11/ 30/ 2007
by Rep. Nancy Boyda, Kan.-2nd Dist.
Paying for my own health insurance keeps me connected to the problem facing America
When I first ran for Congress in early 2004, I was struck by how simple it was to put my name on the ballot. Anyone could do it: All you have to do is drive down to the secretary of state's office, fill out a few forms and pay a fee. That's it. To me, the straightforwardness of the process underscored the idea that, in America, we're governed by “the people”—ordinary folks like you and me.
But even though anyone can run for office, the people who actually win their elections risk an immediate disconnect from the lives of their constituents. Consider health care: Today, 47 million Americans lack health insurance, but not a single one of those millions serves in Congress. That's because my colleagues and I are eligible for an excellent, inexpensive government health-care package. It covers our spouses and children, too, and shields us from the real costs of health care. The insurance provides us with enormous peace of mind, but it also distances Congress from the struggles so many Americans and small-business owners face every day.
That's why I decided, soon after my election, to turn down the congressional health plan. My husband and I continue to write checks for the same private health coverage we've used for years, at a cost of hundreds of dollars a month.
Since we have an individual insurance plan, I don't need statistics to drive home the expense of health insurance, but the data is still compelling. The typical household in Kansas' 2nd District made $41,061 in 2005. The average premium for health insurance for a family of four was $10,660 that year. Many Kansas families receive help paying for health insurance from their employers, but as the cost of insurance skyrockets, small businesses increasingly struggle to provide decent health benefits.
It doesn't have to be this way. America is the richest country in the world, and we devote a greater share of our wealth to health care than any other country in the world. We ought to have unparalleled health care. Instead, the ranks of our uninsured are swelling. Family by family and business by business, the health-care system is grinding to a halt. And because it's a slow deterioration and not a spectacular collapse, too many people won't acknowledge the crisis.
In my opinion, expensive health insurance results largely from inefficiencies in the health-care system. I worked in the pharmaceutical industry for more than 20 years, so I'm only too familiar with the problem. The pharmaceutical industry spends as much money on advertising and promotion as it does on research and development. Health-insurance companies save money by burying doctors in paperwork until they give up trying to collect their reimbursements. And little-known companies called pharmacy benefit managers take more profit from the health-care pie. If we can cut this waste, we can save billions of dollars every year, helping small businesses provide their employees with decent benefits without sacrificing their economic competitiveness.
Cutting wasteful spending is only a first step toward improving health care, just as paying for my own health care is only a first step toward understanding the challenges families and businesses face in affording health insurance. But it strikes me that it's better to take a first step, however small, than to stay frozen in place as sick Americans bear the burden of a broken system.
Rep. Nancy Boyda represents Kansas' 2nd Congressional District, which includes Topeka, Leavenworth, Manhattan and most of northeast and southeast Kansas.
