Health insurance solution depends on your perspective

Take a good look when your favorite football team takes the field this week.

If the players are typical Nebraskans, one of them won't have health insurance, and one of them, probably the same one, is living in poverty.

The U.S. Census Bureau reported that the state's two-year average uninsured rate is up 2.3 percent, to 12.8 percent from the average rate of 2004-05. That's better than the nationwide 2006-07 average of 15.5 percent, but puts Nebraska on the list of 10 states where the uninsured rate increased.

Some 10 percent of the state's child population, about 45,000 children, are uninsured, despite the State Children's Health Insurance Program.

The issue is sure to come up in this election year, but paying for health care is like the six blind men and the elephant.

Consumers naturally want the best care possible, regardless of the cost. They want health care no matter their financial condition.

Employers, who provide the vast majority of health care insurance in this country, are concerned about the cost. They need to take care of their employees, but they need to turn a profit to stay in business. The less money that goes toward health insurance, the better for them.

Providers need to cover their overhead, including malpractice insurance, staffing and perhaps student loans, but would prefer to just practice medicine without worrying about lawsuits.

GOP candidate John McCain is calling for a $5,000 refundable tax credit for families to buy their own health insurance. Barack Obama would provide government subsidies to buy health insurance for those without it.

How either of those plans would play out in Nebraska is anyone's guess, but the immediate, ideal fix would be for the economy to improve quickly enough for more of us to get on the payroll of companies with good health coverage.

But the health insurance elephant has many parts, and they must work together, in balance, for the animal to function properly.