Web Digest Weekly

R & R
Web Digest Weekly
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President Obama has some big plans and some even bigger dreams. One of the biggest goals he has set for himself
is the cause of overhauling the healthcare system we now have here in the United States. This is going to be a
monumental task. We have never regulated healthcare to the extent Mr. Obama is aiming for and we have never
really tried to reign in the escalating costs of medical care in this country either. Opponents to healthcare reform are
already lining up with their backers in place and battle lines are being drawn. It’s going to be nasty.

As someone who has worked in the healthcare industry for the last two decades, I can see why President Obama
feels that something has to be done about the situation. He isn’t the first president to feel this way either. There are
major problems with the provision of healthcare in this country and things are getting worse. The high cost of insurance
is driving many employers to cut benefits and even coverage for their employees altogether. More and more insurance
companies are refusing to pay for pre-existing conditions. Co-pays on everything from doctor visits to medications are
getting to be more than people can afford, and many millions of our elderly citizens have no prescription drug coverage
at all, forcing them to choose between buying food or medication on a regular basis. Families everywhere are having to
do without medical care for their children because they can’t afford it. Yes, this system is in a shambles and now that
the baby boomers are reaching retirement age in record numbers the Medicare trust fund will dwindle faster than it
ever has in the past. Some estimates have it depleted by the year 2020. That’s only eleven years away, folks.

It’s a bleak outlook for an already beleaguered industry. So far the government has pretty much stayed out of the
private sector of the healthcare industry. Instead they have focused on regulating hospitals and providers through
CMS and state agencies. Hospitals are not allowed to provide care based on the ability of patients to pay, nor
should they be, and they aren’t allowed to transfer a patient for unnecessary reasons either. Healthcare must be
provided regardless of finances but the cost of this is staggering. More and more people are becoming uninsured
and therefore the numbers who can pay is dwindling at an alarming rate. State reimbursements for uninsured health
care bills are at far lower percentages than the actual cost of the care and attempts to collect past due accounts from
former patients are more often than not unsuccessful because folks just don’t have the money in the first place.

To make matters worse, CMS is now requiring hospitals to submit quality data on the care they provide and payment
for this care is becoming based on its results. There are some things they will not pay for at all any longer, and to be
perfectly honest there are some things they shouldn’t have to pay for. Private insurance agencies are beginning to
mobilize in this direction as well. Quality of care and patient outcomes are quickly becoming a driving force in the
payment system of insurers. In other words, hospitals are beginning to not be paid for what they do but for how well
they do it, and this is only on patients who have insurance, and those who don’t are fast outnumbering the ones who
do.

To me the saddest aspect of the healthcare situation we’re now dealing with comes when I see stories on the news
about people who desperately need medical care that they cannot afford. Especially when children are involved.
Hospitals are not allowed to turn them away and many wouldn’t need hospitalization if they could pay for doctor visits
and medications. Unfortunately, medical practices, pharmacies, and drug companies are not bound by the same
guidelines that hospitals must adhere to, and physicians can dismiss patients from their care because of unpaid bills. So
people are getting sicker because they can’t pay their doctors, who prescribe their medications, which they can’t pay
for either, and eventually the illnesses become so severe that hospitals are the only option available, and hospital costs
are exorbitant due to the ever rising cost of the care they provide. Care which they can’t refuse. Care which they
aren’t going to be reimbursed for rendering.

There is no denying that the healthcare system in the US is broken. There is also no denying that something has to be
done about it. Hospitals can’t afford to keep providing care without being remunerated for it. Nurses and doctors have
to be paid. Medicines and supplies have to be bought. There are many different ancillary departments that are utilized
whenever a patient walks into a hospital and the staffers here have to be paid too. Plus, and here’s the kicker,
hospitals must pay higher costs for many items they buy because there are laws in place that regulate who and where
they can make purchases. This is why it is so much more expensive to go to your local emergency department than it is
to go to your doctor’s office.

Yes, something has to be done or hospitals will be closing down in large numbers in the not too distant future. Then
what will become of people when they need care and can’t afford to go to a private physician. Health departments are
overwhelmed and dealing with cuts as well. Free clinics are disappearing because there is no money to pay for them.
Drug companies aren’t giving medicines away. Costs are going into the stratosphere. It’s a vicious cycle that must be
addressed.

But how to address it is the clincher. Should we move to a socialized medicine culture the way the UK has? Should
we enact legislation that regulates how much medications and medical equipment will cost? Should we just leave it
alone and let the ashes of the current system be used as a foundation for the next one as soon as this one collapses?
People worry that they will lose control of which doctor they can see or what hospital they can go to if socialized
medicine is the outcome. They also worry that their taxes will go up as the means for the government to pay for it, too.
Enacting legislation to regulate the cost of medical necessities would no doubt be legally challenged as a price fixing
maneuver. Letting the present system go until it disintegrates under its own weight won’t help anyone, and the
reconstruction would be laborious, long, and astronomically costly.

Is there an answer?

Yes, there will be one but will it be what people want, need, and will be happy with once it arrives? That’s what
remains to be seen. Changes are coming and we stand on the threshold of making some of the most sweeping reforms
that have ever been made in our nation’s history. We can’t keep going down this same road because a dead end is in
sight. We have to make a new beginning. For ourselves, our children, and future generations of Americans. Personally,
I think it will indeed be socialized medicine that wins out. I believe all aspects of our healthcare system will become
government regulated and that healthcare workers will be government employees.

Is this the right choice? Should we try something else? Who can say? The only surety at present is that something has
to give before the medical care in this country flat lines.

Have a wonderful week and God bless…

Rantings
& Ramblings
by
Carey Parrish
~~~

"Reforming
Health Care"