Healthcare

Healthcare should be comprehensive, portable, universal and affordable. Our health is not a commodity.

Treating it as such has led to runaway costs and massive numbers of un- or underinsured citizens.  The delivery of healthcare services must be an interaction between a patient and a provider without interference from insurance companies, manipulation from pharmaceutical companies or over-reaching government mandates.  The doctor/patient relationship has been distorted by the need to produce a profit and has resulted in a less healthy population. 

The market forces have not yet found a way to create a program that services all of us equitably.  Without major structural changes to our health care delivery system, including the way we pay for medical products and services, we will continue to see our costs rise dramatically while services and access is significantly reduced.  We all know that the time is here for us to fundamentally restructure health care in Minnesota and across the country.  Even though Minnesota can trumpet its leadership position in many measured areas of healthcare, it still accounts for 16% of our economy and nearly 40% of our state budget.  Clearly, there is room for significant improvements. 

Over the past few years we have begun a series of initiatives that will improve the delivery and reduce the costs of health care.  Evidenced based medicine, bundled care services, medical homes, electronic medical records transfer and storage are just some of the programs being developed within the state. These are all steps in the right direction. In addition, we must continue to seek ways to reduce the costs of pharmaceuticals and chronic care.  Controlling administrative costs must be a top priority.  Reducing medical errors and living healthier lives will also help bring costs down.  Creating value is the goal and there are many areas of the health care industry that are ripe for improvement. 

Let’s change the way providers are paid in order to improve health and minimize waste.  Healing is a process that functions much better when it is built on a trusted relationship between a doctor and a patient.  It is time to create and test payment systems that pay for coordinated care, improved care delivery and informed patient decision making.  Instead of incenting volume, lets pay providers for delivering quality care or for preventing disease.

According to a survey done for the 2005 Minnesota Citizens Forum on Health Care Costs 69% think health insurance should pay for any kind of medical treatment, regardless of the cost and should spend as much as necessary to save the life of a person (62%).  On the other hand, people also think the cost of treatment weighed against the chances for success should be considered when making treatment decisions (72%) and that people have a responsibility to not overuse health care services because it increases the costs for everyone (82%).

Most people think we should take care of each other when necessary, however, being ethically and fiscally responsible is an even greater shared view.  Building upon these perspectives we can create a health care system in Minnesota that serves the greater good without breaking the bank.