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Our health care system is killing us

August 25, 2009 Uncategorized

This is the second in a series of health care opinion posts. The first one is here.

We often hear the the health care system in America is the best in the world. But, what exactly do we use to back those numbers up? Our longevity is up, recent reports indicate we are living longer than ever. (More on that in my first post on this subject) Let’s start with infant mortality.  When the United States is compared to other countries, the picture is disappointing.  The U.S. Census Bureau indicates that 43 countries have life expectancies that exceed the United States, and 40 countries have a lower infant mortality rate than the United States. In the article “How American Health Care Killed My Father,” David Goldhill writes in the Atlantic that roughly 100,000 deaths every year in America are caused by or influenced by infections picked up in hospitals.

One hundred thousand deaths: more than double the number of people killed in car crashes, five times the number killed in homicides, 20 times the total number of our armed forces killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Another victim in a building American tragedy.

It’s getting harder and harder to define the system as the best in the world. The talk of reform doesn’t even begin to address the issues of health care. It addresses the soaring costs and access, but the actual care and real reform is a long way off. In the same article, the costs of our broken health care system seem astronomical. Goldhill writes,

Already, the federal government spends eight times as much on health care as it does on education, 12 times what it spends on food aid to children and families, 30 times what it spends on law enforcement, 78 times what it spends on land management and conservation, 87 times the spending on water supply, and 830 times the spending on energy conservation. Education, public safety, environment, infrastructure—all other public priorities are being slowly devoured by the health-care beast.

For me, the numbers are staggering. As a businessman myself, it’s when we start talking money that I really start to pay attention. As a former health care executive, I have had the best health insurance available. I’ve rarely paid more than $5 for any prescription drug or $40 for an emergency room visit. I had surgery that only costs me a hundred dollars. Surely my health care actual costs were in the thousands (probably tens of thousands) of dollars, but I was completely unaware. My employer paid 100% of my premiums and my out-of-pocket expenses never caused me any financial pain. For me, there has been little incentive to reform anything in the employer funded health care system in America.

However, I started my own business a couple of years ago and had to source my own health insurance and my out-of-pocket expenses suddenly increased. My premiums went up dramatically and even though I have been fully insured with no gaps I was still subject to a pre-existing condition clause. My deductibles went up, my prescription costs skyrocketed. (You should have seen the shock on my face at the Walgreen’s when they said $200! I had no idea any drug could cost that much!).  Even though I am in good health, the insurance company accepts the risk that they will lose money on me. I get that, so let’s spread that risk for all of us self-employed folks. Spreading the risk reduces the cost. I’m beginning to see the benefits of a “public option” for health care.

I’m also paying for the sins of others. For all of those people that do not get preventive care and rush themselves to the emergency room, I’m talking to you. (And no, it’s not just the poor and uneducated that use the emergency room as a primary health clinic, but they make good villians in this debate) Every non-emergent visit to the emergency room that is covered by health insurance costs all of us. Those that are not covered by insurance that use the emergency room as a clinic are even more worrisome. They show up too late and require extensive services that cost many more times what they would if the person had been treated early. They also clog the emergency room with minor illnesses that increase the delay in services for other patients, tax staff and waste resources.

The more I think about the health care system in America, the more I know that it is a lot of things but the “best in the world” it surely is not.

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