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State Representative Michael Beard
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
651-296-8872
For more information contact: Jodi Boyne 651-296-0640
NEWS COLUMN
BEARD: FOCUS ON COST INCREASES FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM
By Mike Beard
State Representative
Shakopee and Prior Lake
When Governor Pawlenty spoke to the Shakopee Rotary Club last week he made an observation about health care that I found quite interesting, especially so because we just debated health care reform in the Legislature. His point to the Rotarians was that we cannot measure health care reform solely on the basis of the growth in government-subsidized coverage. We need to broaden the scope of health care reform to address the reasons behind the cost increases.
The bill recently passed by the Legislature fails to take this broad view. Instead, it calls for large expansions of government-subsidized coverage by expanding eligibility and creating a new subsidy program on top of what government already pays for.
I voted against these expansions for two main reasons.
First, 68 percent of Minnesotans have private health care coverage, which is getting more and more expensive. The Department of Health has studied why costs are increasing and found that the single largest factor is physician services, which outpace any other factor by more than 15 percent. Expanding government programs won’t help control these costs, leaving a majority of Minnesotans to face more of the same increases.
Second, expanding government programs will bankrupt our funding sources by 2012. Even the bill’s strongest supporters admit that will happen, but they assure us that we shouldn’t worry because there is plenty of time to find a solution in the next four years. It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see what that their solution will be to raise taxes. Unbelievably, tax increases have been their preferred solution for everything in the last two years.
Here’s the problem: Government-subsidized health care coverage is funded by a tax on doctors and hospitals that gets passed down to all of us when we visit a hospital or clinic. So come 2012 when this tax no longer raises enough money the inevitable solution will be to increase it. Meanwhile, we are ignoring the true costs that continue pushing coverage beyond what people can afford, forcing them into government-subsidized coverage or no coverage at all.
This is not a prescription for reform. It’s a terminal diagnosis for higher costs and higher taxes. I cannot support this plan because the inevitable outcome is that private health care will only be available for the select few who can afford it. The rest of us will be in a wholly government-run system that rations care while squeezing the taxpayers for every last dime they can afford to give.
There is a better way.
If physician services account for such a large share of the cost increases then let’s figure out why and fix it. Other costs, like the rising cost of inpatient care, should be addressed also. By solving the core problems that make costs go up, we can keep more people in the coverage they have right now; no switching doctors or clinics, just the security of knowing that it will be easier to see the doctor you want at a cost you can afford.
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