Tracey Johnson
I am curious to hear what the average person thinks about the talks around Healthcare Reform.
I am a true President & First Lady Obama supporter, proud and strong. As someone who has experienced the wealthiest of health plans to experiencing paying full price for health care after the COBRA runs out, I for one am very interested in the topic. I have heard story after story about those uninsured, using the emergency room as their health plan to those that are just going without any type of wellness maintenance with their end result loosing their life during the procedure because it wasn’t caught early enough. What has this world come to? There are many plans out there that citizens can pay for at severely reduced prices. I have heard that even those plans are too expensive for some. I feel that there needs to be a plan for every income type. Everyone needs healthcare, which includes medical, dental and mental health maintenance. This is just one humble Woman’s opinion.
I am a fan of Universal Health Plans driven and funded by our Government. They have all the statistics, data and resources in order to provide accurate services to all social economic standings. I am a proponent of options, I like to have choices therefore is it possible fiscally to satisfy the needs of everyone within this Government Funded health care plan? What I am saying is can there be centralized and decentralized health plans for those that want the upscale high priced services and the nationalized health plans for those that aren’t in need of the specialist services. I can take myself as an example. I am relatively healthy with a slight case of asthma here and there. I don’t require specialists as I have an attack maybe once every six months depending on the weather. I normally utilize healthcare for maintenance and wellness you know check ups and such, but then there are those that are in need of specialists for the diseases that they contend with thereby causing them to have larger health plans dollars requiring referrals. There is a young Woman that sees about nine (9) Specialists often, takes many medications with a large amount of Physician follow up. Individuals with these types of needs will not benefit from the type of plan I described that will suit a person like me.
Definition of Universal Healthcare from Wikipedia is as follows: Universal health care is health care accessibility for all eligible residents of a political region and often covers medical, dental and mental health care. Typically, costs are borne in the majority by government-funded programs.
My professional background is in Human Resources. I have been a part of many boards and committees selecting benefits packages, healthcare insurers, working with brokers, determining the best costs for our employees. I am aware of the finances involved in selecting such programs, the premiums, the deductibles, the co-pays and the flex accounts – basically the impacts on eligible and ineligible employees. The thought of doing this at a national level is mind boggling, so with keeping that in mind I don’t want anyone to think that I am simplifying this topic. I am under the thought process that this is something that has come down to cost. Which is what the debate is truly about. What is it going to cost our Government to fund this program? What is it going to cost us as residents of this great Nation? And finally what is going to cost all of those that support the health plans to date?
As of now, clinical care is largely based on pharmaceuticals otherwise known as prescription drugs. The development of it, the creation of it, the testing of it, the administration of it and the selling of it. Prescription drugs used to be only relegated to the doctor’s office but now we have them being sold on infomercials during late night television. Clinical Trials funded through the National Institutes of Health (NIH) are being developed and passed on the regular for every disorder known to Humankind. Hospitals now known as Health Systems do not operate with a community service/not-for-profit mindset any longer. They are structured as towers where the Physicians are obligated to not only serve the masses medical needs but they have to be sales minded to ensure that their tower of service makes a stipulated amount of money. What that equals to folks is the Physician recommending more tests; follow up, rehab, and prescription drugs.
These things all add up to generating revenue for their particular area of specialty, i.e. Cardiology, Oncology, Neurology and such. These are major areas of specialty care for disease; I am of the belief that these services are most necessary, but I am also of the experience that this is what is done. In my years of health care I worked in Human Resources, hiring Cardiologist, Oncologist, Researchers for all Pediatric & General population Specialties. Part of my role in recruiting these professionals was ensuring that they understood their role in increasing the revenue for the health system. Just providing excellent clinical care isn’t enough any longer – it’s big business. I say all of that to raise the question where does this fit in the ideology of the Healthcare Reform Plan?
With that in mind, what can we expect from this Administration? We are hearing a lot of talk of public option, whether our President has abandoned the idea or not. There are still a lot of questions concerning which way our Country is going to go with Healthcare Reform in the meantime more and more people are unemployed without benefits and the wait list to get on welfare or medical benefits continues to get longer and longer. I can’t wait to see how this all works out. Stay tuned.
b@peace
