Affordable Healthcare - Proposed Reforms and Public Options Fall Short

Campbell-Graves' latest report, Privileged Healthcare - the Uniquely American Solution, explains how healthcare reform proposals ignore economic factors and burden the middle-class.

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Healthcare reform proposals are uninspired and wasteful.

Santa Fe, NM (PRWEB) November 29, 2009

With the Senate moving to debate healthcare reform, middle-income families need to ask whether the proposals, including those for a public option, are capable of delivering on the promise of affordable healthcare. Analysis of key reform provisions reveals the proposals do not deliver on the promise.

The latest report from public-service group Campbell-Graves.org, entitled Privileged Healthcare - the Uniquely American Solution, examines five key areas of House and Senate reform provisions. Four-of-the-five areas lead to privileged healthcare, the opposite of affordable.

The healthcare debate centers on whether health is an essential public need, like public education and safety. If health were an essential public need, healthcare would be treated as a right, available to all citizens regardless of income or wealth. The current system follows the opposite premise, providing care based on a family's ability to pay, a privileged system. Many in Congress appear unclear about differences between the two.

Some in Congress, such as Representative Zack Wamp (R-TN), have declared healthcare to be a privilege. Others, including Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT), say every American should have a right to medical treatment without bankrupting-levels of debt. Details of reform proposals show how both statements reflect a common belief. House and Senate bills might reduce the size of a medical bankruptcy filing, but both proposals fall short on addressing burdensome cost problems that drain middle-class families of scarce resources.

Author Phil Campbell-Graves concludes, "Healthcare reform proposals are uninspired and wasteful." Both proposals implement plans that undermine their stated goal. Campbell-Graves believes affordable healthcare is possible, but not with what Congress has offered.

Privileged Healthcare - the Uniquely American Solution is a free, public-service report available from campbell-graves.org.

ABOUT CAMPBELL-GRAVES.ORG: Campbell-Graves.org is a non-partisan public service project, founded in 1997. It focuses on policy topics related to the economy, mortgages, investments, taxes, and retirement. For more information, visit the Press Section at Campbell-Graves.org or contact the author, Phil Campbell-Graves, at 888-543-5130.

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