Grade: 98
Hiba—You clearly know how to revise and edit a paper! I am so impressed with what you have done here. This is now a clear, concise, focused, and persuasive argument that situates you as a reasonable and respectful opponent. It’s this kind of argument that will help change minds, and it’s not easy to write. But through your hard work and willingness to revise, you have arrived at just such an argument, and provided the credible support and documentation that make it a polished piece of writing.
I hope you will send this letter to Senator Grassley. The more our elected officials hear from us about the change we want, the more likely we are to get the change we need.
Bravo, Hiba!
Hiba Ismeail
Dr. Jessica Matthews
ENGL 302 CB3
8/5/09
Position Paper on How to Fund Health Care Reform
August 5, 2009
Senator Chuck Grassley
135 Hart Senate Office Building
Washington, DC 20510-1501
Dear Senator Chuck Grassley:
The health care crisis we are currently facing is unfortunately affecting countless families all across the United States. I feel very strongly about this issue, especially because I believe everyone should be able to afford health insurance. So, since you are a well-respected leader in politics, and the senior Republican ranking member on the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance, I decided to write directly to you as a concerned American citizen in support of universal health care. I believe that both the Democrat and Republican senators on the Finance Committee can come to a compromise in solving this issue, and pass legislation that will be able to fund health care reform responsibly and effectively. Therefore, I would like to persuade you to reconsider the proposed funding measures on how to control costs and pay for universal health coverage.
This health care crisis has been creeping up on us for the past century, getting worse as time as gone by. Especially within the past decade, health care costs have skyrocketed. For example, in a report published by CQ Researcher, a database whose sole purpose is to provide research and reports on current “hot-topic” issues, it claims that “between 2000 and 2006, health premiums for employer-sponsored insurance jumped 87 percent, far outpacing inflation’s 18 percent overall increase” (Clemmitt). In addition, according to the government’s “latest health insurance data” coverage reported by the U.S. Census Bureau, “the number of uninsured was 45.7 million” people in 2007. These numbers are astonishingly high and need to be reduced drastically. We need to pass legislation that has the ability to provide high-quality health care at low prices.
I believe President-Elect Barack Obama said it best in his “town hall-style forum” at Broughton High School in Raleigh, North Carolina,on Wednesday, July 29, 2009. He said, “The truth is, we have a system today that works well for the insurance industry, but it doesn’t always work well for you. What we need … are health insurance consumer protections to make sure that those who have insurance are treated fairly and insurance companies are held accountable” (qtd. in Wilson). Implementing these “health insurance consumer protections” will prove to be especially vital for terminally ill patients whose families can no longer afford to pay the medical bills for their loved ones.
Now, I know you are a Republican, and I understand that you do not favor a lot of government involvement and that you are concerned with the well-being of your constituencies of various interest groups and small business owners across the United States (Grassley), but I would like you to be flexible and hear me out at the same time. It is perfectly fine to care about the future of small businesses, but I also want you to remember the other tens of millions of Americans out there who are struggling employees of big companies, or who are the victims of impossible health coverage costs, or who were laid off by organizations who could no longer afford to pay their salaries. We have to remember that just like those who run small businesses, these people are also paying ridiculous amounts of money for health care; either that or they cannot afford to carry insurance with the premium rates so high, so they simply do not buy it. Thus, the truth is that at this point, if we really want this health care crisis to end, we really do need at least some form of government involvement and taxation. In order to pay for this affordable, universal health care that should benefit all American citizens, I would like to suggest a plan. What I have done is researched both sides of the argument on a few key debates and outlined where I believe the compromise between Democrats and Republicans should fall. I hope I can convince you that this legislation has the power to benefit both worlds.
First off, in regards to small businesses, I understand what you mean when you say that the impact on them is the greatest because they are hit hardest by the higher insurance rates insurance companies charge them over big companies (Covel). What’s more, “at some businesses … health care is the highest expense after salaries” (Covel). As a result, small business owners are forced to cut jobs or drop health coverage altogether, since they cannot afford to pay people’s salaries and provide premium health coverage at the same time. Thus, employees on either side of the situation are left with a dilemma, either no job or no health insurance. Even more disturbing is the finding from the National Federation of Independent Business, a Washington D.C. trade group, that "26 million of the nearly 46 million uninsured Americans are small-business owners, employees or their dependents” (Covel). That number accounts for more than half of the total uninsured individuals in the United States. This is definitely a major problem.
Nevertheless, as your colleague, Chairman Max Baucus, suggested, there may be a solution. In his “five broad principles of reform,” he suggests that “one way to ensure affordable coverage is to create “pooling” arrangements, which allow individuals and businesses alike to take advantage of their collective purchasing power and save in administrative costs." With this pact set in place, small businesses will be able to join together and split the cost of providing affordable high-quality health coverage to their employees, and in return, their employees will be properly insured.
We can also find a solution to the the issue of the government enforcing employers to provide mandatory health coverage for their employees. Instead, we can include a policy whereby the legislation would “include incentives for employers to provide health insurance for their workers, rather than a more punitive coverage mandate” (Murray and Kane). This way, if employers are seriously in a financial bind, they are not obligated to provide health coverage for their employees. In addition, the legislation can include a policy which would “require employers to contribute if their workers were getting government-assisted insurance coverage” (Hitt and Adamy). This would require the employees only to “pick up at least part of the cost of government subsidies if employees wind up needing them” (Hitt and Bendavid). These are much better options than having employers frantically wondering how they are going to pay for their employees’ health coverage, especially if they have never been able to do so before.
Furthermore, I also believe that the health care tax system we have in place needs to be completely revamped. It has been said that “the promotion of cost-reducing innovation in health care will require the rethinking of tax policies that impose special burdens on economizing behavior and offer special subsidies to costly behavior” (Robinson and Smith). Now, I understand that you do not want the government to enforce heavy taxation policies on taxpayers, but there is an option that may serve as a happy medium. I believe the key to making this work is to only “endorse narrowly-targeted tax increases” (Murray and Kane). One way to do this would be to have a “levy on insurance companies offering individual plans valued at more than a certain limit, likely $25,000 or higher. The insurers would have to pay an excise tax on such policies, and the cost would likely be passed on to employers” (Hitt and Bendavid). It has even been reported that “adding the proposed tax … would raise as much as $180 billion over ten years” (Hitt and Bendavid). Enforcing this tax would generate revenue for the government to be able to fund the other programs entailed in this health care reform.
I realize there are many other issues to consider, but these are just a few of the issues that I think most important for both the Democrat and Republican senators on the U.S. Senate Committee on Finance to reach a consensus over. I understand that you and the Finance Committee are under a lot of pressure to meet the demands of both small businesses and individual consumers. I believe this whole crisis is truly one big scenario of give-and-take, in order to act in the best interest of all parties involved. So, please think carefully about your vote, and keep in mind how many people it will be affecting. I am confident that you and the Finance Committee will in due time come to a compromise and find the best way to fund this health care reform. Thank you for your time, and I look forward to hearing the committee’s decision in the upcoming weeks.
Sincerely,
Hiba Ismeail
Address
Works Cited
Baucus, Max. “Health Care.” Issues. n.d. Web. 4 August 2009.
Clemmitt, Marcia. “Universal Coverage.” CQ Researcher. 30 March 2007. Web. 4 August 2009.
Covel, Simona. “Sick and Getting Sicker.” The Wall Street Journal. 13 July 2009. Web. 29 July 2009.
Grassley, Chuck. “Health Care.” Issues & Legislation. n.d. Web. 4 August 2009.
Hitt, Greg and Janet Adamy. “House Panel Approves Sweeping Health Bill.” The Wall Street Journal. 1 August 2009. Web. 3 August 2009.
Hitt, Greg and Naftali Bendavid. “Plan to Tax Insurers Stirs Interest in House.” The Wall Street Journal. 29 July 2009. Web. 29 July 2009.
Murray, Shailagh and Paul Kane. “House Democrats Break Health-Care Gridlock.” The Washington Post. 29 July 2009. Web. 29 July 2009.
Robinson, James C. and Mark D. Smith. "Cost-Reducing Innovation In Health Care." Health Affairs 27.5 (2008): 1353-1356. ProQuest. Web. 4 August 2009.
U. S. Census Bureau. “Health Insurance Coverage: 2007.” Health Insurance. 26 August 2008. Web. 3 August 2009.
Wilson, Scott. “Obama Holds Health Care Forum in North Carolina.” The Washington Post. 29 July 2009. Web. 29 July 2009.