Federal Advisory Panel Warns of a Crisis in Health Care

The New York Times ^ | November 19, 2002 | ROBERT PEAR

[sarcasm]

ASHINGTON, Nov. 19 — The National Academy of Sciences said today that the health care system in the United States was in crisis and that the Bush administration should immediately test possible solutions, including universal insurance coverage and no-fault payment for medical malpractice in a handful of states.

Administration officials said the report would probably become a blueprint for demonstration projects to be proposed by President Bush and Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, who requested the study.

"The American health care system is confronting a crisis," said the report, from a panel of experts appointed by the academy's Institute of Medicine. "The health care delivery system is incapable of meeting the present, let alone the future, needs of the American public."

The tone recalled the alarm and urgency of President Bill Clinton in 1993 and 1994, but the panel proposed a more modest agenda, using states as laboratories to attack "disturbing trends" that have worsened in the last two years.

Members of the panel acknowledged that health care was not a top priority at the moment, as officials worry about the economy, terrorism and the possibility of war in Iraq. But they predicted that health care would soon move back to the top of the nation's agenda, and they proposed ambitious demonstration projects in five areas.

The 16-member panel said, for example, that the federal government should provide federal money to three to five states to help them make health insurance available to all or virtually all of their residents. States could take either of two approaches: providing tax credits to the uninsured, to help cover the cost of premiums, or expanding Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program.

The number of uninsured has been climbing for more than a decade and now stands at 41.2 million, or 14.5 percent of the population, the report noted.

The panel also said that four or five states should test alternatives to medical malpractice lawsuits to compensate patients injured by doctors and hospitals.

Under the proposal, doctors and hospitals would have to inform patients and state agencies of errors that cause medical injuries. Patients would receive "faster, fairer, surer compensation" if they agreed to surrender the right to a jury trial.

"For the first time in 20 years," the panel said, the United States is facing a broad-based crisis in the availability and affordability of malpractice liability insurance for physicians, hospitals and other health care providers. Most instances of negligence do not give rise to lawsuits, and most legal claims do not relate to negligent care."

The panel acknowledged that there might be constitutional problems in compelling consumers to accept these arrangements, but it said that patients might be allowed to opt out when they enroll in a health plan or enter a hospital.

Other demonstration projects would test getting rid of paperwork and test a "paperless health care system," increasing the use of computers; beef up 40 of the nation's community health centers, with sophisticated equipment; and upgrade treatment of chronic conditions like diabetes.

[3AngelaD]

Tommy Thompson will rue the day he asked for this sucker. It is a Rx for 1) inviting every medical indigent in the country to move to one of the five chosen states for the freebies to be provided by everyone else, and 2) a HUGE, HUGE draw for more illegal immigration, the medically indigent of the Earth will flock to our shores. If Americans want socialized medicine, they should move to Canada, and see how they like how it works there, before inflicting it on the rest of us.

[Governor]

Let's see Oregon just voted down Universal Care by a healthy margin, and TENN-CARE has just about bankrupted Tennessee. Now the DEMORATS want to backdoor the Kintoon's health care package.
We aare paying hospitals and schools NOT to train doctors and nuses, but we let any alien doctor in to practice on us.

[Governor]

If Americans want socialized medicine, they should move to Canada, and see how they like how it works there, before inflicting it on the rest of us.
Isn't the waiting list for MRI's about 6 weeks in Canada right now. I know Montreal is sending patients down to Minnesota to get X-rays and cancer treatments right now. ALL government paid of course.

[sarcasm]

Now the DEMORATS want to backdoor the Kintoon's health care package.

Since when is Tommy Thompson a Democrat?

[Alberta's Child]

No person or organization that publishes a report on a "health care crisis" in the United States should be taken seriously unless the report clearly points out that the U.S. does not have a health care problem, but an insurance problem.

Any segment of the insurance industry that pays settlements to people who don't have to die or be dismembered to submit claims is facing the exact same problem as the "health care industry" in the U.S.

The problem is that the insurance industry by definition does not respond to normal market-driven forces like any other industry.

[anniegetyourgun]

"Other demonstration projects would test getting rid of paperwork and test a "paperless health care system," increasing the use of computers; beef up 40 of the nation's community health centers, with sophisticated equipment; and upgrade treatment of chronic conditions like diabetes."

Yeah, sure...that's the ticket....

[Doctor Stochastic]

Actually this is a Republican initiative: Administration officials said the report would probably become a blueprint for demonstration projects to be proposed by President Bush and Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, who requested the study.

[Lunatic Fringe]

Here's a better idea- impose strong sanctions against attorneys who bring frivolous lawsuits. That'll dramatically drop insurance premiums.

[luckodeirish]

There is not a health care crisis. There is an illegal immigration crisis. It's very simple math, too many non paying illegals who demand and are given access to the best health care in the world.

[laurav]

Well, here's my question, and I appreciate any responses. I'm facing the prospect of being soon uninsured. I do not work for a large corporation (I have various freelancing gigs) and my temporary health insurance soon runs out.

I've found various plans for individuals, but they all cost so much that I'd be actively making myself less healthy by paying it! (I'd be cutting out, say, food).

Why can I not find affordable insurance for an individual? Even when I'm young and healthy? What regulations are on the books that prevent this? What rules? What insurance policies?

I don't favor socialized medicine at all, but the whole system makes no sense to me.

[laurav]

is it lawsuit payouts that make premiums so high? Or is it insurance mandates that make you have coverage for things you might not want?

I don't know. I'm trying to figure the system out.

[Axenolith]

Crisis made to order by and for the Federal Government via regulation, mandates, and lawyerization.

[jwalsh07]

What a coinkydink, Goron comes out for single payer socialism and the NY Slimes and the National Academy of Shmucks come out with this. Must be serendippity.

[Calico Cat]

And just wait until the Boomers start retiring! I bet government will wish they hadn't frowned on smoking, because this enormous generation is going to live forever, and their costs will belong to their kids and their grandkids.

[laurav]

please see my post 11. Even if this is suspicious timing with Gore and the NY Times, there is a problem. I'm trying to figure out what might alleviate it, and I'm looking for any ideas. Thanks!

[laurav]

Do you think tort reform would make premiums lower?

[jwalsh07]

If you are young and healthy then you probably don't need comprehensive health insurance. You should look into a catastrophic policy and then write to your Congressman imploring him to do something about Medical Savings Accounts.

If you have a family, it's an entirely different matter.

[LurkerNoMore!]

So it is a health care crisis or a health insurance crisis?

[FITZ]

Why can I not find affordable insurance for an individual?

If you don't own a house or have your assets in the US, you can get all your healthcare free. It's an uneven system ---some people are expected to pay very high premiums and deductibles and taxes to provide free health care for many who choose not to buy insurance or pay anything in.