While Wisconsin A.G. Van Hollen Played Politics, Madison Woman Goes Without Medication

It sounds corny but I take great pride in Wisconsin, this place we call home.  Therefore I was embarrassed when I heard early Thursday morning that Wisconsin Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen was hoping to legally challenge the recently passed, and hard-fought health care reform.  I did not want our state to be talked about in the same tone as Alabama, Texas, or South Carolina.  After all, Wisconsin is not like those states that are suing over the health care law.  We have a far better national image, and I want to see it stay that way.

While that was going through my mind I opened an email from an older friend.  It made me aware again of why we fought so hard for the health care law. The email said it all, and reads as follows.

This morning I had a clinic appointment at UW hospital (routine follow-up, no problems) and I asked the nurse practitioner what she thought about health care reform–a person who has first hand knowledge of the current system.  She gave me an example.  Two weeks ago she had a woman come in with a serious kidney stone problem.  She had purchased health care coverage but had not purchased prescription coverage because she could not afford that part.  Before they can treat the kidney stone condition, the patient must be on antibiotics for two weeks.  Her health care plan did not cover prescriptions and would not add it because she now had a “precondition.”  The woman did not have the money to purchase the antibiotics. The nurse said that the only thing the patient could do is wait until the kidney stones caused her to go to the ER, which greatly raises her risk of serious complications or death.  Under Obamacare, she would get the antibiotics and get the needed treatment on a timely basis.

There in that one paragraph is the story of a person’s plight who mirrors so many others around the state and nation.  We all have heard so many of these concerns from neighbors and co-workers.  The health care system, and the means to be properly insured, are filled with potholes and gaps that all of us can find ourselves falling into or through. 

What does Wisconsin Attorney General Van Hollen propose to do in light of all these medical and insurance needs?  Play politics with the medical needs and economic concerns of the citizens of Wisconsin. 

Van Hollen sought authorization to contest part of the recently passed bill.  He is stating concerns that all citizens will be required to carry health insurance, or face a penalty.  It would seem to me that instead of trying to mount legal challenges Van Hollen might first investigate the need for such a policy decision.  It is grounded in necessity. 

The ‘free-rider’ issue is nothing new, but Van Hollen seems shocked to pieces by it.   These ‘riders’ do not carry insurance for whatever reason, and therefore do not contribute to the broadest possible risk pool of the citizenry.  Yet, these ‘riders’ get sick and need medical attention as we all do.  The risk pool is made up of both the healthy and the sick, and having a large pool allows for those who are the sickest not to face devastating financial consequences.  Under the law ‘free riders’ can not be  excluded from coverage for pre-existing conditions or charged very high rates for chronic illnesses.  But before people get sick and to point of needing to think about pre-existing conditions they should contribute to the insurance pool and also have preventative doctor visits to cut down on future costs.   The alternative then  to ‘free-riders’ is the individual mandate, which I must add works well in Scott Brown’s state.   As I think it will nation-wide.   But all that seems lost on the ambitions of Van Hollen, who I should note has health care coverage that you and I pay for.

No one should be blind to what is at the foundation of Van Hollen’s petty gamesmanship on this vital issue.  The Republican Party thinks they have this health care law to run on, and make political inroads with come November.  For Van Hollen to up the political ante and make headlines so Republican candidates for governor as well as congressional candidates in Wisconsin can use it is perhaps  the shallowest card yet played.  There should be a ‘shame threshold’ that one is never allowed to cross while in office.  Without drawing a physical line in the sand it is obvious that Van Hollen has crossed it, and then some, with this latest political ploy.