(REVISED) Is this America? The Nation Struggles with Health Care

PHILADELPHIA, PA --I recently woke up from a restless night’s sleep with a stabbing pain in my back that sent chills through by body. I called my primary care physician hoping that the pain I felt could be heard in my voice and sway them to let me come in for immediate care.

Unfortunately, there was nothing they could do. They were booked for the next four days. The receptionist suggested that I go to the emergency room at nearby Presbyterian Hospital.

At this moment, a feeling of panic came over me. I knew going to the E.R. would be a great hassle – signing in, waiting, paying the entirely too expensive co-pay, suffering from sickness and boredom, and more waiting.

To my despair, that is precisely how the story went – eight excruciating hours of sitting in aluminum chairs with an onset of fever and back pain to find that I had a kidney infection.

During my time in the E.R., I realized quite abruptly that health care in this
country is not quite what I would call fair or functional.

It occurred to me that while I think I pay far too much for my insurance and the services I receive, I am very fortunate that I am able to have insurance at all.

I was one of the few people in the ER that day who was insured. I know this because I witnessed several instances where patients – sick patients in need of care - were turned away because they could not afford the services.

I remember asking myself, “Is this America?”

In the United States, employers are the primary source of health insurance, offering coverage to approximately 160 million Americans, about 60 percent of the American population under 65.

But, due to sky rocketing inflation and premium increases, it is becoming increasingly difficult for small businesses to provide basic coverage for their employees, while many corporations are shifting the growing burden onto their employees, leaving many Americans with little option for affordable coverage.

Since 2000, health care premiums have grown 75 percent, inflation has risen 14 percent, yet wages have increased only by 15 percent, according to the 2005 annual benefits report published by the Kaiser Family Foundation.

According to the PBS special, Health Care Crisis: Who’s at Risk, there are, as a result, approximately 44 million Americans, a number that continues to grow, with no health insurance, and another 38 million whose health insurance is inadequate.

These sorts of statistics reflect the many patients who will postpone necessary
care and forego preventive care to avoid medical bills.

“The people who are most at risk today are those who have no health insurance at all…they could lose everything that they've saved in their lives because of some even fairly minor health problem,” said Sherry Glied, PhD, Associate Professor of Public Health at Columbia University.

It may be safe to say that a national consensus has been reached on the need for reform in the health care system – deeming insurance as costing too much, but covering too few.

A poll commissioned by Americans for Health Care and the Center for American Progress revealed that an overwhelming 89 percent of Americans believe that our health care system is broken, while 86 percent support reform that will provide affordable health coverage for everyone.

But what is the government doing to reverse the disparities in the existing system?

According to an article in the Chicago Sun-Times, Obama Barrack, candidate for the 2008 presidency and current senator of Illinois, told a health care group dealing with uninsured Americans, “I am absolutely determined that by the end of the first term of the next president, we should have universal health care in this country.”

Though this is an ambitious promise, concern still exists for those who will remain uninsured or inadequately insured during the period of reform, especially those with long-term or chronic illnesses.

Is it moral or even fair for a doctor to turn a patient away for lack of insurance or financial compensation?

“I think when you think about the moral obligations associated with health care, it's a very complicated moral question…It's not just an amount of money. It actually has to do with something substantive. And I think we need to define that before we start tossing around the idea of moral rights,” Glied said.

Whether moral or not, patients get turned away every day from the professional health care they need, and yes, to answer my original question, this is America.

Though no one is sure quite yet of how to solve this problem, it is certain that our health care system is in great need of reform. It is imperative for the livelihood of the American people that our elected officials not just recognize the disparities in the existing system, but to also establish a solution that leaves behind no one.