|
Senior News February, 2003 Vol. 22. No. 2
Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.
|
|
Humboldt Senior Resource Center Back issues Table of Contents
Plus in this issue catch more news, opinions, features, book reviews, and event calendars.
Pick up a copy today! Better yet, subscribe and never miss an issue! Brought to you by 
|
Think about it: the health care system-a terminal case by Anne Weiss We all know the health care system is not just falling apart. It is being pushed, pulled, squeezed and throttled by the interests that control it. Congress will take the issue up next term. Don't expect much. In spite of his promises to work hard for Medicare and prescription drug "reform," the new Republican leader in the Senate, Dr. Bill Frist, is not your kindly old family practitioner. He is a major partner in the family-owned Health Care of America, one of the largest money-making HMO enterprises in the country. The for-profit provider side will not give up much in the way of profits without a fight. Nor is there much chance that those in need of health care will opt for less when it comes to needs and costs which affect themselves. If we are not willing to pay higher insurance premiums, higher fees or higher taxes, how will we meet the growing demand for health care? Now, the rich have life care and "boutique" coverage. The poor have hospital emergency room triage. Meanwhile, basic medical care for middle income people is slipping steadily. Small businesses cannot afford medical coverage. Lower Medicare reimbursements have led to increasing numbers of doctors opting out of Medicare and MediCal service provision. Even greater numbers are finding themselves unable to take new patients in these categories. More than 40 percent of the population is uninsured. Many more are underinsured. Insurance premiums and co-payments are increasing ten percent or more a year largely because there aren't enough premium payers to spread medical costs across a wide enough spectrum of potential users of service. This defeats the whole point of insurance. We need to look at medical care as a broad range of needs which need a range of care and treatment options made available at different prices. And we need a medical care plan that includes everyone. What will it take to get us to this point in our thinking? My guess is that if anyone tries to have a serious, truthful debate on the merits of a national health insurance plan, the components of such a plan, and a realistic way to pay for it, the cacophonic response will make the days of Harry and Louise sound like sweet reason. If the rest of the industrialized world can offer basic care to everyone, why can't we? Anne Weiss lives in Bayside. She wrote a regular column for Senior News when she was its publisher in the 1980s. Her e-mail is weiss@htan.org. Open invitation Senior News would welcome a writer who could articulate solutions to the health care crisis from "the other side." If you would like to write 300 words about how the system could be fixed to solve some of the problems, we would like to publish it. Call editor Barbara Clark at 707-476-9261 or e-mail srnews@northcoast.com. |
Senior News 