By Justin G. Nelson
To borrow a popular theme from President Obama's health care reform speech to Congress, ‘now is the time.' But time for what?
It is time to put partisan politics aside and change the politics as usual in Washington. It is time for detractors of health reform to discontinue their campaign of misinformation about death panels and state-sponsored abortion. It is time for Republicans to stop worrying about the 2010 congressional election and the 2012 presidential election, and start worrying about the 47 million Americans without health insurance. It is also time for Democrats to stop bickering among themselves and work toward the compromise that is needed for small business owners to afford health insurance for themselves and their employees.
I have been in Washington for nearly 16 years, all of it connected in one way or another to politics and policy and much of it surrounding health care. I worked first as an aide in the U.S. House of Representatives and then the U.S. Senate, and then as a lobbyist fighting for patient and physician rights, and now as a full-time advocate for LGBT rights and equal opportunity. I am hard pressed to remember a time when I have witnessed such a dereliction of duty on the part of our elected representatives-a failure to speak the truth on such an important issue and work together to actually make a difference in the lives of the American people. Nor have I ever witnessed the elementary-school antics of a Member of Congress heckling the President of the United States. Representative Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shame on you. You should be beyond embarrassed.
Let's discuss one of the major sticking points, a public insurance option. As a matter of clarification, there are more that 1,400 private insurance plans in the United States today. The issues are not those of competition or choice, the issues are those of access, affordability and coverage of people with pre-existing conditions. Reform can be achieved without the federal government becoming the insurer of last resort and driving private options from the marketplace.
With our national fiscal house in disarray, to put it mildly, now is not the time for the federal government to create another Medicare-type program or to extend the current Medicare program to cover individuals who are not elderly or disabled. Rather, President Obama and members of Congress should be focusing their energies on reforms that can pass and immediately increase coverage. This is also an opportunity to bring tax parity to businesses, big and small, that offer domestic partner health benefits. Unfairly taxing these benefits as additional payroll is counterintuitive and creates a roadblock to expanding coverage when it could easily be a bridge.
I have heard from business owners from San Diego to Hartford, San Antonio to Chicago, Dallas to Denver and everywhere in between. Small businesses are hurting as a result of the skyrocketing costs of health care. Employees of small businesses are joining the ranks of the uninsured at record numbers. According to the President himself, more than 14,000 people a day are losing their insurance coverage. Health care costs are rising at three times the rate of wages, and small businesses are requiring employees to pay more and more of their premiums or are dropping coverage altogether. This is not sustainable, and the time for practical reform is now.
I was pleased to hear many of the President's proposals, specifically, offering small businesses tax incentives to provide employee coverage. In addition, I like his proposal to set up insurance exchanges that allow small businesses or those without insurance to pool together to negotiate and purchase health care. It is the right way to go in the future, rather than the "sorry, you're on your own" approach that has been the unfortunate reality for many small businesses. We will continue to push to ensure these measures are a part of any reform that moves forward.
While I support much of the President's plan for health reform, I am always concerned when I hear the words "mandated coverage from employers." I will reserve final judgment on this part of the plan until more information is available. However, with that in mind, I look forward to details surrounding the President's assertion that 95 percent of small businesses will be exempt. We must know what the triggers are for mandating coverage, what kinds of small businesses are the 5 percent that will be required to offer coverage, and what the exact plan is for assistance for small businesses offering coverage.
President Obama, House Speaker Pelosi, House Minority Leader Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Reid and Senate Minority Leader McConnell, the time for bickering IS OVER. The season of games HAS passed and the season for action IS NOW! We ARE counting on you to replace acrimony with civility and gridlock with progress. Bring health care affordability to America's small businesses. We are here, we are ready to help and we are watching.
