Gray Column: A health-care conversation with a congressman

Reforming health care this year may not be the calling of our generation but it’s surely a test for our generation.

You might think that I am being a little dramatic. And maybe you are right but the facts speak for themselves.

Even the most conservative of estimates says there are 47 million uninsured Americans (2.1 million are Virginians).

Also, the Kaiser Family Foundation reports that 17 percent of the Gross Domestic Product — what we spend money on and how much it costs — is spent on health care.

And, in May of this year, the Social Security and Medicare Trustees reported that Medicare will go bankrupt by 2017, two years earlier than previously expected.

So, as you can see we are approaching a climactic point where something has to be done. The only question is — what?

To get a better understanding of the “what,” I wanted to talk with someone deeply involved in the process.

So, I spoke with Republican Rep. Rob Wittman of Virginia’s 1st Congressional District — which includes Dumfries, Stafford County and Fredericksburg.

I want to share with you some of the issues we talked about concerning health care reform from his viewpoint.

Because we talked about quite a few things, I decided to write about our discussion in two parts. The first is concerning access and types of health care reform options being discussed. Next week will
talk about the cost of health care reform.

After that I hope to speak with a Democratic member of Congress to get the other perspective as well. This issue is much too important for exclusive views from one political party or the other.

To start, I asked Wittman about the 2.1 million uninsured Virginians. Incidentally, 81 percent of the 2.1 million Virginians either work part time or full time. Regardless, they fall into that gap of either not
being able to afford health insurance or their employer not offering it.

I asked Wittman what could be done through legislation to eliminate the gap for Virginians who need coverage but cannot afford it.

One of the options he mentioned is a tax credit for people with more modest incomes and tax credits to help small businesses cover the administrative costs of establishing and maintaining coverage for
those employees unable to afford coverage. These credits could help small businesses provide private insurance options their employees could afford.

He also mentioned the need for states like Virginia to redesign insurance laws making coverage more affordable through competition. The thought here is the more free market competition, the more
options for consumers and the more affordability of coverage for people.

Next we talked about public vs. private insurance options — also known as government-run health care vs. the more traditional employer-based system we now have.

President Obama has said he doesn’t want to eliminate private health care insurance. However, Wittman and most Republican members in Congress are concerned that could very well happen.

The Wittman mentioned his concern that a public plan could cause individuals to drop their private insurance plans in favor of a public plan. You might say what is the problem with that? After all isn’t that
more competition? I did ask that question of Wittman.

“We must consider that the more people drop out of private insurance the more likely the cost of private health insurance would go up due to fewer participants,” he said. “The results of a declining private
plan could limit a patient’s choice of doctors and medical treatment options.”

The thought here is that doctors in a public plan would potentially be limited in care options due to a bureaucratic process more focused on cost savings than patient needs.

Throughout our discussion Wittman focused on the need for bipartisanship. “Health care reform needs to have the fingerprints of Democrats, Republicans and independents on it if this is to be a truly
successful effort,” he said. “Hopefully that will be the case.”

I look forward to sharing with you the second half of our discussion so that you can have a better understanding of what is at stake with health care reform. Whether you agree with Wittman or not, you
cannot ignore the significance of this reform effort and the need to hear from every side about it.

Davon Gray works in Washington, D.C., and resides in Woodbridge. Contact him at davongray@verizon.net.