Time to Take Responsibility for Health Care

"All I know is it is hard enough to get payment from most insurance anyway, if payments are cut I may drop all insurance patients altogether," said M. B. Loudermilk, M.D.

This statement sums up the frustrations people are feeling regarding the issues of health care reform. Volatile and hitting close to home, sentiments are running high for everyone. Townhall meetings have broken down, at the mercy of passionate individuals fearing for the future of health care. The main argument seems to revolve around money, money and more money. Health care costs, insurance payments and who will pay for any new plans have America stumped, with no one wanting a larger portion to pay.

According to an article on Canada.com, from Reuters, U.S. health care is costing over $2.5 trillion each year and more people are becoming uninsured every day. This number seems to be exorbitant to me, considering how often one hears of record profits by pharmaceutical companies. My own mother had to change prescriptions for her blood pressure because she hit the "doughnut hole" on her prescription coverage, and Diovan, a blood pressure medication, was costing over $350 dollars for a month's supply. In the same article, Obama intrinsically links the future of our economy to that of the health care system. Knowing the cost of medicines and routine health care on the uninsured firsthand, I can understand why Obama is concerned. I am confident that the $297 per month I spend on my prescriptions could be better spent "stimulating the economy".

I have heard much criticism of Obama pushing for a resolution to the healthcare issue this year. I admit, I too was baffled until I did a little research. According to Healthreform.gov, on January 1^st, 2010, all fees paid by Medicare to doctors are being cut by 21%- over 1/5^th. Some doctors have already responded by saying they will cut Medicare patients and refuse to accept new ones if fees are even cut by 10 percent! This means trouble is evidently looming on the horizon. Obama's sense of urgency is beginning to make sense to me.

In the article from Reuters it says that the U.S. consistently ranks last among rich countries in treating and preventing many diseases, such as diabetes. It seems to me that prevention should be a much higher priority to everyone, yet my own mother's health insurance (and her Medicare) no longer covers yearly routine preventative care like a colonoscopy or mammogram. It was my belief that prevention is less costly than treatment. Healthreform.gov says that this is not an isolated incident that my mother has experienced but one that is epidemic among U.S. insured. Assuming that it is truth, How long can it be before undiagnosed diabetes, colon cancer and breast cancer mires down an already belabored Medicare system? Especially one that Healthreform.gov says will not be able to support itself in 8 yrs.?

We come to the final monetary concern. Where is the money going to come from to pay for this all? Taxpayers say they won't foot the bill. Health insurance and Doctors refuse to take less. Obama acts as if there is a magic spending cut out there somewhere. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation website, government subsidies will handle much of the financial burden. Since Obama has already promised the middle class will not suffer, one must wonder where the money will come for an enterprise of this scope. Everyone wants change in the health system, but no one wants to be responsible for it. Someone is going to have to back down for a solution to be found and viable.

It is not that simple however. Americans feel the crunch of the current recession, and even in good years, tax is an ugly word. Big medicine does not want to back down and accept lesser fees, and exorbitant bills have many Americans in tens of thousands in debt when Dad spends his last few weeks in a hospital room attached to a machine, or a major illness like cancer claims a family member. Maybe medicine should cost this much to get quality?

To maintain quality and ensure everyone gets at least basic coverage, someone has to absorb the cost. A fair solution may be to tax everyone equally. It seems to me that until Americans realize that health care is going to cost- Canadians pay upward of 40% tax to subsidize their health care- and medical professionals put health care before large profits, no one will solve this problem and Obama will become the joke that had its 15 minutes of fame.