Well-known and well-respected surgeon Dr. Atul Gawande is discussing healthcare reform and his opinion is worth reading. Dr. Gawande is a staff member of Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. He helps put health reform costs in perspective in his latest article for The New Yorker magazine. Dr. Gawande clearly understands the current system needs repair. He writes:
At the current rate of increase, the cost of family insurance will reach twenty-seven thousand dollars or more in a decade, taking more than a fifth of every dollar that people earn. Businesses will see their health-coverage expenses rise from ten per cent of total labor costs to seventeen per cent. Health-care spending will essentially devour all our future wage increases and economic growth.
Dr. Gawande explains that while the Senate bill may not include specific "fixes," that's OK.
Pick up the Senate health-care bill-yes, all 2,074 pages-and leaf through it. Almost half of it is devoted to programs that would test various ways to curb costs and increase quality. The bill is a hodgepodge. And it should be.
Dr. Gawande makes a compelling argument regarding similarities between changes to the American agriculture system decades ago and what we currently are attempting to do with healthcare reform. He says similar to how government-run pilot programs helped improve the farming industry, pilot programs will also help provide solutions and improvements to the healthcare industry. He adds that this will be an ongoing process, not a quick fix.
Getting our medical communities, town by town, to improve care and control costs isn't a task that we've asked government to take on before. But we have no choice. At this point, we can't afford any illusions: the system won't fix itself, and there's no piece of legislation that will have all the answers, either. The task will require dedicated and talented people in government agencies and in communities who recognize that the country's future depends on their sidestepping the ideological battles, encouraging local change, and following the results.
The article may still leave you asking how will we pay for all of this?
To read Dr. Gawande's full article click here and then post a comment below and let us know what you think.
Read related article and watch video interview with Dr. Atul Gawande:
Dr. Atul Gawande on overutilization, quality and healthcare reform
