Public Health: Our Overwhelming Insurance Burden

Protecting the health of all citizens is an important responsibility of government because our health can be impacted by many things out of our individual control. But in our current system, businesses are expected to shoulder a single major burden: health insurance.

Frankly, this system is failing. More businesses are moving the burden to their employees, reducing benefits or choices, or not offering health coverage at all. And employer based health care leaves so many of our most vulnerable without care: children, the poor, the disabled. These uninsured people then rely on expensive subsidized emergency care which adds cost to those already paying. It is an inefficient use of tax dollars and the emergency health care system.

Everyday, our best jobs are outsourced to countries where basic health care costs are completely paid for by the government. This allows businesses to both save money and to focus on the core of their business. But this leaves America and North Carolina at a competitive disadvantage for jobs and businesses.

Like most large problems, this one can be solved over time with incremental changes. The recent creation of a high risk insurance pool is a great beginning. But we must go further to expand health insurance coverage especially to children. We also need to fully fund Medicare and Medicaid, since money spent for regular and preventive care is an investment in reducing the use of costly emergency care, not to mention saving lives and creating healthy, productive citizens who can then fully participate in their community.