1st June, 2008

Health care is one of the most serious issues facing our country. Millions of Americans, including 800,000 Tennesseans, lack adequate health insurance. Beyond the chaos this causes our health care system and our nation's economy, the human and emotional toll is enormous.

I visited each of our state's 95 counties during my first nine months in office, and from one end of Tennessee to the other, I have heard personal accounts from hard-working Tennesseans who live in a state of fear because their families are unable to afford ample coverage.

The health care crisis also affects those of us who are fortunate enough to have health insurance. At a recent event in East Tennessee, a gentleman rightly reminded me that Americans don't lack health CARE, they lack health INSURANCE. He's exactly right.

Those Americans without health insurance often resort to seeking care in emergency rooms, resulting in extremely high bills that sometimes go unpaid. This mounting volume of uncompensated care results in cost-shifting to those who have private coverage. By enabling all Americans to own a policy, this cost-shifting would be dramatically reduced, and the newly covered, as well as those already covered, would benefit through lower premiums, lower out-of-pocket expenses and higher wages.

We either need to find a workable, affordable, private health care solution to this crisis, or I fear that frustration levels will run so high that many Americans may feel we have no choice but to move toward government-sponsored health care. Such a system would lower the quality of care, limit access to physicians and put a government bureaucrat between a patient and his or her doctor.

I do believe that the tide is shifting and a significant debate is unfolding in America, underscored by the focus of the presidential campaign, the national media and Congress on this issue. I believe the table is being set for major health care reform.

Source : http://www.jacksonsun.com/