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Toward Health Care For All |
| Sun April 15th, 2007 |
If you don't believe the health care system is broken, read some of the poignant personal stories from the medical front recounted on the website healthcare4every1.org, sponsored by the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. These everyday experiences expose the shame that is reality: Even though as much as $22 billion is spent on health care in the state each year, too many hard-working Connecticut residents, even some who have health insurance, are not able to get the medical help they need.
Universal health care simply means that everyone should have access to affordable medical care, whether old or young, employed or unemployed, married or single. Right now in Connecticut, one of the wealthiest states in the union, more than 400,000 people lack health insurance. Some have pre-existing conditions and can't get coverage. Many simply can't pay the escalating premiums, including young people just starting out and small business owners who say providing insurance for their workers is a luxury they can't afford.
Premiums are increasing four times faster than inflation. Senate President Pro Tem Donald Williams, who has put an admirable amount of thought into easing the problem, points out that the ranks of the underinsured are growing, too, with 50 percent of bankruptcies related to medical debt.
Why, beyond humanitarian reasons, does universal coverage matter? When the uninsured get sick, they show up in emergency rooms, a costly alternative that is stressing hospitals and pushing up costs of insurance premiums. Even worse, they do without treatment, which can lead to more serious - and more expensive - ailments.
Major reform may not happen this legislative session. But it represents progress that this necessary conversation about universal health care has escalated from wistful what-ifs to concrete proposals.
Legislators are faced with a panoply of bills that prescribe solutions to the health care crisis. They range from government-subsidized single-payer plans involving a complete overhaul of the present system, to the more reasonable and practical expansion of existing programs, creating self-insurance pools and fixing inefficiencies.
Here are some elements that ought to be at the top of the legislature's to-do list:
Increase Medicaid payments. Poor people aren't getting access to adequate care because the government reimbursement rate has not kept up with escalating costs. Besides being fair to doctors who treat patients for less than cost and increasing patient access to care, raising the rate would fiscally strengthen hospitals and treat illnesses before they become emergencies. Reimbursements to nursing homes should be increased, too.
Expand the Husky health care program for poor children to include their parents. Increase the income eligibility guidelines. Include young adults up to age 26. Reach out to those who qualify but have failed to sign up. Mr. Williams estimates that if income guidelines were raised to 185 percent of the poverty level, that would take care of about 140,000 of the currently uninsured.
Experiment with insurance pools to cover small businesses and self-employed workers at lower premiums through spreading the risk and economy of scale.
Place a greater emphasis on preventive care and wellness. Take advantage of technology by encouraging the digitizing of patient records. That would cut down on medical and pharmaceutical mistakes and avoid expensive re-testing.
Learn from Massachusetts, which is making health insurance history by setting basic standards for health care coverage and requiring all residents to be insured by 2009. The system is admittedly not perfect, but it attempts to balance the interests of patients, doctors, insurers and employers.
Connecticut should be watching closely. The Bay State's experiment can inform the debate about how to get affordable coverage for everyone without breaking the bank.
Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant |
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