Universal Access to Quality Health Care is Our Moral Obligation

By John A. Rinaldi

Our nation must come together to increase the quality and years of healthy life, eliminate the health disparities by providing universal access to quality healthcare for all Americans, more physicians and nurses, and eliminate layers of insurance and red tape that drive healthcare costs skyward.

The United States is a nation capable of the greatest healthcare in the world. In fact, the U.S. has the greatest healthcare in the world. The issue we face as a people is that it is not accessible to the majority of its citizens. We have 46 million Americans completely uninsured, while tens of millions of others go under-treated. A pressing need and demand for universal and affordable healthcare exists. Presently, 15 % of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is spent on healthcare with more than half of those monies spent on administration. Our nation spends 2.5 times as much per person as any other country per person on health care.

We must view this as both a fiscal and a social issue. In short, it not only makes sound economic sense to provide universal access to healthcare, it is also our moral obligation.

The United States, while paying more than double of any other industrialized nation, still lags behind in three critical areas:

1. The U.S. has 2.3 practicing physicians per 1000 population, below the 2.9 per 1000 averaged of other industrialized nations.
2. The U.S. has 7.9 nurses per 1000 population, below the 8.2 per 1000 average of other industrialized nations.
3. The number of acute care hospital beds was 2.8 per 1000 population, well below the 4.1 per 1000 average of other industrialized nations.

There is a reason for this disparity: the growing layer of administration and insurance company layers. Dr. Sarah Lewis has a 6 members on her clinic's staff. Herself as the primary physician, a full-time nurse, two full-time accounting clerks whose sole job it is to deal with accounts receivable from individuals and insurance companies, and two part-time administrative assistance who spend nearly two-thirds of their time on the over 300 insurance companies Dr. Lewis accepts and their complex filing procedures.

We must remove the layers of management and administration, privatization and waste from this system. Healthcare experts and economists alike estimate that we could actually reduce the percentage of GDP spent on healthcare and insurance administration and still provide for healthcare for all Americans. The answer does not lie in more insurance, or making insurance affordable. The answer does not lie in making employers pay for healthcare as that leaves the U.S. less competitive in a global economy. This system will change when we choose to elect officials who are not beholden to insurance lobbies and HMOs--but instead work to create a new system that brings the voices and concerns of doctors, nurses, and patients together.

Further, our systems need to be comprehensive and comprehendible. Medicare Part D, a system that has been roundly criticized by both Democrats and Republicans in our District is a prime example of a solution that benefits senior stock holders of the pharmaceutical industry and not the seniors of our District, or our nation.

With the continued growth of insurance companies' influence, people like Kim Li will be on waiting lists far too long. Kim is one of nearly a quarter million American women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer. In fact, the chance that a woman will be diagnosed with invasive breast cancer is 1 in 7. The most common--and effective--preventative measure in battling breast cancer is breast exams and mammograms. According to the American Cancer Society, when breast cancer is confined to the breast, the five-year survival rate is close to 100%.

Nearly a third of all women have not had a mammogram in the last two years. Statistics are even more grim for women who fall below the poverty line. Fifty percent of women who live below the poverty line have not had a mammogram in the last two years.

To know fault of her own though, explains Kim. She is battling two fronts. First, because she is Asian-American, she is considered among the lowest risk groups, and breast cancer is generally not an issue her doctor discussed. Secondly, Ms. Li was laid off from her high-level engineering job during a down-sizing, and has been without medical insurance for over a year. By the time Kim was diagnosed, she was in State III, and the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. Kim's chances of survival are 56% over five years. Had she been diagnosed early, before spread, her chances of survival would have been 98-100%.

Beyond the effect this will have on her family, there are also very serious financial implications both to her own finances and the finances of her community. She will pay more for out of pocket expenses than if she had insurance. Or, she will be forced to go on public-assistance. Simple preventative measures--universal access to healthcare--could have saved Kim, her family, and her community a great deal of money--and perhaps even her life.

As a nation, we must recognize that universal access to healthcare is our moral obligation. And, it makes good fiscal sense. The old maxim that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure could not be more applicable today.

Our nation must come together on this issue--Democrats and Republicans alike. We must increase the quality and years of healthy life, eliminate the health disparities by providing universal access to quality healthcare for all Americans, more physicians and nurses, and eliminate layers of insurance and red tape that drive healthcare costs skyward.

Your Friend,

John