She emphasized that the law is purportedly paid for with tax increases and cuts to Medicare.
To begin with, it is no secret that the US economy is in trouble. Across America the state of poverty, income, and health insurance coverage has worsened. Nearly fifteen percent of Americans live in poverty. Health insurance benefits have also taken a hit; many employers are beginning to suspend worker health insurance benefits or rely on part-time workers to cut costs. Clemmitt expresses her concern about the new health-care reform law claiming that "it will have a devastating impact on the federal budget." Although this may be true, she fails to recognize that the United States spends twice as much on health-care than other developed countries. Kimberly Yonkers, MD, in a recent article titled "The Expanding Medical and Behavior Resources with Access to Care for Everyone Health plan," says that "the current US health-care reform focuses on the expansion of health insurance to more individuals" (491). Many of these .
proposals lack the structure that would improve the health of Americans in an affordable and efficient way. A government subsidized program similar to Medicare would provide the funds. This would eliminate the need for unnecessary public programs. .
In pursuing this further, an end to private insurance is what America needs. It would represent a giant step toward ending the current systems worst distortions: skyrocketing premiums, widespread ignorance of medical prices, and the over consumption of health services. With these distortions in mind it is clear that the current health system is failing. Clemmitt says that the health care reform law "fails to lower costs or provide any real solutions to the trillions of dollars in red ink facing existing entitlement programs." This seems to be one of the biggest barriers that health-care reform is facing.