Health Reform is Coming!

Hold on to your hats. Health reform is right around the corner. Or is it?
President Obama is going to push very hard this week to keep health reform on track before Congress goes on break this August. Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of U.S. Department Health and Human Services, was quoted late last week, " This budget (I.e., Fiscal budget proposal for 2010) sends a clear message that we can't wait any longer if we want to get healthcare costs under control and improve our fiscal outlook."
The issue for all Americans' health and well-being remains access, cost and quality.
There remains little detail on the Administration's legislative and regulatory proposals for health care reform. There continues to be this cloud of secrecy over what appears to be future significant change. Whatever happened to transparency and accountability? Much of what is talked about has to do with Medicare cuts to providers and healthcare systems. A push for "pay-for-performance" or quality-based care is a high priority item.We may even have a public health insurance program available for all Americans as an alternative to the private programs available now either individually or via group coverage. Again, this begs the question, how are we as taxpayers, going to pay for it? This is all becoming more Darwinian as time goes on,the strong will survive and the weak will perish.
How will this effect the people in smaller communities like Williston, Florida? I suspect that Nature Coast Regional Hospital will have to close its doors on the community. Medicare and Medicaid payments to hospitals will begin to be cut by 2011. Our little hospital already provides around 60% "free care" to the county residents. There is very little margin for operations error in hospitals that only provide primary hospital services. Nature Coast Regional Hospital saves lives. Our Emergency Room is open 24-7 to provide immediate and life-saving care. Without our ED being open, people will have to travel an additional 25-30 minutes, which is certainly the difference between stabilizing care and death.
For everyone reading my blogs, write your Congressmen and Senators now and tell them how much our current health care delivery system means to you as patients. Let them know how much we need to remember the patients in all of this.
I continue to say that when we eliminate politics and profitability from health care delivery in this country, we will solve the healthcare crisis. More to follow.
Dr. Dale