Exclusive Op-Ed: White House Advisor Melody Barnes on Health Care Reform

If you're wondering what the Obama administration has to say specifically to African Americans about health care reform, read the following guest editorial. Written by Melody Barnes, who is President Barack Obama's domestic policy advisor and director of the Domestic Policy Council, the editorial was provided exclusively to Black Voices. Take a look, and then scroll down to let us know what you think.

Last week, President Barack Obama went before Congress and the nation to address his plan for solving a problem that not only threatens the prosperity and financial security of America, its businesses, and its families, but cuts against the core of who we are as a nation.

Right now, tens of millions of Americans are living without health care coverage. Tens of thousands more join their ranks each week. Most of these people are hardworking, middle class Americans. Maybe they lost a job. Maybe they couldn't keep up with premiums that are rising three times as fast as wages, or maybe their employer had to choose between dropping coverage and closing down shop. Whatever the reason, they live with the knowledge that one illness or injury could wipe out everything they have. They go without checkups and care that could save their livelihoods or even their lives. And at the going rates, any one of us could be one bad break away from joining them.

Even Americans with insurance are paying more than ever before, and getting less; less coverage, less security, less peace of mind for themselves and their families. Too many of us know someone who has stayed in the wrong job because they're afraid they'll lose coverage if they leave, or who abandoned the dream of starting their own business because they can't afford insurance. And we have all heard the heart-wrenching stories of men and women who diligently paid their premiums only to have their coverage dropped when they needed it most, leaving them broke – or worse.

As with so many issues, if the state of our health care system is a crisis for America, it's a catastrophe for black America. On average, African Americans spend a higher percentage of their income on health care costs than their white counterparts. Yet despite that spending, we also suffer from higher percentages of chronic diseases such as heart disease, kidney disease and diabetes. That's due, at least in part, to a lack of access to quality affordable care.

For too long, Washington has talked about fixing our broken health care system, only to allow the same old partisan politics and special interest lobbying to block change. But this isn't a Democratic issue or a Republican one – it's a moral imperative. That's why President Obama has put forth a health insurance reform plan that borrows good ideas from both sides of the aisle, even from his opponents in both the primary and general elections.

This plan does three basic things:

*If you have insurance it will provide you more stability and security.

*If you don't have insurance, it will provide you affordable options.

*And it will slow the unsustainable cost of health care for American families, businesses, and taxpayers.

Melody Barnes and President Barack Obama

If you already have insurance you like, nothing in President Obama's plan will require you or your employer to change your coverage or your doctor. And let's be clear: if you get your health coverage from Medicare, the President will protect this program that America's seniors depend on. Through this reform, we will begin to close the prescription drug doughnut hole saving thousands of dollars for America's seniors. Despite some of the scary myths being spread, not a dollar of the Medicare trust fund will be used to pay for this plan.

At the same time, the President's plan will end some of the insurance companies' worst practices. They will no longer be able to deny you coverage because of a pre-existing condition or to drop or water down your coverage because you or someone in your family gets sick. They will also be prohibited from capping the total amount of coverage you can receive in a year or a lifetime. And they will have to abide by yearly caps on out of pocket expenses and fully cover routine checkups and preventive care – things like colonoscopies and mammograms.

If you don't have insurance – and one in five African Americans don't – the President's plan will provide you affordable options the same way Members of Congress get them: by creating an exchange where you can leverage the purchasing power of a large group to get reasonable prices and choose the option that's best for you and your family. If you still can't afford coverage, we will provide you a tax credit to help.

The President also believes that one of the choices in this exchange should be a public option. This option would be exactly what it sounds like – one more choice for Americans without insurance. Nobody would be forced to choose it and it would not affect those who already have insurance. But by operating on a not-for-profit basis and eliminating some of the costs faced by insurance companies for things like administrative costs and salaries, it could provide a good deal for consumers while keeping pressure on private insurers to do the same.

Finally, while insuring more Americans will not be without cost, President Obama has promised that he absolutely will not sign a bill that adds even a dime to our deficits. To prove how serious he is about this issue, the bill will contain a provision that requires us to come forward with more spending cuts if the savings we promised don't materialize.

Putting an end to the problems riddling our health care system won't be easy. If it was, Washington would have already done it by now. But it's also never been more important. Our families, businesses, and nation as a whole have reached a breaking point, and the status quo is unsustainable. So, as President Obama said last week, he might not be the first President to take up the mantle of health insurance reform, but he's determined to be the last. We should all be determined to join him.

--Melody Barnes, White House Domestic Policy Advisor and Director of the Domestic Policy Council

For more details from the White House on the president's health insurance reform plan, go to WhiteHouse.gov.

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