HCCD Report Arizona 85358

WHA Health Care Community Discussion 

Group Submission

General Questions:

Number of people 13

Summary of Responses from Discussion Questions:

Because of the complexity of the health system and associated problems, our attendees were uncomfortable with trying to identify one problem as the biggest.  Their input was combined to generate the following report of problems with the current health system.

High Costs of Healthcare Resulting From:

• Administrative costs too high (substantial profits without healthcare delivery) 
• Expensive health insurance (see more details below)
• Prescribed medications expensive—too much primetime advertising, too much profit, not consumer-friendly
• Too many freeloaders, especially illegal aliens, too much use of emergency rooms for non-emergency situations--number of uninsured increases costs for those who are insured
• Overuse of system, requests for unnecessary tests, poor lifestyle choices
• Lack of accountability at various levels, possible fraud involving governmental payments
• High costs of malpractice lawsuits

Confusing, Complex, Costly, Inflexible Health Insurance Playing Field 

• Many can’t afford it, too expensive for self employed, many choose NOT to have it
• Too much bureaucracy, hard to make changes, decisions made by bureaucrats, not physicians
• Inflexibility of what’s available, tied to full-time employment, can’t be moved from state to state
• Some businesses don’t provide it, even if costs paid by employees to get group benefits
• Need for referrals for specialists, lab, or diagnostic tests
• High cost to healthcare providers of dealing with insurance companies, forms, procedures
• Policies pay more for procedures than for cognitive, preventive medicine
• Complicated procedures, may not be understood by doctor’s office and patients
• Burdensome government rules/regulations
• Unfairness of some people having no, others poor, some excellent insurance
• Entrenchment of for-profit insurers, and HMO’s with powerful legislative lobbies
• Different insurers, different rules, different provider lists

NOTE: There was some sentiment for a single-payer system.

Factors Contributing to Reduced Quality and Availability of Healthcare:

• System out of date, very limited use of electronic medical records, health and healthcare research funding too political
• Shortage of primary care physicians, especially in poor and rural areas
• Failure to treat at most appropriate level, not enough use of nurse practitioners, physician assistants, pharmacists as part of a team
• Lack of coordination among various providers treating a single patient
• Insufficient 24/7 access to primary care clinics or other treatment options, especially in poor or rural areas
• Little preventive care, pharmaceutical or surgical intervention used instead.
• Too much defensive medicine practiced

Lack of Individual/Family Responsibility for Their Own Health/Healthcare As Shown By:

• Poor lifestyle choices of many people, without economic incentives to change
• Limited health education or knowledge including the value of good nutrition and exercise
• Willingness to transfer responsibility to others, e.g., no involvement in health insurance claims, responsibility transferred to healthcare providers
• Limited patient input into system results in feeling of helplessness to bring about improvements

Our group felt that the time allocated for this initial discussion was not sufficient to explore ways to reduce or eliminate some of these problems. Each of the questions raised in your instructions for the community discussions might be the topic for a future discussion.  Making major changes in the healthcare system is NOT going to be easy or quick if it is to be effective, efficient, and doable.