Health Care - Not Quite Right (or Left)

by Tom Collamore

Apparently everyone read Tuesday's New York Times article on John McCain's health care plan which contained the quote:

"To some in the business community, this is very discomforting," said R. Bruce Josten, executive vice president for government affairs at the Chamber of Commerce. "The private marketplace, in my opinion, is ill prepared today with an infrastructure for an individual-based health insurance system."

This has been seen as a rejection of Senator McCain's plan, and by extension an endorsement of Senator Obama's plan. The fact is both plans have some hits and some misses, which pretty much describes the debate over our health care system.

Neither the media, nor any of the presidential candidates can be accused of ignoring the issue but, after years of talk, we are still having the wrong conversation on health care. The wrong conversation focuses inordinately on the uninsured, while offering only lip service to spiraling costs, medical accidents, frivolous lawsuits, and the need to focus on wellness and prevention. The NYT article uses the blunt 45 million number again, which is a big number full of sound and fury signifying...not much. If we are going to have a real debate, we have to use real numbers.

The wrong conversation finds us grasping for the silver bullet solution—such as universal coverage, a single payer system, or an employer mandate—as if these tactics would magically resolve our health care challenges. The fact is we need a strong employer-provided system and a robust individual market with affordable premiums and portable policies.

Such a system would:

• be connected by state-of-the-art IT with electronic medical records and other information that could be shared quickly throughout the health care supply chain,
• empower consumers with easily accessible information on providers and procedures so they can make better informed decisions and reduce overall costs,
• put the focus on wellness and prevention, promote personal responsibility, and break the 80/20 cycle -- that is, 80% of the health care bills go to 20% of the population, most with chronic conditions, many of which are preventable,
• offer a higher quality of care with fewer medical errors, less defensive medicine, and with care that is delivered more efficiently by outstanding medical personnel.

We could take a giant step forward by releasing Medicare claims data, with all appropriate protections of confidential information. The availability of the Medicare database could help establish credible performance metrics and mark the beginning of an important movement in medicine that contributes to higher quality care and lower costs. We must work to create an expedited regulatory pathway for the approval of safe and effective follow-on biologics.

We need a multifaceted program of wellness and prevention, transparency, technology, and consumer responsibility to cover more people and provide better care at less cost. Everyone has a plan -- here is ours -- it is time to sit down in a bipartisan fashion and develop solutions that work for all Americans, and then enact those solutions.

Comments

[Ambulance Doctor]

Obama is the president! What should we expect now? Which changes will be in health systems?
http://www.air-lifeline.com

[Vanessa Baugh]

How about forgetting politics and watch the language. You know what, the country needs to revamp its hospitalization. We all know it so lets work together to get something done. We also know that neither presidental candidate can get their health plans approved. Keeping that in mind, should we not sit down together as Americans and come up with a solution. I bet if we tried it could be done

[S R HALL]

Thanks (not)
For my robocall about Mitch McConnell. If I wanted total Bulls**t, I'd have gone out to the barn. The last 8 years show Americans what they get if they give ALL the power and ALL the breaks big business. McConnell (like most republicans) fight for healthcare ???(You mean fight for the insurance companies' bottom line)
Loose my number.