Health4all : Why We Need Fundamental Health Care Reform #1

Health4all

Every year more Alaskan families lose health insurance and can't afford health care. Every year more families with health insurance cannot afford to use it because of expensive out-of-pocket charges. Every year more Alaskan elders with Medicare are refused treatment by local physicians. And every year health care in Alaska continues to cost 30 percent more than down south. These problems are a reflection of the crisis across the nation. Not surprisingly, the United States ranks last in preventable deaths compared to 14 Western European nations. We have a lot to talk about.

Lawrence D. Weiss retired from UAA in 2004 as a research professor in public health. He designed and built the Master of Public Health program at UAA, and has published three books and numerous articles on public health and health policy issues. He completed a post-doctoral degree at Harvard School of Public Health in 1982, and has been in Alaska ever since. His favorite expression is "facts matter." Occasionally he can be found in a local pub drinking beer and eating pizza while engaged in passionate conversation with friends.

Why We Need Fundamental Health Care Reform #1

Posted by health4all

Posted: August 22, 2008 - 5:46 pm

We need fundamental health care system reform. Not tinkering around the edges, not head-in-the-sand sound bite solutions, not ideological mantras masquerading as health care reform. No. We need the real thing. There are a lot of reasons why we need serious, no-kidding health care reform. Here are a few well documented ones focused on the cost of health care:

Health premiums have doubled since 2000, while middle-class income has remained relatively flat.

An average family policy costs more than $12,000 in 2007, however with rising copays, deductibles, and other additional out of pocket expenses (not to mention the waste of your valuable time filling out endless forms!), more expensive coverage offers less and less financial and medical protection.

From 2003 to 2007, the share of nonelderly adults spending more than 10% of income on medical costs, or 5% if low income, rose from 15 to 25 million Americans.

Half of all personal bankruptcies are due in full or in part to medical costs.

79 million people have problems paying medical bills, or are paying off medical debts.

The long-term national budget deficit from social programs such as Medicare and Medicaid is due in large part to runaway increasing health costs which affect both the private and public sectors.

Nevertheless, Medicare has been barred from negotiating with drug companies to cut prices. Care to guess who hired the lobbyists that pushed that public policy?

Your own experiences with health insurance and family health crises may be more depressing than these facts. But, like the Ronco sales guy on TV says, "Wait! There's more!" That is, more problems, but also solid solutions.

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3 December 21, 2008 - 3:28pm | brg8

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2 November 10, 2008 - 6:12am | y4yycom

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1 August 25, 2008 - 11:32am | jranf

Healthy America vs. Universal Health Care

I might have missed it in previous articles, but much of what you write when blogging about what our health care system lacks, not the least of which how expensive it is, but you don't address how unhealthy our country truly is and one of the key reasons health care is expensive. I agree with you that many families have gone broke or just plain hurt financially in a big way due to medical costs. I also agree with you that our state and country needs to cover those who don't have coverage.

However, if all we did was to begin a major campaign to get our population healthier, the savings would be astounding. And not just in health care but in workers compensation, absenteeism, or just quality of life. But, as it is, because most of us have insurance there just simply is no incentive to go down that path ...... "because insurance has always paid my claims." And then if we were to institute a uninversal health care program, I believe we would become even more unhealthy, because any incentive that the free market provides now would go away altogether.

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Why We Need Fundamental Health Care Reform #1