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Protect Our Best Features
Health care in the United States has two major flaws: high expenditures and no universal health insurance coverage. However, our system has many admirable features, some of which are essential to the future of health-care delivery:
Consumerism and Patient Choice Our patients have the freedom to choose their providers. As time goes on, patients will likely have more of their own dollars at risk and will be better informed. Thus, patients themselves will drive major improvements in health-care delivery, regardless of insurance plan. This is what "patient-centered care" is all about.
Medical Science Our country is the unquestioned world leader in medical discovery. In last 30 years, such research has improved patient outcomes in cardiac disease, cancer and early detection and prevention of acute and chronic illnesses. While technology proliferation has accelerated health care costs, our payment system is to blame, not science itself. We must support institutions that advance medical discovery and apply such knowledge to our patients.
Medical Education We must continue to attract the "best and brightest" into the field of medicine and ensure that they have superb training. We are still the global leaders in medical education. To retain this position, we must protect and support those institutions that provide the talent pool to care for us all.
The Safety Net Our uninsured patients receive their care in "safety-net" hospitals, supported by public funds from a variety of sources. Without a national health plan, these safety-net hospitals are the only hope for many Americans. These institutions must be protected.
Health-care reform can bring about dramatic change. However, it can also produce collateral damage that threatens the best features of American medicine. We should all be wary of the "ready, fire, aim" approach to such an important public policy issue.
By
Mark Kelley
|
June 30, 2009; 9:59 PM ET
| Category:
Health Care Reform
,
Insurance
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Posted by: lensch | July 1, 2009 11:29 PM
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People assume there will be less freedom to choose one's physician under a government run plan like Medicare for All. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I am 70 years old. I have had at least 5 HMO's and 5 indemnity plans before I got Medicare. Every one of the private plane restricted my choice of physician. Sometimes the doctor they forced me to go to was so bad that I sought help outside my coverage. When I started Medicare, it was a "mihiya." There is no English word to express the feeling I got when I had complete freedom to pick my physician and to go to any specialist he reccommended. I have never been turned away.
The morale is that if you want freedom to choose your doctor, eliminate for profit insurance companies.