I had never been seriously injured and could count on one hand the number of visits to a doctor I made over the last fifteen years. That changed two weeks ago when during an after-dinner walk with my family and our dogs I managed to plant my forehead into the neighbor’s sidewalk. It is fair to say the ambulance ride, emergency room treatment, two days in Intensive Care and the bills now coming due for that care have impacted my analysis of the rhetoric coming out of Washington about reforming healthcare in America.
My wife and I run a small business and, as a result, pay every dime of our health insurance coverage ourselves. I will admit I groan every quarter when that bill comes due. Since our three kids were born, we have paid more in premiums than we have consumed in benefits paid under the policy. Of course, my tripping over the dog’s leash has changed that some. As of today, this ‘lapse of grace’ has resulted in medical bills closing in on $20,000 and counting. Suddenly, that July premium payment looks like a better deal.
At a recent meeting of the American Medical Association, President Obama said healthcare in America “has taken the pursuit of medicine from a profession - a calling - to a business.” The President told the gathering, “You didn’t enter this profession to become bean counters and paper pushers. You entered this profession to be healers. And that’s what our healthcare system should let you be.”
It is hard to disagree with that, except most of those doctors have gigantic medical school debts and trying to calculate the cost of providing care in this country is enough to make my cracked head throb a tad more than it already does. Healthcare is a business and Americans have reaped the fruits of this industry for a long time. The crushing downside is that we are paying handsomely for it as consumers and taxpayers.
The President and his fellow healthcare reformers repeat a refrain that providers and insurers are stuck in a system that pays for procedures instead of patient care. This is exactly the type of intellectual call to action that makes me root for Mr. Obama. But, as I tried to decipher the argument and determine what our collective course to reform will be, the familiar ache in my forehead again made me wince.
When I was moaning in the hospital, I wanted two things; relief from the pain, and to recover fully. In short, access to the best healthcare had to offer. After all, isn’t that what I have been paying those outrageous premiums for all of these years? Truthfully, isn’t that what we all want - a system that is available when we need it and puts treating the injury or sickness before growing somebody else’s balance sheet?
I had my third and final CT Scan yesterday and my doctor tells me that everything is healing well. (He did, however, fail to recommend any treatment for a bruised ego caused by clumsiness.) I cannot say if three CT Scans were recommended because my health plan will pay for them, or because it made good sense from a medical standpoint. What I do know is that my wife and I were able to ask many questions and the doctor answered them using a kind of interactive picture of my broken head.
Those who claim the free market alone should be allowed to determine our course are as wrong as those who advocate a single national system. As a business owner, a good first step will be allowing me to buy into as big of insurance pool as feasible, one that spreads the risk among as many of us as possible. It is my right and my responsibility to pay for healthcare for my family, but the current system hampers economic growth for companies and has brought too many families financial ruin.
Regardless of the deal that will be struck in Washington to change healthcare in this country, I am pretty sure all of us will continue to pay a hefty price for it. I, for one, am a bit more willing to do so in light of recent events, and am grateful for the reminder of how lucky I am to live in a place where a guy can get such good care for a bump to his rather hard head.
No comments:
Post a Comment