BLOGS BY BOB

In the United States we spend more on healthcare per capita than any other nation on earth and no wonder   – we are the most technologically advanced, have the very best professional people and can boast of the best facilities.  Why then do we lag so far behind much of the world in terms of our national health?   What’s wrong with this picture?

 

Our health care system is seriously broken and no amount of glue, patchwork fixes or insurance adjustments is going to repair it.  We need a complete overhaul, one in which patients have access to affordable health care unencumbered by the scores of entities attempting to “manage” our care. 

 

I am at a loss in trying to explain how Blue Cross and Blue Shield, United Health Care and all the others are helping to improve access and lower the cost of our care.  Insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, high tech medical equipment manufacturers are all making money, yet we as a nation are getting sicker. 

 

The December 1, 2008 issue of Time Magazine the article “The Sorry State of American Health” http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1860289_1860561_1860562,00.html

tells a grim story of just how bad things are in the United States.  To quote from the article:  “If you’re like 67% of Americans, you’re currently overweight or obese. If you’re like 27%, your blood pressure is too high. If you’re like a whopping 96% of the population, you may not be able to recall the last time you had a salad, since you’re one of the hundreds of millions of Americans who rarely eat enough vegetables. And what you do eat, you don’t burn off — assuming you’re like the 40% of us who get no exercise. Most troubling of all, if you’re like any parent of any child anywhere in the world, you may be passing your health habits to your children, which explains why experts fear that this generation of American kids may be the first ever to have a shorter life span than their parents do.”

 

I don’t know if that paragraph upsets you but it should.  Can you believe that 96% of Americans can’t remember the last time they had a salad?  Maybe because I had a heart transplant eighteen months ago I’m more health conscious than most but these are alarming numbers and if you don’t care enough about your own health for heaven’s sake what about your kids?

 

Here’s more — Time makes it clear that  “The biggest problem with the U.S. health-care system is that it has long been designed to respond to illness rather than prevent it.”  

 

Now some scary, I mean really scary data.  “In 2005, the most recent year for which data are available, about 7 babies out of every 1,000 live births in the U.S. died before their first birthday. That rate represents a 2% reduction in deaths from the year before, which continues the steady improvement seen throughout the 20th century. But globally, it still places us 29th in the world, behind Cuba and Singapore and on a par with Poland and Slovakia.”  29^th in infant mortality?  Behind Slovakia?  Even worse, there are about forty five million Americans who are uninsured and whose only access to care is through their hospital emergency room — and guess who pays for that?

 

Quoting further from Time, “Between 1980 and 2004, the prevalence of obesity in the U.S. doubled among adults, surging to 72 million, or one-third of people ages 20 and older. Worse, the percentage of overweight or obese kids rose to 17%. If all those numbers could be cut by even a third, the ripple effect would in turn slash rates of hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, joint damage and more, not to mention the myriad costs associated with fighting these illnesses.”

I have but two suggestions for readers of this blog.  1) If you care about yourself and  your family, think about adopting a healthier life style, think about getting some preventive care.  Think about living!  2) If you care about the future of your family and the rest of America, start putting pressure on your elected representatives to do something about this sorry state of affairs.

 

If you have comments about this blog, write them in the space provided below, or email them to me at jaxbob@gmail.com.

 

Also, please read and comment on my Organ Donation and Transplantation blogs on

http://bobsnewheart.wordpress.com .   You can visit my Facebook site, Organ Transplant Patients, Friends and You at  http://tinyurl.com/225cfh  OR — my Facebook home page http://www.facebook.com/home.php  

 

There is no shortage of reasons (or excuses) for the outrageous cost of healthcare.  Today, though, I will just focus on one. The Health Care Industry has to take some responsiblity – well, ok, a lot of it.  That industry spends a ton of money to make sure they make three tons of money. They have more money than you do, so they have greater influence with legislatures and the congress.   They even buy newspaper ads and TV time to spread their propaganda.  Can you?

 

I began to think about who or what contributes to the high cost of health care years ago when I lived in Eagan, Minnesota, a suburb of Minneapolis/St. Paul.  It is the home of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota (BCBSM) the largest health plan in the state covering about 3 million members. BCBSM has 4,000 employees, many of which work at the Eagan headquarters.  

 

Each day when I went to work, I drove by the sprawling BCBSM campus and viewed the hundreds of cars parked there, I wondered, “How are they reducing health costs when they have all these employees and all these buildings?  “Wouldn’t health care cost less if we took out the middle man?”  Well, those thoughts were based on sheer speculation.  No more speculating, though.  The rest of this BLOG is comprised of verifiable facts.  As FOX News says, “We report you decide.”  While I have no faith in Fox’s objectivity, it is a great slogan.so here’s the good stuff. 

 

According to Health Affairs www.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/24/4/903 .  Higher prices for health services such as prescription drugs, hospital stays, and doctor visits not malpractice claims or greater access to health care services–is the major reason why Americans spend far more for health care than citizens in other industrialized countries.  http://www.publicintegrity.org/default.aspx  its lobbying operation, on which it reports spending more than $675 million, is the biggest in the nation. No other industry has spent more money to sway public policy in that period.  And – here’s just one of the things that their millions bought; Government programs like Medicare are barred from negotiating with companies for lower prices.  Why in hell did our elected representatives agree to that?  One can only believe we have the best lawmakers money can buy and the health care industry knows it.

 

But it is not only the feds they are spending money on.  According to opensecrets.org (www.opensecrets.org/) “Fighting a flurry of legislative and public policy initiatives aimed at reducing prices and slicing drug budgets, the pharmaceutical industry spent more than $44 million on lobbying state governments in 2003 and 2004, a Center for Public Integrity analysis of lobbying records has found.” 

 

The report goes on to say, “In 2006, the health sector spent $351.1 million to lobby the federal government — an amount that accounted for 13.8% of all spending on lobbying.  Within the health sector, manufacturers of drugs, medical devices, and other health care products spent the most; Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) spent $18.1 million, Pfizer $11.8 million, and Amgen $10.2 million. The drug industry was followed by hospitals and nursing homes and then by organizations of health care professionals, such as the American Medical Association (AMA). Between 1998 and 2006, the AMA, the American Hospital Association, AARP (formerly the American Association of Retired Persons), and PhRMA spent, respectively, the second, fourth, sixth, and seventh most money on lobbying.”

 

I am not saying anyone is dishonest.  The actions I have reported are all legal, legal because lawmakers at both the federal and state level approved the laws and rules that govern lobbying and political spending.  I do think, though, that we can question the ethics of the public officials who accept free flights, entertainment tickets, golfing excursions, contributions to their campaigns and conference accommodations.  How can they in good conscience take our votes and support greed.  Greed that results in inaccessible, non-existent and even inadequate health care. 

  

 

In  closing, please read what the Kiplinger Letter wrote about  the “Perks” our Senators and Members of Congress enjoy when they take office. 

http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresource/forecast/archive/Congressional_Perks_070619.html

 By Richard Sammon, Senior Associate Editor, The Kiplinger Letter

 June 19, 2007

 A base lawmakers’ salary, for instance, is now $165,200 (a little higher for House and Senate leaders). There is a cheap but excellent federal health care plan and life insurance. Plus free outpatient care from military hospitals. There is an inflation-adjusted pension plan that’s almost three times as generous as the typical private sector pension, and there’s a special thrift-savings accounts, a kind of 401(k) plan, that comes a one-to-one match up to 5% of a member’s salary.

On top of that, they’re given a sizable budget of $2 million to $4 million a year for office administration and staff expenses. There is a furniture expense account, subsidized mass mailings to constituents (known as the franking privilege) and free income tax-return preparation assistance. In addition to all that, members also receive a special tax deduction for maintaining a second residence, and yet more, there are the numerous foreign trips (spouses included) often to exotic places hosted by nonprofit groups. House members, but not senators, can also keep frequent flier miles they rack up on official travel and use them for personal trips later.  What’s more, members have exclusive use of the Congressional Research Service to do their legwork. There is free use of broadcast taping studios, free reserved parking at the office and at Washington-area airports and a free member-only gym and pool, expedited passport services and of course the well-appointed and subsidized members’ dining rooms.

To quote a great American TV anchor, “And that’s the way it is, May 6, 2008.”

Visit Bob’s facebook site on organ donation at http://tinyurl.com/225cfh and/or read my BLOGS on http://bobsnewheart.wordpress.com