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t's hard to imagine anyone could hate Thomas Wilkes. The wide-eyed 3-yearold is adorable, with a shock of brown hair, a mischievous grin, and a penchant I for all things Spiderman. He lives in Englewood, Colo., with his father Nathan, his mother Sonji, and an older and younger sister. But people do hate Thomas. In fact, the entire private health insurance industry hates Thomas, because not only does he cost them lots of money, he also puts in sharp relief everything that's wrong with the way insurance companies operate. Thomas was born with severe hemophilia, which puts him at risk for major internal bleeding and for which he must receive regu- 16 REGISTERED NURSE lar treatment and take expensive medications that help his blood clot. As a result, the little tyke can easily rack up at least $1 million in healthcare costs each year. The story of the Wilkes' health insurance situation is an instructive one as the debate over how to reform our healthcare system comes to a head. Government officials at the state and federal levels have submitted numerous proposals with varying but similar components—forcing individuals to buy insurance or else, covering more low-income children, W W W. C A L N U R S E S . O R G requiring employers to pay some portion of premiums or into a pool—intended to reduce the number of uninsured, which currently hovers at around 46 million in the United States. Massachusetts is the farthest along in this regard, having voted to implement a socalled "individual mandate" to buy insurance that planners are now finding it almost impossible to make affordable. States such as California and Pennsylvania, and more each day, are also embarking on this road. Despite their variations, what these proposals have in common is their continued faith in the private health insurance industry and market to provide coverage. Put another way, these proposals preserve the structure and profits of the insurance industry. As the uninsured crisis reaches epic proportions, these officials and industry leaders are finally acknowledging that all people need insur- MARCH 2007