Will 2009 be a Year for Health Care Reform?

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As many Americans had hoped, President Obama is in office and the wheels appear to be in motion. The health care situation in the United States is just as grim as the rest of our economy, so it’s encouraging

to see that the new administration is wasting no time rolling up their sleeves to let the health care reform work begin. However, before we get our hopes up that we are going to see some radical changes in the way health care is handled this year, some realistic expectations should be put in place. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we shouldn’t expect new policymakers to miraculously turn around the somewhat dismal space our health care system has become. But what can we expect in 2009 from our government, and what might health care start to look like?

Little Bites of Health Reform - Not a 7-Course Meal

Who doesn’t love a good food analogy when looking a very serious and weighty subject? But it’s an accurate and good analogy, and is practically coming right of the mouths of those in Congress. House Majority Whip James Clyburn wrote in an e-mail to The Hill “There are some incremental steps that we are taking — first we did SCHIP, then in our economic recovery package, we have money to help stem the tide of people losing health insurance — coverage for Medicaid and COBRA. There is also money for quality, health IT, comparative effectiveness and wellness, and money for prevention,” and then adding “And we will take a major step forward this year to increase the number of people who have health care coverage.”

While this might seem a little vague and discouraging at first, take heart. Back in the 1990’s, President Clinton attempted a huge overhaul of the then-health care system, and it just simply didn’t work. He was dealing with an uncooperative Congress and a lot of general opposition, not much of which current President Obama is facing. Despite being in the throes of an economic crisis (is it just me or are people really reluctant to call this a depression?), there is support for making the changes necessary to better the lives of the American people. A spokesperson for the House Whip is urging people to know that any small steps being made toward reform  “shouldn’t be overlooked as important strides.”

Health Reform Steps Made Thus Far

It’s nice to be reassured that changes are being made, but most people want to see it in writing, preferably on the piece of paper that comes in the mail saying they now have affordable health insurance coverage. So what has been overhauled health care-wise in this new year of 2009? The House of representatives has already passed an expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) and is working on an economic stimulus bill that includes provisions to shore up the Medicaid program, facilitate displaced workers maintaining their private insurance benefits and allocate funding to other health care priorities.