Iowa activists pushing for public health insurance plan

DES MOINES - Iowa activists are gearing up for a fight in Washington over health care reform and urging Congress to approve a public health insurance plan people can purchase.

Chris Petersen, a farmer from Clear Lake, is in Washington, D.C., this week along with other Iowa members of Health Care for America Now. The group is urging Congress to pass affordable, universal health insurance.

Petersen detailed his own difficulties with private insurance to make the case for a public health insurance option.

After Petersen's family was dropped by their insurance company, they had to get insurance through the state of Iowa's high-risk pool.

Their insurance costs average about $1,300 per month and their coverage has co-pays and high deductibles.

He said a public option would help control costs and provide competition to private health insurers.

"If we don't get a public option in this health care reform, it's just another Band-Aid, and politicians are very good at putting Band-Aids on things," Petersen said.

Petersen said insurance costs have risen an excessive amount each year and those purchasing it don't always know what they're getting.

"When you go to use it, they find a way to yank the insurance and leave you with the bill," Petersen said.

A recent report by Health Care for America Now said that the price of insurance premiums is rising faster than income.

The report shows families also are facing rising out-of-pocket costs, which forces them to delay treatment.

"Even those people who have insurance have trouble paying their bills when they are sick, injured or even have a baby, and this is leading to an increasing number of bankruptcies," said Amy Logsdon, political director for Iowa Citizen Action Network. The group is part of the Health Care for America Now coalition.

Their report found many employers are scaling back their benefits. Health insurance premiums for Iowa families have gone up about 73 percent between 2000 and 2007. The cost of premiums rose nearly four times faster than wages in that time period.

Others in Iowa still lack coverage. The report found that about 170,000 working adults who are not elderly do not have health insurance.