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It will take more than hope to fix health system
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The financial meltdown has seriously damaged an already fragile national health care system. High unemployment and failing businesses have left nearly 100 million Americans without health insurance.
In this state, the economic recession forced lawmakers to cut more than $1 billion in health care spending. The state dropped 42,000 working poor adults from the Basic Health Plan, cut hospital and pharmacy reimbursement rates, chopped vision and dental coverage, reduced spending on vaccines, maternity and pediatric care, cut adult day health services by 70 percent ... the list goes on.
Sen. Karen Keiser, D-Kent, chairwoman of the state Senate Health & Long Term Care Committee, calls the state's health care budget and its treatment of the poor "bloody awful." The budget reduces patients' access to health care, diminishes the quality of care, creates more pain, and will likely lead to unnecessary deaths and more medical-related bankruptcies, Keiser said.
Throwing 42,000 to 45,000 working poor off the state's subsidized health care plan on top of the 150,000 Washington workers who have lost their job in the last year, will boost the number of uninsured in this state to about 870,000 people.
Where do they go for their health care needs?
Many will show up in hospital emergency rooms because hospitals cannot turn them away. That will add to the wait time for everyone hoping to see an ER physician. The bill for their care will be passed on to those people with insurance in the form of higher health care premium payments and deductibles.
We all pay for the deplorable state of the health care system, and in this state the crisis is only going to get worse when the state budget cuts take effect this summer. Despite the calamity, there was no political will in the Legislature, or support from the public, to increase taxes to ease the effects of health care cuts, Keiser said.
BLOODY AWFUL
Even with a "bloody awful" budget and the knowledge of where it likely will lead when those cuts are undertaken on July 1, Sen. Keiser still has a "glimmer of hope."
The source of that hope is her recent trip to Washington, D.C., and her conversation with congressional and administration officials who are working on a major overhaul of the nation's health care system. Those national leaders told Keiser they hope to have a major reform adopted by year's end. It's about time.
The health care system in this country is broken. Americans are bent on instant gratification. They want every medical procedure known to mankind and they don't know or care what it costs. They want to be seen by their doctor right away and be scheduled for diagnostic testing immediately.
Americans ridicule the national health care system in neighboring Canada, where taxes make health care available for every man, woman and child. It's not a perfect system, but most Canadians say it works for them. It's also a model used elsewhere in the world.
Yet Americans hold tight to today's broken system, demanding every drug they see advertised on television as the instant cure for what ails them. Meanwhile, costs in the medical industrial complex continue to escalate. The emphasis has shifted away from preventive care. Docs forgo family practice for specialty areas where they can make more money. Yet can we claim to be a more healthy nation even with trillions spent on health care every year? Americans refuse to reduce their expectations. Cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases continue to take a heavy toll.
INFLATION CONTINUES UNABATED
The result of this recklessness is that health care inflation is running three times the national inflation rate, Keiser said. And there's no end in sight.
How do you feel about spending nearly half of your income on medical care? It's coming.
"A 2008 study by the New American Foundation found that absent major reforms by 2016, it will cost over $26,000 each year to provide health insurance to the average Washington household," Keiser said. "This is nearly 42 percent of median household income. The average deductible in Washington could climb to more than $3,400 by 2016."
Let's hope it doesn't come to that before national health care reform. While the details of the national reform plan have not been disclosed, it's likely to look something like the Massachusetts health care model adopted in 2006, Keiser said.
The so-called health connector plan offers subsidized coverage for the poor and helps people and small businesses purchase private insurance. Residents who don't obtain health insurance coverage pay a tax penalty. Keiser is right when she says "the devil is in the details."
While everyone waits to see the details, let us share Keiser's "hope" that by year's end the nation has a new health care system that is both accessible and affordable to all.
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