 Bob Kerrey and Chuck Hagel agree: America's health care system is in crisis and requires a radical overhaul.
Kerrey, a former U.S. Senator from Nebraska, is a Democrat. Hagel, who will retire as one of Nebraska's senators at the end of this year, is a Republican. Despite that difference, the two offered similar criticisms and proposals at a forum on health care on Thursday, Oct. 9, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
Kerrey said insurance, not accessibility, is now the biggest health care problem in the U.S. The nation's high quality health care is also costly. About half of all health care is already paid for by the government through Medicare, Medicaid, the Veterans Administration and other programs. But those who are not specifically eligible for some kind of government aid often cannot afford care.
Federal law should be changed
Kerrey said the federal law should be changed so that every legal citizen would be eligible for subsidized health care. He recommended that a special commission devise a delivery system that would include a combination of government and private payers.
Hagel said problems with health care in America are a "dark cloud over our future," but he agreed with Kerrey that change needs to start "from the outside" with a special commission to recommend a radical restructuring of the system. "Outside expertise will have to give government a starting point," he said.
Which presidential candidate has a better plan?
Neither Hagel nor Kerrey would bite when asked whether presidential candidates Barack Obama or John McCain is proposing the better health care plan. Hagel said neither plan was too radical, "but that's not where this is going to end up."
Kerrey said he thought Obama's plan would offer a bigger improvement for the next 10 to 15 years but McCain's might be better long-term. "But the crisis is immediate," he added.
Additional points from Hagel:
- • A health care system should be federally regulated but somewhat decentralized. He pointed to the Federal Reserve System as a model
- with its regions organized under a national organization.
• "There's not enough courage in Congress or enough latitude" to break out of the current system until elected officials are pushed by those
- most involved.
• The current global financial crisis will reorient everything, especially the nation's entitlements like Medicare and Medicaid.
• The system should encourage Americans to practice prevention and take responsibility for their own health.
Additional points from Kerrey:
- • The U.S. should decouple health insurance and employment. The combination squelches entrepreneurship because people are afraid to
- strike out on their own and lose their insurance coverage. Also, small business owners may be reluctant to hire someone whose age or
- health condition may have a negative impact on the firm's insurance rates.
• A new system should separate health care spending from all other federal spending.
• The U.S. should not try to model its health care system specifically on that of any other nation but should come up with something
- "uniquely American."
• Americans must lower their expectations for health care to a reasonable level. "Medicine is not a perfect science" and cannot solve every
- potential problem.
Hagel and Kerrey spoke to a full house at Kimball Hall on the UNL campus. The forum was sponsored by AARP, the University of Nebraska Public Policy Center and Prairie Fire, a Nebraska publication devoted to public interest issues and arts and entertainment.
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