I was reading an article published in the Wall Street Journal that summarized a survey done by the Independent Women’s Forum. This survey was meant to capture what women think of the current healthcare situation in our country. I Thought it would be interesting to open the topic up and ask a few women what their take was. I set no topic limitations and only asked for a few sentences.

This will be a three part series so as not to overwhelm the reader with too many opinions in one day.

Here is what they said:  

I do believe that the U. S. needs healthcare reform; however this is a huge undertaking that will be with us for a very long time.  Reform deserves the appropriate time and attention by Congress, not some fly-by-night bill that is pushed through to fulfill an “agenda.” I also fear that my taxes will increase dramatically regardless of if we choose to opt in or opt out of the government run healthcare. Therefore, I will be paying twice for healthcare – my private insurance and a tax increase to pay for the healthcare reform.  I also believe that government run healthcare will limit our coverage and many of our choices.  As a mother of three children who is at a physician’s office at least once per week, coverage and choice is at the top of my priority list. – Anonymous

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Regardless of where our insurance will come from (public or private) I feel that insurance companies are a large part of the healthcare issues, since they stand in the middle of the healthcare transactions between payers and providers.  Insurance companies need to be competed against creating a new “middle” which in turn will force innovation among all involved in healthcare.  With innovation comes a better standard and measure of care for patients.  We must not forget that due to the high cost of some healthcare episodes, the well must help pay for the sick.  Statistically speaking one out of six of us live in poverty and it is clear that we are not all fortunate enough to afford the healthcare we deserve, but we must find away to understand that we all deserve to have affordable healthcare.  Our children and grandchildren are depending on us to do this right! – Paulette Bulko, Senior Consultant

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I think the current health care system under private insurance is broken and needs to be fixed.  I had a run-in with my private insurance company last year about my medication and am still fuming about it - I changed insurance carriers but don't believe that any one insurance company is better or worse than the others; they all make a huge profit for themselves. We don't really have as much  of a choice as we should to pick private insurers because, for the most part, we are limited to the choices provided by our employers.  – Jennifer Burnside, Senior Consultant

Do you agree or contest any of these statements? Let us know what your opinion is.