OPINION: Ray Bellamy, Physicians for a National Health Program
November 4, 2008
Single-payer system is the way to go
Millions of families are struggling with economic hardship. Health-care costs are weighing on more Americans, contributing to about a million bankruptcies a year, and are a major factor in many homes.
Distressed companies are struggling with the rising costs of providing health coverage for their employees, and there is evidence of poorer health outcomes for the uninsured. More deaths occur from lack of insurance than because of auto accidents, leading to more deaths from cancer and chronic diseases and worse outcomes from emergency care.
One in three families is now distressed by medical costs. Yet health-care costs continue to rise faster than inflation and squeeze both families and businesses.
We pay an estimated billion for health care for the uninsured and an additional estimated 0 billion in lost productivity due to employee health problems. Yet with more than trillion in national debt, but assets rated at only .5 trillion, how can we afford to reform this dysfunctional system?
Let me show how we must undertake this task.
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http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20081114/OPINION05/811140323/1006/OPINION
Joie, I am on call today...the second shift in a week. I go in at 3 since they cannot make me stay home the whole 12 hour shift. I was talking to one of our hospitalists about it the other day and he says people are not going to the doctor as it is weighing heavily on their pocketbooks. So, as a nurse, I'm seeing the change. I only work 60 hours a pay period and I have now taken 20 hours of call.
It is scary. "Benefits beyond the financial would be realized by having a readily accessed database on what kind of health care works and levels of utilization on a national basis"
This will be healthcare doled out based on statistics compiled and accessed by a database. This has already been done and was called managed healthcare. They'll use the same databases that started to collect health statistics in the early 80's to manage healthcare based on diagnosis. It didn't work then because there wasn't a single payer. I'm not sure that it will work as a single payer system unless there is managed healthcare to keep costs down. Managed healthcare sent new moms and babys home after 24 hours, expanded outpatient surgeries to include surgerys that should have required at least an overnight stay and dozens of other negative side effects. A perfect example of unintended consequences. To be honest with you, I'm not ready to give up my health insurance to become part of a single payer system. If I could be assured that my benefits both health and RX remained the same then I might feel differently. I understand completely the horrible situations that some individuals are in because of no insurance or inadequate insurance but I'm not sure that I want to give up what I now have. It may sound selfish, so be it. We've worked long and hard to be sure that in our retirement years we would be covered fully and with the best that's offered and I'm not sure that a single payer system will be full coverage with no gaps and the best that there is. I hope that I'm wrong and a single payer system is workable and managed adequately, sort of like my present health insurance. Lindy
There's been an increasing need for health care reform for decades. It's interesting that now that things have gotten worse, groups that opposed health care reform in the 90s -- business, insurance companies, medical providers -- are now asking the government for reform.
From an Associated Press article today:
Insurers make pitch for health coverage mandate
By KEVIN FREKING – 43 minutes ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — The health insurance industry said Wednesday it will support a national health care overhaul that requires them to accept all customers, regardless of pre-existing medical conditions — but in return it wants lawmakers to mandate that everyone buy coverage.
Lawmakers have signaled their intent to craft health care legislation early next year, and the insurance industry's support would make passage easier. That legislation is expected to closely track the proposals of President-elect Barack Obama. However, Obama separated himself from his Democratic challengers by opposing an individual mandate for adults to buy health insurance.
More lawmakers may agree to a mandate if it means the insurance industry will back those efforts. They'll remember it was the industry's opposition 15 years ago that helped scuttle former President Clinton's health plan.
For rest of article see:
Mandating health insurance would be a good deal for private insurance companies -- more profit for them -- but insurance coverage doesn't guarantee access to affordable, comprehensive health care. Another questions is, would this be sustainable? Seems like if for profit insurance companies were eliminated from the picture, they'd be more money for actual health care services. The administrative cost for Medicare is 3%, compared to administrative costs for private insurance companies which is around 20%.
It's a complex issue, made that more challenging by our economic mess.
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