Issue Position: Health Care

Issue Position

Two articles have appeared in national newsmagazines recently that really hit home about the US system of health care for the elderly. The first, in NEWSWEEK's June 4th issue, entitled The Cost of Hope brings home the high cost of dying. The writer gives an account of what happened to her husband in his bout with kidney cancer.

After his death, his wife decided to find out what the costs of his care were over seven years.

She discovered that during that period he was given 76 CT scans. A lung specialist that he consulted admitted him into an advanced cancer care ward where, over the course of four days, he had his blood drawn four times, two urine tests, one of those CT scans, an MRI, numerous visits from a physical therapist, a nutritionist, and nine different doctors, none of whom he'd ever met before. All this happened in spite of the fact that he was thought to be dying. Cost: $33,382 for the four days. His spouse uncovered dozens of incidences of duplication and overtreatment. While much of it happened because of professionals with good intentions, another reason was because of money. As the author states: "Hospitals and doctors are paid for what they do, not what they don't do." In the end, the total cost for her husband's care was $618,616.
The second article is in the June 11th issue of TIME Magazine. Entitled The Long Goodbye, it is written by long time writer and commentator Joe Klein and recounts the last five months of his parents' lives. After a period of trying to provide care, with little success, for his parents in various settings, Klein discovered the Geisinger medical system, which cares for 2.6 million patients in 44 rural Pennsylvania counties. Here, doctors and other caregivers are salaried and use a team approach to patient care. Family is routinely a part of decision making, along with the patient and the medical team. Patients in the accountable-care-organization model are usually happier with their care and the costs of that care is significantly less than in the fee-for-service model.

I attended a forum on Vermont's health care strategy the other night in St. Johnsbury. Participants were given information about Act 48, which was passed this year as a step toward a single payer system. We were then put into smaller groups where we made choices and proposals about what the final product should look like. It's very complicated and still a few years away.

Since I hope to represent you in Montpelier beginning next year, I'm spending time learning about key issues in depth. There is much to think about as the single payer proposal continues forward. I hope that the model of health care seen at Geisinger and the Mayo Clinic are a part of the discussion, since the methods they are using are being proven to be less costly and more effective for the patient and for the American health care system.

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