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People want health care fix
On the Web: AARP has set up a Web site - http://www.aarp.org/issues/dividedwefail/ - for people to get more information, or to sign on to the election pledge promising to vote for people who ensure quality, affordable health care for all.
Plans aside, people want a health care fix
By David Steinkraus
Journal Times
On the day after the latest health care fix for Wisconsin was released, people at the Southside Farmers Market had a chance to give the Legislature a nudge.
The opportunity was a stop by the AARP Health Care Reform Express, a team touring all 33 Wisconsin Senate districts to gather public opinion about how to improve health care.
He has insurance for catastrophic incidents - if he was hit by a car, for example - but not for ordinary care.
"So actually, this is my health care - eating better," he said, hefting a bag of garlic, potatoes and cabbage which he'd just purchased from one of the vendors in the parking lot at Regency Mall.
Latest cure
That latest proposed fix came Monday from Democrats in the state Senate, and it's a plan which they say duplicates the coverage offered to legislators.
For people not covered by public health insurance such as Medicare, they propose a plan to be funded by a $15 billion payroll tax and which would provide $20 co-pays for a doctor visit, $300 deductibles for an individual or $600 for a family, no cost-sharing for preventive care and penalties for inappropriately using an emergency room, among other provisions.
The plan would save state and local governments $1.36 billion, say Democrats, and local governments would be instructed to refund their savings through property taxes.
Plans and plans
Daniel Drumel, 67, drove in from Wind Lake just to see the AARP group. He likes the plan put forward by the AFL-CIO.
"I like that because it wouldn't disrupt the health care system much."
It would include everyone in the insurance pool, and it would make government the sole payer, he said. "That would eliminate all the administrative cost - well, not eliminate it but bring it under control."
Stella Foster, 84, and Catherine Sweet, 76, both of Racine, said they have good insurance.
Foster said she's fortunate to have good health but is concerned about people on Medicare who have to choose among medications and other necessities such as food.
Sweet said she has good insurance through her husband's union, yet even under that plan they opted to buy medications through a Canadian pharmacy because it was a more reasonable choice.
Just fix it
The idea behind the tour, said James Flaherty, a spokesman for AARP's Wisconsin office, is to try and use the clout of older Americans to achieve reform. An AARP survey conducted in Wisconsin in March found only 2 percent of respondents who said there is no problem with health care. Not quite half said the state has major problems, and 13 percent said the system is in crisis.
AARP representatives were also asking people so sign a pledge that they will vote for candidates who will ensure that everyone has good-quality, affordable care and who are specific about what they intend to do.
"We hear people don't feel like they have a voice in the process," Flaherty said.
"I think something has to happen pretty quickly," said Carol Olson, 61, who lives in Racine. She's semi-retired, and had she chosen to continue her former employer's plan, it would have cost her $900 a month.
She knows many people - self-employed, or retired, or former workers for nonprofit agencies - who live in the area, don't have health care, and depend on alternative health care providers such as herbalists and acupuncturists.
"We have tons money to kill people all over the world, but no money to keep people healthy in America. Makes me angry."
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