The universal health insurance plan introduced last week by Healthy Minnesota (a coalition of providers, legislators and insurers) is nothing more than a band-aid on a system in need of a much bigger fix.

It promises universal access to health care by requiring all Minnesotans to "own" health insurance (called individual mandate). On the surface, it may look good, momentarily, to claim that Minnesota has a universal health care plan, but without underlying repair of our overly complex and outrageously expensive health care system, the satisfaction won't last long.

Healthy Minnesota's proposal is similar to the universal-health-care-by-individual-mandate plan passed in Massachusetts last year. This is somewhat surprising, since the Massachusetts plan is already failing in its promise to make "affordable" health insurance available to all.

We need repair of the broken system to achieve universal health care. It's that simple, and it's that hard. Band-aid solutions are "politically possible." Genuine reform, which replaces our fragmented, failed system of multiple private insurers with a single payer and one single plan for all, is considered "politically impossible." But it is what we need to do.

It is not un-American to suggest that we work together to solve the health care crisis. It is a huge social and economic problem that affects each and every one of us. Eighty-six percent of Minnesota physicians believe "it is the responsibility of society, through the government, to ensure that everyone has access to good medical care." We can't expect the private market to solve this problem: Entrusting it to manage health care just fractures the system and drives up cost. We need to work together on this one, and the only institution that represents all of us is government.

We don't want to waste any more time or money on band-aid solutions. We are ready for real reform: single-payer with universal coverage.

Lisa Nilles, M.D., of Minneapolis, is a graduate student in theology and a member of Physicians for a National Health Program.

©2007 Star Tribune.

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