hunch? Even though the critics are wrong again, they won't change their minds. They won't rejoice that finally medical costs are flat or receding and that more people have insurance.
One of the ironies of this 2014 election is that many people who are relieved and pleased finally to have access to affordable insurance for their families are also planning to vote for politicians who rashly promise to repeal Obamacare.
Obamacare is a good policy that has been skillfully slandered. When pollsters describe the specific elements of the Affordable Care Act and ask people for their opinion, the response is overwhelmingly positive. People like the policies. But if you ask them if they like "Obamacare," they'll say, "No." The spin-masters' propaganda has worked, so far. But reality may be catching up to them. Millions who now have affordable insurance appreciate what the Affordable Care Act is bringing them. Eventually Obamacare will be as popular as Social Security and Medicare which were similarly slandered at their beginnings.
We've made great progress this year. Millions of Americans now have health care coverage and costs are better contained. But we could do better. Still 12.4 percent of our Arkansas neighbors are without insurance. The United States continues to have the most expensive and the least effective health care system in the developed world. We are the only wealthy, industrialized nation in the world that does not ensure all of our citizens have access to health care as part of a universal system. We could learn from the other wealthy nations and have universal coverage with even better outcomes.
LOWELL GRISHAM IS AN EPISCOPAL PRIEST WHO LIVES IN FAYETTEVILLE.
Commentary on 09/28/2014