By DR. JULIAN GONZALEZ
Anchorage Daily News, Feb. 25, 2011
It seems Gov. Sean Parnell has drunk the tea party Kool-Aid about health care reform in order to be “Republican Fashionable.” You would think he would at least consider the health care reform instituted by fellow Republican and former governor Mitt Romney in Massachusetts, a plan not unlike the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). But, that’s OK, because only 14 percent of Massachusetts physicians think their state’s model would be viable for the rest of the country (Massachusetts Medical Society “Physician Workforce Survey”, 2010). However, 66 percent preferred either a single-payer plan or a private-public insurance option.
In a sense, I’m in the governor’s camp in that I also don’t like the PPACA, or “Obamacare” as it is affectionately known, but not for the same reasons. Basically, it doesn’t go far enough; it doesn’t increase accessibility, quality of care or contain medical costs. Alaska can do better, though, it can do what Vermont is planning: getting a federal waiver and implementing a single-payer program.
Multiple studies by independent organizations such as the Commonwealth Fund and Organization For Economic Cooperation And Development (OECD), have compared the health care outcomes of industrialized countries and have demonstrated that for the high cost of our health care, $7,290 per capita, the highest of all the developed countries (Canada comes next with $4,790) we consistently trail in health outcomes such as life expectancy at birth, asthma mortality, infant mortality rate, chronic disease care, etc., as well as access to affordable, quality care.
Gov. Parnell seems to believe that clinging to the present status quo of insurance-dominated health care, and the addition of technology, such as electronic medical records and telemedicine, neither which has been shown to improve health outcomes, will take care of our problems. But insurance companies are the problem. It’s because of insurance companies that people are more likely to incur higher medical expenses, spend more time on paperwork, have more claims denied, have more health care dollars go to administrative work and profits, and limit both physician and patient choices in their needed health care. Insurance companies are a profit-driven middleman that produces nothing.
In 2009, in the middle of one of our worst economic periods, the five largest health insurers, CIGNA, Humana, WellPoint, United Health and Aetna, garnered combined record profits of $12.2 billion; up 56 percent from the previous year. How many people lost their homes due to medical bills or were denied claims during that same time period?
Last year there were 50.7 million Americans who were uninsured, an increase of 4.3 million per the Census Bureau. Alaska was one of 16 states that experienced a big jump in the uninsured (109, 000 in 2006 versus 122,000 in 2009). Here in Anchorage we have a growing community of seniors on Medicare who cannot find a primary doctor as more and more in the private sector stop taking Medicare. There are also a large immigrant population, a homeless population and many people with chronic diseases that find themselves in the same situation. Most are relegated to a community clinic that is underfunded, understaffed, and overwhelmed where patients have difficulty getting an appointment. Many end up in the emergency rooms.
All this means increased long-term costs to the society because of diseases missed and chronic-care issues that were not adequately addressed.
“Socialized medicine” was coined by the insurance industry when President Truman proposed single-payer health care in the 1950s; it’s time to put that bogeyman to rest. We already have vibrant single-payer plans in Alaska in the Native Health Care system, the military and the V.A., which cover a large portion of our 700,000 people, and give quality care. If we are truly as independent and unique as we Alaskans like to think of ourselves, we should encourage our governor and legislators to act creatively and boldly. A single payer health care plan is smart, efficient, cost effective, humane and takes the burden off of employers and business. Let’s drink water … it’s healthier than Kool-Aid.
Julian Gonzalez is a family physician who has worked in Native care, military care and trained in a country with universal health care coverage. He is a member of Physicians for Social Responsibility (PSR), Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) and Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). He lives in Anchorage.
http://www.adn.com/2011/02/25/1723361/single-payer-health-care-system.html