That Part of Health Care Which Nobody Talks About

With the Affordable Health Care Act perhaps on the chopping block under the new government come January, I wanted to share some thoughts about health care that I haven't heard discussed often.

Health care costs have increased.  Yes.  Premiums are increasing.  Yes.  How about the services you and your loved ones have received?  Has that also increased?

I imagine that if you have health coverage, your answer is yes.  People are living longer.  Health care advances have grown by leaps and bounds.  I think most people would say that this is a good thing, especially if they are on the receiving end!  For example, the cancer fight is being fought so well that in some cases, it's almost become a chronic disease with which the victim learns to live.  Other folks are given years, and sometimes decades, longer to live with their loved ones.  Many are completely cured after long, expensive treatments.  The unfortunate ones who remain terminal would give up so much for another month, another year...

I chose cancer for my example because the cancer rates in America have grown so astronomically (for reasons that require a whole other post) that we all know several people who have suffered.  I think we can all agree that although there are things we can do to lessen or increase our risk, cancer generally does not discriminate.  Sadly, this is a disease we all need to deal with at some point in our inner circles.

Advances in health care are a blessing.  They are also very expensive, both to develop and to implement.  The only way to keep premiums from increasing is to either fund it somehow (through businesses, government, charity) OR to continuously exclude people and services covered.  If the latter is chosen, the scope of people negatively affected will continue to grow in a desperate attempt to stay on top of the world in medicine while trying to keep premiums steady.  The numbers of sick, the bankrupt, and the dead would be tilting heavily towards the disadvantaged.

As a society, I think it is time to accept that if we are on board with living longer and having the best medicine available to all of our citizens, we need to also accept that health care is going to become a larger portion of our personal budgets.  It is my belief that the best way to ensure that coverage is unbiased is to include it as part of our federal spending.  There are fewer things more important than our health--this is an ok thing to receive a bigger piece of the pie.  Few of us had a hard time increasing our spending for mobile phones, wireless internet, fancier (non-safety) features in our cars, etc, yet how important are these things, really?  How much to they contribute to the overall happiness of your family?  Do any of them get you another decade with your spouse or child?  Let's be OK with increasing our health care spending, and know that it's money well-spent.

This example of cancer can be extended to most diseases which we face.  Take a moment to think about your extended family and name all the medical issues they've faced in just the past 4 years.  In mine, I can quickly identify diabetes, breast cancer, prostate cancer (two cases), thyroid cancer, heart disease, severe allergies, asthma, osteoporosis, heart attack, esophageal cancer, congestive heart failure, liver failure, several broken bones (some requiring surgery), gynecological surgery, several births, and numerous chronic issues from traumatic car accident.  This is just family, and certainly I've forgotten some things!!!  There's no way we could've collected our incomes together to pay for all these services.  The village isn't big enough.  Which loved one would I deny coverage to?  Every single member of this circle is hard-working, middle class or retired after a fruitful career.  The numbers just don't add up.  There needs to be support for health care from the government, and yes, I support increased taxes to pay for it.  I prefer to see fair tax reform as opposed to a flat tax increase, but again, that's another post.

So that's the issue  I haven't heard proclaimed--that health care cost increases are a natural progression for the level of care we demand and should welcome, so let's stop talking about how to halt them and discuss how to fund them with shared burden between families, businesses, and government.

One last note:  I can't close this without listing just a few things that I'd like to address in a later blog, but don't want to take away from my central point by elaborating on here...yes, I know that Big Pharma rips us off, and I do support reform there, yes, I support many aspects of the Affordable Health Care Act such as not denying coverage to those with pre-existing conditions, coverage of children to age 26, and requiring coverage (which we all need at some point).  I do not propose that it is perfect in its current form, but to throw the baby out with the bath water is foolhardy.