It's time to get serious about health care reform

In the aftermath of the U.S. Senate’s unseemly spectacle over health care repeal and replace, this would be a good time for elected officials to end the political nonsense.

There’s good reason why the public noise around the issue has been emotionally charged: There are no simple solutions and lives and well-being are truly at stake — especially seniors and other vulnerable people.

Let’s now work together and focus on the real issues of how to improve access, affordability, cost and humanity in our health care system. The vast majority of Americans would appreciate it.

Coherent consensus thinking using evidence based practices — applying what we already know works — could make far better use of existing health care resources to move us all forward and strengthen our nation.

1) We should all agree that the status quo in our health care system needs serious improvement. But simply dismantling it puts people, the economy and our social fabric at greater risk.

2) It’s not part of a compassionate America nor good public policy to penalize older Americans for aging or to discriminate against people who get sick.

3) Unreasonable profiteering in the pharmaceutical, insurance and medical industries that drives costs at the expense of consumers must not be tolerated and an ability to negotiate prices is imperative.

4) There should be a public option on the health care exchanges, and, like auto insurance, require young, healthy people to buy into exchange coverage to help share the risk and to deal with the scenario of the “invincibles” not being so invincible. We must have standards of coverage to ensure that an unforeseen illness or accident does not destroy an individual’s financial stability.

5) Access to healthcare should never be dependent on a person’s net worth.

There is ample evidence that both public and private investment in preventative health care is not only good medicine, it’s also cost-effective. Early detection and treatment saves lives and money. This is good for a strong America and there are ways to design coverage that encourages both provider and individual responsibility.

People — seniors among them — want and need access to quality health care and services at a price they can afford.  That should not be an unreasonable expectation.

Barry A. Kaufmann is the president of the New York State Alliance for Retired Americans, representing nearly 500,000 senior New Yorkers and community organizations across the state.