Basic Healthcare

Healthcare

What is Basic Healthcare?

The great healthcare debate is, and will continue to be, staged by lawmakers, health professionals, and academic scholars for months to come. The public has spoken insofar as the welfare of the uninsured and the underinsured are concerned. I think most everyone agrees that our present healthcare system is broken and needs to be restructured. We can’t continue to ignore the masses of people in this country who are victims of this national disaster, any more than we CAN if we are faced with any other national catastrophe. We have 47,000,000 uninsured and countless others underinsured. Taking steps to repair our healthcare system is simply the humane thing to do.

How do we fix it?

I’ll throw my “opinion-hat” in the ring, for whatever good it will do. I strongly believe that BASIC, affordable, accessible healthcare is the right of every resident in our nation. In today’s world there are enough dollars expended every year to provide basic healthcare universally. But saying that means that BASIC healthcare must be defined.

First, the determination of what is basic healthcare must come from a consensus of opinion of healthcare delivery professionals from multiple disciplines that must include physicians, nurses, hospitals, and ancillary services representatives. Input from the Health Insurance Industry payers really is not necessary. For reform measures to achieve cost containment, we must get away from basing premiums, deductibles, and co-pays on utilization experience. Otherwise cost and premiums will continue to escalate as it has in the past.

Here is my own opinion of what is considered BASIC healthcare:

(1) Statistically proven preventive care measures such as immunizations, wellness check-ups, and patient education regarding life-style habits, such as dietary discretion, alcohol/substance abuse, and exercise. Where indicated, patient education should be expanded to include genetic factors that are linked to illnesses.

(2) Prompt and timely treatment of acute illnesses, injuries and emergencies. Far too often there is an economic reason why individuals delay seeking medical care for illnesses and conditions that, if not treated promptly, lead to greater than expected morbidity, cost, and even death.

(3) Appropriate, medically necessary treatment for chronic, degenerative, and malignant diseases, such as diabetes, arterial disease, arthritis, and cancer. This group of infirmities probably consumes 80% of the healthcare dollar. Patients with pre-existing conditions should never be denied health insurance coverage or basic healthcare.

Can we afford BASIC Healthcare? The answer is yes, if we put into effect a simple system: Provide no frills basic Healthcare for everyone and look to the Health Insurance Industry to offer coverage that is not basic to those individuals who have the financial means to purchase.

A new, re-structured healthcare system will take time to evolve:

· It must disallow reimbursement for medically unnecessary procedures and diagnostics

· Incentives to provide medically unnecessary benefits must be removed.

· Quality of care must be a top priority

· Medication errors must be reduced to near zero

· All health care providers must be held accountable for cost, utilization, and quality of care.

Are our lawmakers and government leaders courageous enough to ignore the healthcare lobbyists and make these much needed drastic changes? They will if the public demands it.

Comments

[writemyline]

Dr. Clark,
I enjoyed reading your post.
It will be interesting to see how our newly-elected president will address the health care issues that are screaming reform. I believe that health care reform is unavoidable. Determining basic care is perplexing; but, making basic (however defined) care equally available to everyone is bound to issue major sparks between insurance companies and health care providers. What will happen when (and if) insurance companies can't make a profit?
Regards,
wml

[Charles]

deb@writemyline has made a good point. The question is whether health insurance companies will continue to make a profit. Insurance company actuaries are armed with a wealth of data.Once they know what is to be included in Basic healthcare, made available to everyone, they will be able to set a premium that covers reasonable cost of care over and above Basic. They will include a margin number and they should.

But the "bottom-line" answer to success or failure rests with efficiency of operations and the integrity and accountability of the health care providers and the insurance companies.

Let those who wish to expand coverage above basic have their thing. But don't bring their problems of overutilization and skyrocketing costs to "we,the people"

Whatever, don't leave 47,000,000 behind--without basic health care.

charlesclarknovels

www.charlesclarknovels.com