September 21, 2006
Spending Doesn’t Bring Better Healthcare
The healthcare debate taking place within the retail industry often comes down to one side arguing that employers need to pick up a greater percentage of insurance program costs while the other points to the plight of employers burdened with escalating medical coverage costs.
A study conducted by the Commonwealth Fund, and reported on Reuters, suggests that perhaps the debate may be missing the point. The problem with the American healthcare system isn’t about who foots the bill but why a nation that spends more on healthcare than any nation in the world has some of the poorest results to show for the bill paid by the American government, businesses and individuals.
A scorecard created by Commonwealth Fund assessed aspects of the national healthcare system in terms of services offered, administrative factors, such as record-keeping, and results, such as mortality rates.
Medical care accounts for 16 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product, roughly double the median of industrialized nations around the globe.
“We are by far and away the leader on costs,” said Cathy Schoen, senior vice president for research and evaluation at the Commonwealth Fund.
The cost of the U.S. healthcare system has not brought a level of service commensurate with the dollars funding it.
The United States scored 15 out of 19 industrialized nations on deaths that could have been prevented (from heart attacks, for example) if timely medical care was provided.
Having health insurance is no guarantee of receiving appropriate and adequate medical care, according to the Commonwealth report. “Barely half of (insured) adults (49 percent) received preventive and screening tests according to guidelines for their age and sex,” the report reads.
The high cost of medical care often has little to do with the actual care given. Many practices are still not automated, efforts are often duplicated and services not needed are rendered without cause.
“If we closed just those gaps that are described in the Scorecard we could save at least $50 billion to $100 billion per year in health care spending and prevent 100,000 to 150,000 deaths,” the report reads.
“Moreover, the nation would gain from improved productivity.”
Discussion Questions: What can businesses do to make sure they and their employees are getting the most for their medical care dollars? Is there an opportunity
for management and labor adversaries to work in concert on this issue?
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David, you must have really great insurance — either that or you haven’t gotten really sick!
Just yesterday we got a bill from a collection agency demanding $461 for services supposedly rendered to my daughter on a day…last December…weeks before she was anywhere near the hospital in question. We got no detailed bill, no EOB from the insurer. Every time something like this shows up, a couple of times a month, it takes a couple of hours on the phone to straighten it out with the provider(s) and the insurance company. Millions of person-hours a year are spent on paperwork and tail-chasing, and a lot of waste, mistakes and outright fraud go hidden.
Every time I hear someone object to single-payer health care on the grounds that “it would create a bureaucracy,” I laugh really hard. I would vastly prefer one government bureaucracy to the assortment of private bureaucracies we navigate right now.
So much is wrong with this country’s healthcare system that I hardly know where to begin.
For starters, this country doesn’t believe in health care, it believes in sickness care. If we want to start changing the system, we need to redefine our goals and the terms of the debate.
We have elected representatives who seem to assume health care begins and ends with the the delivery of expensive (and highly profitable) prescription medications. Preposterous.
They debate the merits of various prescription drug discount programs at length, but sidestep the underlying issues of the uninsured and preventive care. No wonder pharmaceutical and health insurance companies lobby so strongly in Washington.
We also promote an insurance system oriented toward large corporate buyers of coverage plans. This punishes small businesses and shuts out individual buyers because they have no negotiating leverage.
I believe health insurance coverage and wellness support should be more than universal, it should be mandatory for all citizens, like auto insurance. But with the right rules, it can be provided by private insurers. Government must establish a national risk pool so that no individual is ever shut out and no policy issuer has unfair exposure to risk.
We’ll know the system is working better when health insurers are competing to sell policies with the same vigor that auto insurers are displaying today.
What can businesses do to make sure they and their employees are getting the most for their medical care dollars?
Wal-Mart appears to have made a good start today with the announcement that it will test selling a 30-day supply of 300 commonly prescribed generic drugs for only $4.
Is there an opportunity for management and labor adversaries to work in concert on this issue?
Wouldn’t it be great to see the UFCW and the Retail Industry Leader’s Association, NRF, FMI, NGA, NACDS, etc. get together and take their collective lobbying might to Capital Hill with a single message? Their member companies could take the same message to the shoppers in their stores with a coordinated marketing campaign.
The problem with the healthcare debate in this country is that there isn’t any. The root causes of inadequate or prohibitively expensive healthcare must first be addressed by lawmakers — preferably those who are not trying to get re-elected with PAC money from the drug companies.
There is little or no initiative on Capitol Hill to rev up the healthcare issue. If drug companies, insurance firms and other special interest groups can get our elected officials to ignore the situation then perhaps pressure on them from the industry can help jump start a bi-partisan debate. when a Tylenol tablet costs you $5 in a hospital or even the simplist of tests go into the hundreds or thousands of dollars, the system is really broken.
When people have to make a choice between medication and food in the greatest country in the world we should all be ashamed.
Of course, this is an opportunity for labor and management to work together. But, with all due respect to the Commonwealth Fund, it is all about who pays the bill — and how. Yes, the standards of care may be sub-optimized given the cost, but who has oversight authority over healthcare delivery? It’s little surprise that so many “insured” workers (including executives) find themselves under-insured when a medical crisis occurs. We’ve all let the entire healthcare delivery system run wild and now we’re all picking up the tab for the party. This is the single largest issue facing our society (yes, even and above terrorism) and yet the best we can muster is mumbled partisan bickering over a national healthcare system. As you read this there are American children at risk because of their limited access to healthcare. As I write this, thousands of emergency room personnel are delivering care to the “medically indigent” who use ERs like clinics. As long as payers allow insurers to dictate the terms of healthcare engagement, we’ll continue to lose the war.
I doesn’t seem like business, labor or management can do much about it. If the could they would.
Medical science has advanced so far and many miracles are now available. What does a miracle cost when you need it to save your life? Everything you got and you are glad to pay it. That’s why it’s so expensive. In the USA if you have insurance then there are really no worries. If we move to a single payer system then we are going to have to share waiting rooms with poor people and get pushed back further in line. It sounds fair on the surface until you or a loved one gets sick. Is spending $15,000 on insurance really such a big deal considering the miricles available to us? It is if you can’t afford it but still most people can. As long as most people can pay, don’t expect radical changes.
Get the trial lawyers out of the game and costs will come down.
Ask your Doctor what he/she pays for malpractice insurance. You may be shocked to learn that it is probably more than your take home pay.
What can an employer do to get the most of the medical insurance dollars spent? Encourage employees to maximize preventive health care measures. Some examples: (1) pay the deductible and give paid time off for annual checkups and vaccinations; (2) pay for smoke cessation clinics and medication; and (3) send people home who show up sick.
Specific action any retailer can take right now: arrange for a nurse to show up at a specific time at your store to give the staff free flu shots. Or would you like to run a store when multiple people are out sick with the flu this fall?
No retailer can solve the medical care or medical insurance problems of the United States. Every retailer can take specific prevention steps immediately without waiting for the government, the insurance companies, the lobbyists, the drug companies, or anyone else.
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David, you must have really great insurance — either that or you haven’t gotten really sick!
Just yesterday we got a bill from a collection agency demanding $461 for services supposedly rendered to my daughter on a day…last December…weeks before she was anywhere near the hospital in question. We got no detailed bill, no EOB from the insurer. Every time something like this shows up, a couple of times a month, it takes a couple of hours on the phone to straighten it out with the provider(s) and the insurance company. Millions of person-hours a year are spent on paperwork and tail-chasing, and a lot of waste, mistakes and outright fraud go hidden.
Every time I hear someone object to single-payer health care on the grounds that “it would create a bureaucracy,” I laugh really hard. I would vastly prefer one government bureaucracy to the assortment of private bureaucracies we navigate right now.
So much is wrong with this country’s healthcare system that I hardly know where to begin.
For starters, this country doesn’t believe in health care, it believes in sickness care. If we want to start changing the system, we need to redefine our goals and the terms of the debate.
We have elected representatives who seem to assume health care begins and ends with the the delivery of expensive (and highly profitable) prescription medications. Preposterous.
They debate the merits of various prescription drug discount programs at length, but sidestep the underlying issues of the uninsured and preventive care. No wonder pharmaceutical and health insurance companies lobby so strongly in Washington.
We also promote an insurance system oriented toward large corporate buyers of coverage plans. This punishes small businesses and shuts out individual buyers because they have no negotiating leverage.
I believe health insurance coverage and wellness support should be more than universal, it should be mandatory for all citizens, like auto insurance. But with the right rules, it can be provided by private insurers. Government must establish a national risk pool so that no individual is ever shut out and no policy issuer has unfair exposure to risk.
We’ll know the system is working better when health insurers are competing to sell policies with the same vigor that auto insurers are displaying today.
What can businesses do to make sure they and their employees are getting the most for their medical care dollars?
Wal-Mart appears to have made a good start today with the announcement that it will test selling a 30-day supply of 300 commonly prescribed generic drugs for only $4.
Is there an opportunity for management and labor adversaries to work in concert on this issue?
Wouldn’t it be great to see the UFCW and the Retail Industry Leader’s Association, NRF, FMI, NGA, NACDS, etc. get together and take their collective lobbying might to Capital Hill with a single message? Their member companies could take the same message to the shoppers in their stores with a coordinated marketing campaign.
The problem with the healthcare debate in this country is that there isn’t any. The root causes of inadequate or prohibitively expensive healthcare must first be addressed by lawmakers — preferably those who are not trying to get re-elected with PAC money from the drug companies.
There is little or no initiative on Capitol Hill to rev up the healthcare issue. If drug companies, insurance firms and other special interest groups can get our elected officials to ignore the situation then perhaps pressure on them from the industry can help jump start a bi-partisan debate. when a Tylenol tablet costs you $5 in a hospital or even the simplist of tests go into the hundreds or thousands of dollars, the system is really broken.
When people have to make a choice between medication and food in the greatest country in the world we should all be ashamed.
Of course, this is an opportunity for labor and management to work together. But, with all due respect to the Commonwealth Fund, it is all about who pays the bill — and how. Yes, the standards of care may be sub-optimized given the cost, but who has oversight authority over healthcare delivery? It’s little surprise that so many “insured” workers (including executives) find themselves under-insured when a medical crisis occurs. We’ve all let the entire healthcare delivery system run wild and now we’re all picking up the tab for the party. This is the single largest issue facing our society (yes, even and above terrorism) and yet the best we can muster is mumbled partisan bickering over a national healthcare system. As you read this there are American children at risk because of their limited access to healthcare. As I write this, thousands of emergency room personnel are delivering care to the “medically indigent” who use ERs like clinics. As long as payers allow insurers to dictate the terms of healthcare engagement, we’ll continue to lose the war.
I doesn’t seem like business, labor or management can do much about it. If the could they would.
Medical science has advanced so far and many miracles are now available. What does a miracle cost when you need it to save your life? Everything you got and you are glad to pay it. That’s why it’s so expensive. In the USA if you have insurance then there are really no worries. If we move to a single payer system then we are going to have to share waiting rooms with poor people and get pushed back further in line. It sounds fair on the surface until you or a loved one gets sick. Is spending $15,000 on insurance really such a big deal considering the miricles available to us? It is if you can’t afford it but still most people can. As long as most people can pay, don’t expect radical changes.
Get the trial lawyers out of the game and costs will come down.
Ask your Doctor what he/she pays for malpractice insurance. You may be shocked to learn that it is probably more than your take home pay.
What can an employer do to get the most of the medical insurance dollars spent? Encourage employees to maximize preventive health care measures. Some examples: (1) pay the deductible and give paid time off for annual checkups and vaccinations; (2) pay for smoke cessation clinics and medication; and (3) send people home who show up sick.
Specific action any retailer can take right now: arrange for a nurse to show up at a specific time at your store to give the staff free flu shots. Or would you like to run a store when multiple people are out sick with the flu this fall?
No retailer can solve the medical care or medical insurance problems of the United States. Every retailer can take specific prevention steps immediately without waiting for the government, the insurance companies, the lobbyists, the drug companies, or anyone else.