Health Care Reform

Imagine the scene: Father’s day weekend. When you think of Father’s day, you think of Barbecues, golfing, and maybe even a little catch with the ol’ Pops. But this years father’s day weekend seemed to go awry from the picturesque hamburgers, baked beans, and hot dogs (okay, so maybe not the hot dogs; we forgot them…oops).  This year’s father’s day ended up in a heavy debate over health care reform, Canada, and the unspoken word democrat.

Now there has been a lot of bickering over health care reform. Living in Wyoming, I seem to be bludgeoned to death with the word socialism. In fact, I am starting to worry that perhaps my wardrobe has too much red and I might be brought in for questioning because I dated a Russian during my college years. Russians and wardrobe aside, I feel the urge to comment on what I think of our health care system, and what I think should be some starting off points for the future. These are the things I think about (during those types of debates) when I know my opinion will only get a chair launching from it’s upright position with an accusing finger staring me from across a kitchen table with the word democrat oozing from corner of the accuser’s mouth—I know to remain silent. I mean, imagine Salem, Massachusetts, and the Malleus Maleficarum.

Before I begin, I would like to admit conservatives offer credible points. For instance, people point out that in countries with government health care plans like Canada don’t get the quality of care consumers can buy here. I agree. I would prefer to have the best possible care and not be waitlisted (duh).  

But…here is where I would like to sweep kick all the rich from their poorly deserved stances: doesn’t everybody deserve to be treated when they are sick? Why do doctors, insurance companies, the wealthy, and even the politicians get to decide who gets medical care? For the Christians out there who say down with a more fair healthcare system, I say shame on you. How can you preach to help the poor while kicking them down and standing upon them because you need to be first in everything, including medical care?

Then the moral conservatives hit you with this: I don’t want to work hard so lazy Joe can live off of my taxes. Well, on the one hand, I agree. I don’t want to pay into a system that rewards laziness. But, where health care is concerned, I think those with a good work ethic are abused by the health care industry. For example, my husband works hard. He is at the shop every morning at 6am, putting in more than 40 hours per week. Because of the economy we lost health insurance. We make too much to get help, so we need to purchase private insurance, which to get the minimal is about $400 a month (that is not including dental, vision, or maternity you pay extra for that).

Here is where I have a big problem, the health insurance companies. Why do I need to pay so much for so little? Why do I need to answer questions about my personal habits or demographics; things that help me now and will kill me later (when I need it more)? And in the end, most of the claims are denied and I end up paying out-of-pocket (thankfully last year when I gave birth and my husband passed kidney stones, we had money saved up. The insurance company we did have denied everything. So why did we pay $3500 for 2008, and why did my husband’s employer contribute $4000?).

And why are health insurance costs so high? Is it because of our awesome free market, showing us the demand for health insurance outpaces the supply? Well, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation increases in coverage using employer-sponsored health care plans are slowing down. At the same time premiums have outpaced inflation and workers wages (3.5% and 3.8% respectively). For families, the data is gut wrenching: rates for family plans have increased 87% since 2000 (please see http://kff.org/insurance/7527/upload/7528.pdf.)

So what can we do? Well Obama and Biden’s healthcare plan in 2008 called to (please see http://www.barackobama.com/pdf/issues/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf:)

 1) Lower cost by switching from the papered record system to the electronic system.  Although this would cost $10 billion a year for five years, they contend $77 billion would be saved each year because of the more efficient system.

2) Concentrate on prevention

3) Taking the competition of the drug and insurance companies

4) Reduce cost of catastrophic illnesses for employers and their employees

Overall, I don’t think it is a bad plan. It is an ideological start. I agree 100% that our society needs to refocus our attention on prevention instead of illness treatment. For instance, the cause of death has reinvented itself since the 1900s. In 1900, the leading causes of death were pneumonia, tuberculosis, diarrhea and enteritis, etc (Brannon and Feist, 2007). With infectious diseases creating a larger portion of the disparities, treating those illnesses was a reasonable methodology.

Yet, lets look at the leading causes of death for 2003. They are: Heart disease, cancer, stroke, chronic lower respiratory disease, etc. (Brannon and Feist, 2007). Obviously, on-the-spot treatment such as a shot of penicillin would not work in these scenarios.  In fact, because people live longer the rate of chronic diseases increase. Chronic conditions afflict 45% of the US population, and those with chronic conditions account for 78% (Rice & Fineman, 2004 as cited by Brannon and Feist, 2007) of the money spent on health care, contributing to rising medical costs because treatment of long-term illnesses demand expensive technology and intensive- lengthy care.

To strategically counter the changing face of illness, we need change the game plan—from man to man (where we focus on one patient and one illness) to zone defense (where we focus on optimal health at all times, blocking all types of diseases before they develop into a problem.) There should be more cancer screenings, early detection of high blood pressure, and most of all encouraging people to lead a healthier lifestyle.

I think encouraging people to disengage in poor life-style habits is important. For instance, smokers are twice as likely to die from cardio vascular disease, 23.3 times more likely to die from cancer, and more likely to develop a chronic lower respiratory disease than nonsmokers. These are the three leading causes of death that also absorb a large chunk of dollars spent on health care. If we could spend money on helping people quit smoking (or other poor lifestyle choices like sedentary lifestyles), it would cut back on health care costs.

So what do I think of the government revamping the health care system? Well I agree that we need to focus on research. Research is the best way to identify treatments that work and treatments that don’t work (or worse hurt). I also think we need to concentrate on encouraging healthier lifestyles: no smoking, safe sex, better diets, more exercise, etc. Do I think the government should create a government-type policy to compete with the private sector? Yes. The private sector has been running a muck and raising rates. We need some type of public alternative.

Contenders might argue it would decrease quality care or increase waitlists…excuse me while I puke. I keep forgetting that I live in the Equality State (Wyoming) where equality does not include healthcare.

Opponents might contend that we don’t have the money. This is true. Perhaps instead of taxing the death out of the middle class we could turn to other avenues of financial support. Maybe it is time for the United States Government to stop playing world police. In 2006 military spending (not counting Iraq and Afghanistan) in the USA was $420 billion. This exceeds the aggregate sum that all other nations spent on defense (Eitzen 2007).  Perhaps Bush wouldn’t have vetoed the SCHIP bill congress passed to increase spending on health insurance for children by $30 billion if he didn’t need to ask for (and get) $46 billion on the war effort a few weeks later.  

In the end, however, it is just me on a rant. Standing in the middle of my kitchen on a soapbox wondering if it was all a waste of time. Money is what makes the world work. No matter the great intentions one man or one government might have for our country, we always seem to care more about the things that don’t matter. In the end, we all die with or without health insurance.

Brannon, L. & Feist, J. (2007). Health psychology: An introduction to behavior and Health. Australia: Thomson/Wadsworth.

 Eitzen, S. D. (2007). Solutions to social problems: Lessons from other societies. New York: Pearson Education.

Kaiser Family Foundation and Health Research and Educational Trust. (2006). Employer Health Benefits 2006, http://kff.org/insurance/7527/index.cfm