No Innovation Without Healthcare

Craig Harrington writes:

For several months the United States Congress has battled over health care reform. Almost from the word “go” Republicans unilaterally took a stand against any and all ideas proposed by the administration. First we saw Senator Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) lying to constituents about President Obama wanting to “pull the plug on grandma.” Later it was Representative Joe Wilson (R-South Carolina) screaming, “you lie!” to the president during a Congressional address. Elected Republicans have decided that they absolutely, under no circumstances, want anything changed in America’s health care system. They want tax cuts and to halt any programs currently being pursued or executed by the White House – even those that are holdovers from the Bush administration.

The Democrats, on the other hand, have taken a stand across a spectrum of issues. After fighting hard to have a “public option” inserted into early drafts of the legislation, the threat of a filibuster from within cut out that portion. Senator Joe Liebermann (I-Connecticut) has joined the steadfast Republican opposition. Now, the ideals of “reform” have virtually been abandoned, and in a desperate move to claim a political win the non-reform bill will likely pass with all the appropriate photo ops and signing ceremonies. The idea of health care reform, or the lack thereof, is far more than just a philosophical or moral debate. The health care system in the United States is a huge part of the economy, and for the most part it has been dragging that economy down.

An article published in the December 16 edition of The New York Times, outlines the ways in which our enfeebled health care system is hurting economic growth. The article’s focus is Silicon Valley, the unofficial center of technological innovation in the United States. The author points out that during interviews for job openings one of the top issues is corporate policy on employee health insurance. Above all else – above pay rates, time off, vacation compensation, or upward mobility – the issue of health care coverage is centrally important.

One of the reasons that we have seen such a stark drop in innovation in the U.S. isn’t just the siphoning of talent and facilities overseas, it is the stagnation at home. Individuals are afraid to change careers or start their own business not because they need more tax breaks, but because they need help dealing with health care costs. People stay at jobs where they are dissatisfied, underpaid, or poorly managed because they cannot take the risk of being caught uninsured.

America is the only country in the world with a for-profit health insurance industry. And it is the only country where that industry dominates the area of government tasked with reining it in. The vast majority of the insured never use much of what they pay for, and those who do are often denied or cut off for the sake of profit. Those who go without, by choice or otherwise, can find a necessary surgery or important medication simply too expensive to handle. Health care costs are high everywhere, but the U.S. is the only place where individuals have to foot the bill on their own.

We can all see the overt costs of private health care, and more importantly of unreformed and unregulated health care. Few see the side effects. Few see how this problem has been allowed to strangle the economy. We don’t necessarily need the public option, or a single-payer system. We could survive being the only nation in the world with private insurance. But we cannot survive if the industry is allowed to destroy everything around it in a wild dash for profits.