EDITORIAL: Pee Dee stands as best, worst of U.S. health care

The Pee Dee stands as one of the best and worst examples of health care in America.

The region benefits from outstanding hospitals, including McLeod Health Care and Carolinas Hospital in Florence.

But with high unemployment and poverty rates, about 20 percent of the population does not have health insurance, according to the most-recent report sent to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The lack of insurance makes health care unaffordable for many, lowering the quality of life in the region.

Health care for thousands becomes a visit to an emergency room or a rural clinic. Some providers, such as Mercy Medicine and Hope Health in Florence, provide reduced or free services, but their generosity cannot begin to cover the need.

Therein lies the quandary with the federal health care legislation the House passed over the weekend.

While most Pee Dee residents have health insurance through their employers, the growing list of those without it has spurred Democrats and President Barack Obama to provide it. Hospitals, tired of passing along charitable costs to paying customers, want some kind of solution as well.

The question is: Does The Affordable Health Care for America Act (or H.R. 3962) provide the solution?

The legislation, approved 220-215 by the House:

restricts insurance companies from denying coverage to anyone with a pre-existing condition or charging higher premiums based on gender or medical history.

provides federal subsidies to those who cannot afford it.

guarantees coverage for 96 percent of Americans, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

It would create the most-sweeping expansion of health care coverage since Medicare was created more than 40 years ago.

“For years, we’ve been told that this couldn’t be done,” Obama said, citing the decades of failed health care reform efforts. “The House proved differently.”

As the Senate prepares for the next step, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said the legislation is “dead on arrival to the Senate.” The problem, Graham said, is a public insurance option. The government-sponsored care would “destroy” private health care.

“I hope and pray it doesn’t (pass) because it would be a disaster for the economy and health care,” Graham said on the CBS show “Face the Nation.” “It will be a death blow to private choice.”

Graham and others who oppose the public option are right to express concerns about how it will impact private plans. They’re also correct in wondering how taxpayers can afford the $1.1 trillion price tag.

A taxpayer revolt might be the problem facing Obama and his party if the health-care debate spills into 2010. An election-year referendum of big government sounds dicey for the Democrats.

The price of inaction leaves many Pee Dee residents and Americans without the prospect of health care. The health and well being of the region remains one of our top issues.

“It took us more than 60 years to come this close to providing access to quality health care for all Americans, but we still have a ways to go,” U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., said. “We cannot let this opportunity pass without enacting true reform.”

We’re hoping a successful compromise comes out of the Senate, one that gives care to the most vulnerable without putting the government into competition with private business.

— Unsigned editorials represent the views of this newspaper. Editorial Board members are Mark Laskowski (regional publisher), James Bennett (regional editor), Sam Bundy (sports editor), Kimberly Ginfrida (news editor), David Johnson (regional circulation director), Charles Tomlinson (Lake City News & Post editor) and Jackie Torok (metro editor