Dear Congressman Heller,
As you know, one of the biggest issues in the recent presidential race was health care reform. As a citizen with a lot at stake in that area, the plans presented by both presidential candidates worried me. I believe strongly that if we want to reform health care, we need to focus on the real problems, rather than looking for creative ways to move money around. From what you said during your campaign, I believe you agree with me, which is one reason I voted for you.
I know this one letter probably will not have much impact on what ends up being decided, but I want to have my voice heard, and I hope you and your fellow congressmen can work together to come up with a plan that will actually work and benefit all of us. These are my ideas for areas Congress might look at in determining possible courses of action in health care reform:
- Find a way to make it easier to report and fight corrupt insurance companies. I have dealt with an insurance
company in the past that denied many claims that should have been covered, including preventative care. When I attempted to appeal, the company lost the
paperwork or rerouted my claims so many times, they were denied on the basis that they had been sent through too many times. Faced with the choice of the time,
effort and money required to fight them or just paying the bills myself, I chose the second option. It might be beneficial to create an easy way to report
those kinds of problems (especially if they can be backed up with appropriate paperwork), and companies with bad records could be punished, while good
companies could be rewarded. Our current provider has, so far, paid all claims right away, exactly as they said they would. Obviously that should be
encouraged.
- Wellness programs with rewards for participation have been shown to reduce overall health care costs. We participate in one of these programs through my
husband's employer and think it is a great deal for us, the company and the insurers.
- Maybe there is a way to make buying personal health insurance as easy and accessible to the consumer as buying other kinds of insurance. If I want car
insurance, it is easy to look up a number of insurers in my area and get simple price comparisons. If I want health insurance, I either need to take what my
employer offers or sign up for a quote service which sends dozen of phone calls from various insurance salesmen to my house, most of whom are nearly impossible
to get a firm quote or detailed plan information out of, and private insurance usually ends up being much more expensive. Maybe there is a way to motivate
insurance companies to offer easier access to information on individual plans and discounts on plans purchased directly by the consumer. This would be a very
capitalistic approach, since it would create more competition than what there currently is.
- Maybe there is even a way to convince health care providers to lower their costs. High cost procedures are the reason health insurance has become so
necessary. If there is any way for health care providers to lower costs, it could mean fewer people needing insurance, which is less hassle for the providers
as well. I know doctors do not like dealing with insurance companies any more than consumers do.
- National rating systems and websites where consumers could write reviews both on doctors and insurance providers, accessible to everyone free of charge,
could be very helpful to consumers.
- Find a way to better encourage and support worthwhile medical research. It seems as if we are often hearing about new drugs and ideas to combat various
ailments being developed and tested in Europe. I just read about scientists in London discovering that a drug used to fight Leukemia also lessens the symptoms
of Multiple Sclerosis and can even reverse some of the brain damage caused by the disease. The studies that come out of our own country tend more along the
lines of whether heated car seats affect male fertility.
These are just some starting points to explore, and I am sure you and others have already considered much of this. My plea to you and the rest of Congress is to please consider possibilities is these directions, rather than merely shifting funding around to perpetuate a broken system, as John McCain and Barack Obama have both proposed.
Thank you for your time, Congressman.
