Doctors split on Obama's health care plan
By ROSS JACOBSON - rjacobson@nwherald.com with wire reports
When Dr. Hal Snyder joined Health Care for America Now in December, he was looking to help fix “a crisis.”
Recently, Snyder and more than 50 other people held a rally outside the Schaumburg office of Rep. Melissa Bean, a Barrington Democrat, showing support for immediate health care reform.
“I think it’s absolutely essential,” said Snyder, 58, an independent medical contractor from Arlington Heights. “There are people dying because of denial of coverage, and the price keeps skyrocketing.”
Although consensus exists on the need to overhaul the health care system, local health care professionals are split on how the basic ideas of President Obama’s plan will affect local residents.
No official legislation has been introduced, but Obama’s plan includes an emphasis on preventive care, shifting from paper files to electronic medical records, and a public option insurance plan.
It remains unclear when legislators might put forth a bill.
Major questions remain as to how the government would pay for insurance for people now uninsured, and what effects a government option would have on both workers and employers.
Dr. William Dam, 66, who has had a family practice in Fox Lake for 31 years, sees the proposed optional public insurance plan as a problem for small businesses that currently offer health benefits.
“It’ll cause a huge flux from private plans to public plans. The problems are yet to be seen,” Dam said. “No small businesses are going to offer health plans.”
However, Snyder said that competition from a government supplier would help drive down the costs of health insurance.
“It would set an example and force the hand of private insurance companies,” Snyder said. “They will have to deliver more premium health care for the dollar.”
Politicians have struggled over how to the pay the estimated $1 trillion bill during the next 10 years. Raising taxes on health insurance and capping deductions at a certain level have been proposed as possible solutions.
Dam believes that the extra benefits of so-called Cadillac plans allow people to take advantage of the system and inhibit the ability to implement a basic plan that everybody can afford.
“The problem is that legislators don’t want to give up the luxurious health plans they have for themselves,” Dam said. “They can’t face the political heat of offering a less grand plan.”
As representatives from all parties continue to iron out reform plan details, Snyder keeps pushing for a solution sooner rather than later.
“We can wait only if we want more people to die unnecessarily,” Snyder said. “We need this now.”
