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JULY 30, 2009 ISSUE

Healthcare Debate, Part 4

Rep. Virginia Foxx: “There Are No Americans Who Don’t Have Healthcare,”

Story by Justin Grimes

More than 2,700 uninsured people were treated over 2.5 days in Wise, Va.

In part one of our ongoing series on the state of healthcare in the High Country, “Volunteer Healthcare Providers Saving Lives and Needing Assistance,” we reported that the Community Care Clinic—a volunteer healthcare provider organization that treats people without insurance or the financial means to see a doctor—is booked up two months in advance, turns people away regularly and has initiated a fundraising campaign in order to increase its services. In part two, “A Local Cost Conundrum,” 17 percent of people in North Carolina reported not visiting a doctor due to the expense. In part three of the series, “Primary Care Saves Lives and Money,” High Country hospital officials warned us of the extraordinary emergency room expense incurred when patients who do not have access to primary healthcare turn up at the emergency room with exacerbated conditions.

“There are no Americans who don’t have healthcare. Everybody in this country has access to healthcare,” said Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-5) at a national press conference last Friday, July 24.

Foxx’s statement crowded print and Internet media nationally. On the same day that Foxx spoke out, over the mountain less than a hundred miles as the crow flies from Boone, patients—some who had arrived three days in advance to secure a spot and had camped over nights in their cars and trucks—waited in line to be treated in horse stalls for medical and dental problems at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia. According to press reports, 2,700 people were treated over the 2.5-day healthcare event.

This was the 10th annual Remote Area Medical (RAM) Health Expedition in Wise. The free clinic is the largest of its kind in the nation, providing medical, dental and vision services from more than 1,400 medical volunteers. For many residents of the area the RAM clinic serves as the only medical care they may receive each year.

A local resident attending the clinic, Amanda Clarkson, told Kingsport Times-News that her husband couldn’t get insurance coverage for the diabetes he has had since he was 4 years old. Clarkston of Wise accompanied her husband, 26-year old John Clarkston, to RAM. She said her husband has been a diabetic since age 4. “He comes here to get help with his diabetes because he has no health insurance, and he can’t get health insurance because he has diabetes. That’s so stupid,” she said.

Ironically, RAM was founded to treat the underserved in third-world countries. RAM expeditions have served people in such countries as the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Honduras, Guatemala, East Africa, India, Nepal, and others.

On the same day when Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-5) told a press conference that there are no Americans who don’t have healthcare, 2,700 patients—some who had arrived three days in advance to secure a spot and had camped over nights in their cars and trucks—waited in line to be treated in horse stalls for medical and dental problems at the Wise County Fairgrounds in Virginia through the 10th annual Remote Area Medical (RAM) Health Expedition. Photos submitted

The RAM Volunteer Corps is a nonprofit, volunteer, airborne relief corps dedicated to serving mankind by providing free healthcare, dental care, eye care, veterinary services and technical and educational assistance to people in remote areas of the United States and the world.

Founded in 1985, RAM is a publicly supported all-volunteer charitable organization. Volunteer doctors, nurses, pilots, veterinarians and support workers participate in expeditions at their own expense. Medical supplies, medicines, facilities and vehicles are donated.

RAM’s next expedition will be in Inglewood, Calif. This year, RAM has 15 scheduled healthcare events in the nearby states of Tennessee, Kentucky and Virginia.

According to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, nearly half of Americans report that someone in their household skipped necessary healthcare in the past year because of the cost. Just more than one-third said they’ve put off or postponed needed care, and three out of 10 said they’ve skipped a recommended test or treatment.

Foxx went on to say that there were about 7.5 million Americans who want to buy health insurance but couldn’t afford it. The widely accepted range of the number of uninsured in the U.S. is between 47 and 52 million and the numbers of uninsured increases daily.

The following is a new report from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce of the specific benefits the Fifth District would enjoy if the proposed healthcare reform legislation in the House Committee on Energy and Commerce survives the political healthcare debate and is enacted. Foxx apparently does not support this legislation.

America’s Affordable Health Choices Act would provide significant benefits in the Fifth Congressional District of North Carolina: up to 14,200 small businesses could receive tax credits to provide coverage to their employees; 13,100 seniors would avoid the donut hole in Medicare Part D; 800 families could escape bankruptcy each year due to unaffordable healthcare costs; healthcare providers would receive payment for $113 million in uncompensated care each year; and 85,000 uninsured individuals would gain access to high-quality, affordable health insurance.

• Help for small businesses. Under the legislation, small businesses with 25 employees or less and average wages of less than $40,000 qualify for tax credits of up to 50 percent of the costs of providing health insurance. There are up to 14,200 small businesses in the district that could qualify for these credits.

• Help for seniors with drug costs in the Part D donut hole. Each year, 13,100 seniors in the district hit the donut hole and are forced to pay their full drug costs, despite having Part D drug coverage. The legislation would provide them with immediate relief, cutting brand name drug costs in the donut hole by 50 percent, and ultimately eliminate the donut hole.

• Healthcare and financial security. There were 800 healthcare-related bankruptcies in the district in 2008, caused primarily by the healthcare costs not covered by insurance. The bill provides health insurance for almost every American and caps annual out-of-pocket costs at $10,000 per year, ensuring that no citizen will have to face financial ruin because of high healthcare costs.

• Relieving the burden of uncompensated care for hospitals and health care providers. In 2008, health care providers in the district provided $113 million worth of uncompensated care, care that was provided to individuals who lacked insurance coverage and were unable to pay their bills. Under the legislation, these costs of uncompensated care would be virtually eliminated.

• Coverage of the uninsured. There are 105,000 uninsured individuals in the district, 16 percent of the district. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that nationwide, 97 percent of all Americans will have insurance coverage when the bill takes effect. If this benchmark is reached in the district, 85,000 people who currently do not have health insurance will receive coverage.

• No deficit spending. The cost of healthcare reform under the legislation is fully paid for: half through making the Medicare and Medicaid program more efficient and half through a surtax on the income of the wealthiest individuals. This surtax would affect only 2,940 households in the district. The surtax would not affect 99 percent of taxpayers in the district.