GUEST COMMENTARY: STATE HEALTH PLAN WOULD HELP FAMILIES

Most Missourians recognize that we need meaningful health insurance reform. Health care costs are spiraling out of control, making it difficult or impossible for hundreds of thousands of Missourians to afford quality health care. Furthermore, too many Missourians are being denied health care coverage because of pre-existing conditions. And too many Missourians are losing their health care coverage because they have become sick, have changed jobs, or have lost their job.

In fact, under our present system, more than two-thirds of private health insurance policies refuse to cover pre-existing and chronic conditions, and three-quarters have lifetime limits that cut off coverage for serious and expensive illnesses.

Speaker of the House Bob Griffin and I have developed a health reform plan that fundamentally reorganizes the way we deliver health care in Missouri. Our plan requires no tax increases and it does not include any employer mandates. And while it is not a universal access proposal, it does extend access to quality health care to many people who do not now have it.

We ask for your support for our proposal. Our health reform plan uses free-market forces to help keep health care costs down; it will make it easier for you to obtain quality health insurance at reasonable prices; and it will make sure that no one can take your health insurance away from you or raise your premiums just because you get sick or lose your job.

More specifically, we believe our plan has several outstanding advantages.

Under our proposal:

* You cannot be denied health insurance because of a pre-existing condition or because you have lost your job, or have become sick.

* You cannot be charged higher insurance rates just because you have a pre-existing condition, become sick or elderly. Everyone will be guaranteed the same rates for the same coverage.

* Health insurance costs for small businesses will go down because small businesses will pay the same rates as large corporations, which now have much greater bargaining power in the health insurance market.

* You will be able to easily compare insurance rates and benefits since insurers and health care providers will be required to offer standard and easily comparable benefit packages. Of course, in addition to the standard packages, they can offer supplemental insurance to anyone who wants it.

Our health reform plan will contain health care costs which are now spiraling out of control. The plan achieves most of its objectives by restructuring the health insurance market to make it more competitive. The increased competition and greater reliance on free-market forces in the health care industry will help keep costs in check. Additionally, health care providers will form health care networks -- called integrated service networks -- and equipment purchases. Unnecessary duplications of the purchase of expensive technologies has been a major factor in skyrocketing health care costs.

Our plan will also provide incentives to increase the number of general practice providers in under-served areas so that the rural and inner-city Missourians will have access to important health care services.

The net effect of all this is that more Missourians will have access to affordable quality health insurance since increased competition an reduced technology duplication will help keep health care costs down. And Missourians who now have quality health insurance will have the security of knowing that their coverage cannot be taken away and their premiums cannot be increased if they get ill.

Our health reform plan does not require any tax increases. The fact is that by fundamentally restructuring our present health care system, we can achieve these advantages without any additional revenues. Lobbyists for the insurance industry and other special interests which oppose this plan have falsely argued that this plan sets up a new government bureaucracy which will require all health care providers to pay a tax of 3 percent of their gross revenues to the state in order to pay for this plan. This is not true. The proposal only requires health care providers to demonstrate that at least 3 percent of their gross revenues are reinvested in their communities for public health purposes. In fact, many providers already reinvest far more than 3 percent as a result of their high costs for indigent care.

The plan we have offered will help Missouri families. But many special interests in the health-care industry are opposing our plan because they don't want increased competition, they don't want to be required to cover preexisting conditions, and they don't want to give up their ability to terminate your insurance if you get seriously ill. Lobbyists for these special interests are working hard to convince legislators to water down this plan and make it more favorable to insurance companies and the health-care industry. We must not let this happen.

If you support real health-care reform, it's important that you let your representatives in the Missouri House and Senate now. They need and want to hear from ordinary Missouri families and individuals who need quality health care and health-care security. The paid lobbists in Jefferson City are making their voices heard loud and clear. If we are to pass meaningful health reform legislation, the citizens of Missouri must do the same.

Mel Carnahan is governor of Missouri