Missourians Deserve Real Health Care Promises:

Chris Moreno
March 06, 2006
Last week in an article titled “Improving Access To Affordable Health Care,” Rep. Will Kraus promised you the voter that “he would continue to work hard to provide every Missourian with the opportunity to get the care they need in order to have a happy, healthy life.” He then wrote about medical malpractice, failing to say exactly how he’s going to work to get affordable health care. However, he had another article in the Lee’s Summit Journal this past week about the amazing benefits of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).

It’s appropriate to start by saying that every Missourian and American should do the best they can to save, because you never know what is going to happen when it comes to your health or the health of the ones you love. However, there are many realities that come into play when it comes to HSAs that Rep. Kraus and many others refuse to tell you the voter.
There are 46 million Americans and over 800,000

Missourians without health insurance. According to the recent US Federal Reserve consumer finances survey when adjusted for inflation wages fell 6.2 percent and the number of families that said they saved money in 2005 fell 3.1 percent. Also according to Second Harvest’s 2005 report, the Pre-Katrina numbers showed that 25 million Americans were forced to receive food from shelters, organizations and soup kitchens, an increase of 9 percent since 2001.

The theory behind HSAs is that if everyone puts money into an account and if employers decide to put some in as well, combined with a high deductible insurance policy, the cost of health care is reduced. However, if wages are falling and fewer people can afford to save how effective will this be? How much will these plans really cover with record rising prescription drug costs? How can politicians guarantee how much employers will contribute, even if it is tax-deductible? Obviously, if these folks do not have insurance now, they aren’t going to be able to afford to both purchase a high deductible insurance policy and save specifically for health insurance. So can anything else be done? The answer is definitely.

If workers are paid a living wage that allows for them to provide for their families then lives are positively impacted. Additionally, I am a firm believer that small business owners and many other businesses would love to provide health care for their employees, but many cannot afford to both pay well and provide wellness. So how do you help both? One answer is by giving tax credits to cover small businesses that pay well but also want to provide health insurance for their employees. The healthier workers are, the more they are going to work. Combine that with good pay and you have increased production with more money coming into our economy.

As the FBI investigates “pay to play politics” by our current elected Republican majority, we must assess what direction we want our state to go in. This majority immaturely made animal noises while a Democratic Representative argued against the unfortunate cuts to health care in this state. This combination of greed and irresponsibility has hurt our most vulnerable in our society, hurt our communities in areas such as education and health care, hurt our pocket books with the sky rocket rise in college tuition, prescription drugs and gasoline. It has also hurt small businesses that cannot compete with mega companies and continue to be put on the back burner. If we demand responsible plans instead of irresponsible “shoot from the hip” policies and rhetoric, as voters, together we all benefit.

Chris Moreno is the Democratic Candidate for State Representative in Missouri’s 48th District, is elected to the Jackson County Democratic Committee representing the Lee’s Summit area, member of the Raytown Democratic Association, Summit Democratic Club and Lee’s Summit Breakfast Optimist Club.