Detroit Free Press - Find Bipartisan Health Care Cure

Op-Ed

Detroit Free Press - Find Bipartisan Health Care Cure

The health care crisis engulfing our state and country is not a Democratic or Republican problem. It's a problem for everyone, threatening our families, our companies and our economy. That is why we are joining together to support the national Divided We Fail campaign and encourage others to do so as well.

Divided We Fail is an effort by a number of organizations that don't normally see eye to eye to come together to convince legislators at all levels of government, and from all parties, to make health care and financial security their top priorities this year. The AARP, Service Employees International Union, National Federation of Independent Business, and Business Roundtable, among others, are calling on lawmakers and community leaders to step up and address the issues of health care access and affordability.

The skyrocketing cost of health care and prescription drugs not only puts basic and cost-saving preventive care out of reach for millions of Americans, it also drives up the cost of doing business for American companies. In fact, 60% of small business owners say rising health care costs amount to a "crisis." This competitive disadvantage for America's large manufacturers, mom-and-pop stores, and everyone in between costs jobs and does a disservice to employees caught in the middle.

The middle class is particularly squeezed by the dysfunctional current system. Forty-six million Americans are uninsured, and nearly 30% claim they are skipping important medical treatments, prescriptions or tests because of costs. This inevitably leads to people winding up in emergency rooms for illnesses that could have been addressed earlier in a less costly way. Sadly, too many politicians seem to believe this sort of emergency room health care "plan" is a sufficient way of handling our health care needs.

So what can we do? First, we need to agree that there are no sacred cows -- everyone involved needs to be willing to compromise. Second, we must identify concrete ways of saving. The United States spends $1.9 trillion a year on care. We need to find a way to use that money more efficiently, perhaps through better use of technology; standardized, transferable forms that also protect medical privacy; pooling limited resources; providing more options to consumers; and encouraging more proactive care.

Finally -- there is no way around it -- we must ensure access for all to eliminate the costly scenario of resorting to emergency rooms, which drives up costs for everybody and makes it harder for health care providers to serve a community adequately.

As we recognize Cover the Uninsured Week, April 27-May 3, it is time to refocus our efforts on working together for a comprehensive answer to our health care crisis. No one can deny that the status quo is not working, so let's agree that a new approach, a bipartisan approach, is long overdue. Divided We Fail is both our warning and our challenge.

Source