HCCD Report Texas 77401

Questions:

Briefly, from your own experience, what do you perceive is the biggest problem in the health system?
- Not everyone is covered.
- Lack of portability.
- People skip treatments because they can afford them, or they are afraid of being labeled with a “pre-existing” condition.
- Lack of preventative care and lifestyle education.
- Don’t have wherewithal to get a doctor.
- The leading killers, “lifestyle” diseases include: heart disease, stroke, diabetes.
- Encouragement and facilities to exercise, necessary for good long term health are not built into the system
How do you choose a doctor or hospital? What are your sources of information? How should public policy promote quality health care providers?
- Need access to quality information about how to find a good doctor. Referrals from family, friends and the internet are not always reliable.
- Not all doctors are covered by my insurance carriers, and if I change jobs or insurance carrier, I may have to change doctors as well. If a doctor is “out of network”, it costs more.
Have you or your family members ever experienced difficulty paying medical bills? What do you think policy makers can do to address the problem?
- My son had COBRA, and he got laid off. He couldn’t afford the monthly premiums. The premiums should be added on to unemployment benefits.
- We need universal health care. We should study universal systems in other countries that have them, and craft one that will work here. It works better in many other countries. Taiwan did that (studied a dozen or so and used the best of all of them.) Pre-existing conditions should be eliminated as a way to refuse service.
- Insurance and health care should not be profit motivated, but should be quality-oriented. Competition should be about keeping people healthy, not making money. In countries with universal health care, NO ONE goes bankrupt because of health care finances. In some countries, doctors bonuses are tied to patients’ good health.
- Government should negotiate with drug companies, and medical device companies, etc., to keep costs down. Administrative costs would be significantly lower with a universal system.
In addition to employer-based coverage, would you like the option to purchase a private plan through an insurance-exchange or a public plan like Medicare?
- The U.S. is the only country that ties health care to employment, because during WWII, employers started offering it as a way to compete for employees. There is no longer any good reason to tie it to employment.
- One person is co-owner of a small business with 1000 employees. His wife works for a company with 30,000 employees, so he can get better coverage at a lower price with her company than his own. It is very expensive for his company to cover their employees.

PREVENTION:

Included in a universal plan should be education and facilities for diet, exercise. Restaurants should post all ingredients in their menus so customers can select based on ingredients, like we do in grocery stores. Clinics in neighborhoods should be available for people to drop in for education, treatment of minor conditions, flu shots and other preventative measures. It should be free. The closest thing we have to that are Redi-Care model at drug stores that are popping up.

WRAP UP:

Most everyone was in agreement on the need for universal coverage, and looking to other successful systems before designing one for the U.S.

The system should not be profit-driven.

Prevention should be covered and available.

December 28, 2008

Dear Pam,

Thank you for the invitation to the meeting on Health-Care Reform. You are to be commended for agreeing to sponsor the meeting of your neighbors. We have a house full of guests and have already committed to them on Monday and Tuesday next week. However, Susan and I would like to offer some suggestions for discussion topics for your meeting. We have discussed these issues and have identified some basic areas of concern we would like to offer for discussion at your meeting. We voted for Obama and support the platform of CHANGE.

Here are some of the things we think need attention in the health care system:

Universal basic health care should be available for everyone. As a starting point it can be established as a stop-gap measure to help those who lack any kind of coverage. It can be expanded as the entire system is overhauled – it will take a long time to change our system.
A Universal Health Care Data Base needs to be established that shows each person’s entire health history. There should be proper personal security controls and limitations on whom, besides doctors/hospitals, can access the information. There is sufficient technical capability available in the U.S. to make this happen.
Review Health Care Systems of other countries and select the “best ideas”. The commission/team that does the study should be bipartisan and should consist of informed members of the public. The work effort should be transparent to the public. Input from doctors, hospitals and health industry officials should be solicited and considered, but any decisions need to taken in a balanced format with input from the public. In other words, industry/politicians alone cannot have the final vote.
There should be a more transparent system of providing information related to the qualifications of doctors and hospitals. There needs to be a more public or transparent forum for reviewing mistakes/errors made by doctors/hospitals and a procedure for informing about what has been done to correct the issues.
The legal punishment system for suing doctors/hospitals needs to be overhauled, perhaps putting variable monetary caps on liability. Too many doctors are quitting because of insurance/litigation issues. An issue of “fairness” needs to be established.
Consider establishing a “Wellness Program” to encourage/promote good health practices. Perhaps a reward program could be established.

These are some of the ideas we think should be considered. Again thank you so much for organizing this event.

Dirk and Susan