In an article on thinkprogress.org at: http://thinkprogress.org/2009/07/24/foxx-americans-health-care/ we are informed of some of the details of a Press Conference that was held on July 24, 2009 by several female Republican Representatives. “The Democrat way is not reforming healthcare, it’s destroying it,” announced Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN).

I don’t know what Rep. Bachmann is claiming will be destroyed; everything that I have seen in the proposed plans and from what President Obama has said will fix the current problems with our Health Care System. The only thing that is going to be destroyed is the Insurance Companies ability to over charge, deny coverage, and deny treatment due to a pre-existing condition or expense. Discrimination, waste, fraud and abuse in all forms will be addressed. Rep. Bachmann has made an interesting, although unfounded, accusation but doesn’t provide any clear and true facts to substantiate that accusation. Another Republican fear tactic to try to derail Health Care Reform.

Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC) announced that “there are no Americans who don’t have healthcare“. Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) disputes President Obama’s claim that 47 million Americans lack healthcare. “There are no Americans who don’t have healthcare. Everybody in this country has access to healthcare,” she says. “We do have about 7.5 million Americans who want to purchase health insurance who can not afford it,” She is urging Congress to adopt a new plan for healthcare reform that wouldn’t “destroy what is good about healthcare in this country” and “give the government control of our lives.”

She said “There are no Americans who don’t have healthcare.” But then she contradicts herself and says “We do have about 7.5 million Americans who want to purchase health insurance who cannot afford it.” So which is it, either there are no Americans who don’t have healthcare or there are Americans who don’t have healthcare, you can’t have it both ways. Either way, both her facts and numbers are wrong. There are 47 million Americans or more without health insurance who can’t afford health care since health care is more expensive than health insurance and both are completely unaffordable for individuals with pre-existing conditions, special health care needs, and families that have to choose between putting food on the table, paying for health care, and paying their mortgage.

The government already makes decisions on Health Care for current Public Health programs and they do a fantastic job at it. I would rather have them setting program guidelines than I would an Insurance Company that is only looking to make the most profit regardless of whether it saves the patient. President Obama has always said that an independent council, comprised of Medical Specialists and Medical Providers, would set the guidelines for the Health Insurance Exchange and the National Public Health Plan and it’s my understanding, according to what I have read on HealthReform.gov and Whitehouse.gov, that the House and Senate have agreed. These elected officials that disagree with Health Care Reform will do anything to dismiss and ignore the true need for Health Care Reform.

How can Rep. Foxx possibly make the claim that we have “no Americans who don’t have health care”? Doesn’t she read the news, listen to the radio, and hear the stories of millions of Americans that have been crying out for Health Care Reform and sharing their stories? If she is quoting her obvious idol, former President Bush, statement that he made in July 2007, “people have access to health care in America. After all, you just go to an emergency room” then again she isn’t reading about or speaking to the people that are crying out for Health Care Reform. Let me explain what happens when you use your local Emergency Room as your Primary Care Provider. It doesn’t work because you rarely get the same Doctor twice and they don’t follow up and perform the same duties as a Primary Care Provider. Every Emergency Room in the nation will tell you not to use them as a Primary Care Provider, they are for emergencies only and are not designed or arranged to be a Primary Care Provider. That is why they are called an “Emergency Room”. When you go to your local E.R., you spend hours waiting and they typically want to hospitalize and refer you on to Primary Care Providers and Specialists after they provide assessment and the emergency care needed to ensure that you will survive whatever crisis that is supposed to bring you to their doors. You then have to find a way to pay for that care that you receive in the E.R. and any tests that were performed. If you need a prescription filled or Durable Medical Equipment such as oxygen, crutches or a wheelchair then you have to find a way to pay for medications and whatever DME that you may need.

When you receive the bills from the hospital, and E.R. bills are always more expensive than standard Doctor Bills, then you can count on having your credit negatively affected if you don’t have the money to pay those bills. You can also count on being harassed, intimidated, and threatened by collection agencies, and in some states wages can be garnished and charges can be filed for nonpayment of medical debt. Prescriptions and DME are a whole other story as most people that are uninsured also can’t afford to purchase prescriptions or DME. Emergency Rooms, hospitals, Doctors, tests, lab work, prescriptions, and DME have to be paid for in order to obtain those services. Public hospitals are not permitted to turn away patients but they still have to be paid and will do everything in their power to obtain payment. Private hospitals are permitted to deny patients if they can’t pay. Labs and tests are billed separately. Prescriptions are simply unobtainable unless you can pay for them or you can find a Drug Manufacturer Program that you can qualify for which takes time that a patient typically doesn’t have. I could write pages more on this issue and the reasons that Rep. Foxx’s statement is outrageously inaccurate.

My question to Representative Foxx and the other miss-informed people that agree with her would be; If what you say is true “There are no Americans who don’t have healthcare. Everybody in this country has access to healthcare” then when individuals use the E.R. as a Primary Care Provider who is going to pay the bills and buy the prescriptions and any needed DME? Who is going to provide and pay for the follow up care to ensure that the patient is healing? Who is going to provide and pay for the nursing services that so many chronically ill and elderly patients need to help them survive?

In 2002, the Institute of Medicine estimated that there were 18,000 unnecessary adult deaths because of a lack of insurance while the Urban Institute estimated in 2006 that 22,000 died for the same reason. These statistics were not compiled by President Obama’s administration. So are these Republican Representatives saying that anyone, including the Institute of Medicine and the Urban Institute, who has compiled data that shows we have nearly 50 million uninsured citizens, 18 thousand adults deaths in 2002 and 22 thousand deaths in 2006 due to lack of health insurance, are lying or their data is wrong? That wouldn't make sense as there are multiple sources that have compiled the same data and they are all matching within a small enough margin of error to be acceptable and these folks are the specialists in data collecting. Or just maybe these people that are fighting Health Care Reform refuse to believe the data that proves our Health Care System needs serious Reform, Regulation, and that a National Public Health Plan as part of a National Health Insurance Exchange is the only way that we can guarantee that every citizen has access to health care because they are more worried about Insurance Profitability and maintaining the status quo than they care about other people.