Patient Responsibility Is Important

In the swirling health-care reform debate, the issues often revolve around insurance companies that deny coverage and charge too much, providers who don't provide high-value care and government programs that are bankrupting the country. While these are important factors that need to be addressed in health-care reform, there is a critical element missing: what is the responsibility of individual patients?

We all bear some responsibility in reforming health care and, from the perspective of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center, this includes individual responsibility as well. Individuals should be expected to purchase health insurance and the appropriate role of government is to provide sliding-scale subsidies to those who need assistance paying premiums. Carrying health insurance is necessary in order for people to have access to timely, appropriate medical care, which is a critical step in improving the health care system in the United States.

Individuals can also start affecting change in health-care reform immediately by adopting and maintaining healthy behaviors. People can wear seat belts and use proper child restraint in vehicles, stop smoking, adopt a healthy diet, maintain a healthy weight, and choose a primary health care provider to work with over time instead of using the emergency room for routine health care. People who have chronic diseases can learn about and understand their conditions, and work with their health care providers to adopt the best treatment options and then stick to them. As individuals, there is much we can do to become proactive, smart consumers of health care and active participants in the health care process.

The health care system in our country will not create the value it should until our system actually rewards instead of punishes those care providers who deliver the greatest value. Thus, while access to health care and carrying insurance are very important, the job of reforming health care will be far from complete unless and until we begin to pay for what we want out of our health-care system -- better outcomes, better safety and better service at a lower cost.

By Jeffrey Korsmo  |  July 8, 2009; 4:12 PM ET  | Category:  Health Care Reform , Insurance
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Posted by: lensch | July 9, 2009 4:42 PM
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