Action For Better Healthcare

By Don Ammon
Former CEO, Adventist Health System West

There is a compelling story today in one of the blogs on The Huffington Post. It explains how a 63-year-old female cancer patient will lose her health benefits if the Senate's version of health reform - unveiled last night - were to pass. It describes how her COBRA will run out and she would need to wait six months before being able to apply for a public option plan.

This is just one of the red flags I see. The other is concern from some within the hospital community.

For example, the California Hospital Association estimates that the House reform bill that recently passed will result in a reduction in Medicare and Medicaid payments to California hospitals to the tune of $18.8 billion over the next 10 years. The negative impact just on California alone is huge!

I believe reform is needed, but we need to approach reform in a careful and targeted way.

My colleagues on this site have suggested this approach as well.  You can see one of those posts here.

The bottom line is that costs tied to reform must be evaluated and weighed against the value of the change desired.

dammon | Access, Cost reduction, Government, Legislation, Not For Profit, Not For Profit hospitals, Quality, best practices, healthcare costs, healthcare reform, hospitals, universal healthcare | 11 19th, 2009 |

One Response

1. michael stephens Says:
   November 20th, 2009 at 8:29 pm
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   I agree with Don. No healthcare system-either our current or one as proposed in any health reform legislation-should leave any Am... ...

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   I agree with Don. No healthcare system-either our current or one as proposed in any health reform legislation-should leave any American in such medical jeopardy. A 2002 study published by the Institute of Medicine entitled “Care Without Coverage: Too Little, Too Late”, found that people without health insurance were 25 percent more likely to die of treatable diseases than those in the same age cohert with health insurance. For those between the ages of 25 and 64 years of age, that translated into an estimated 18,314 annual deaths resulting from the lack of health insurance.

   Not only should we be concerned with the potential consequences to those whose current coverage might be impacted by health reform legislation and correct such inequities. Those who suffer the consequences of a lack of health insurance coverage also deserve as great a commitment to addressing their plight.

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