UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE COVERAGE = QUICK ACCESS TO THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM + ALL PATIENTS CAN AFFORD THE CARE THEY NEED

Sometimes you have to wonder, “What is wrong with the American public and its political system?” We read study after study that says the American Public is most unhappy about how health care is financed in this country and want change but nothing ever changes. Maybe our health care financing Crisis is to Big and Complex of a problem for most people to put their arms around. So, I think that we should further educate the public and take this reform process one step at a time.

First, any change in the U. S. financing system MUST GUARANTEE UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE COVERAGE THAT PROVIDES QUICK ACCESS TO THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM THAT ALL PATIENTS CAN AFFORD THE CARE THEY NEED. Universal Healthcare Coverage also means that ALL AMERICANS are covered – not just some Americans like in Massachusetts or most Democratic Presidential Candidates proposals. I do not mention the Republication Presidential Candidates because they are all in denial about meaningful health care financing reform.

So Lesson One is that any meaningful financing reform legislation must FIRST BE UNIVERSAL – EVERYONE UNDER THE TENT. Additional financing reform Lessons will be provided the thepolicycenter.org’s website (http://www.thepolicycenter.org) during the month of November 2007.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/01/opinion/01thu3.html?_r=1&th=&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&emc=th&adxnnlx=1193922866-D1WpxP2LPVcZ9WU7m2bRtw

Editorial

America’s Lagging Health Care System

NY Times, Published: November 1, 2007

Americans are increasingly frustrated about the subpar performance of this country’s fragmented health care system, and with good reason. A new survey of patients in seven industrialized nations underscores just how badly sick Americans fare compared with patients in other nations. One-third of the American respondents felt their system is so dysfunctional that it needs to be rebuilt completely — the highest rate in any country surveyed. The system was given poor scores both by low-income, uninsured patients and by many higher-income patients.

The survey, the latest in a series from the Commonwealth Fund, is being published today on the Web site of Health Affairs, a respected health policy journal. Researchers interviewed some 12,000 adults in Australia, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Given the large number of people uninsured or poorly insured in this country, it was no surprise that Americans were the most likely to go without care because of costs. Fully 37 percent of the American respondents said that they chose not to visit a doctor when sick, skipped a recommended test or treatment or failed to fill a prescription in the past year because of the cost — well above the rates in other countries.

Patients here were more likely to get appointments quickly for elective surgery than those in nearly all the other countries. But access to primary care doctors, the mainstay of medical practice, was often rocky. Only half of the American adults were able to see a doctor the same day that they became sick or the day after, a worse showing than in all the other countries except Canada. Getting care on nights and weekends was problematic.

Often the care here was substandard. Americans reported the highest rate of lab test errors and the second-highest rate of medical or medication errors.

The findings underscore the need to ensure that all Americans have quick access to a primary care doctor and the need for universal health coverage — so that all patients can afford the care they need. That’s what all of the presidential candidates should be talking about.