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Public Shows Mistrust of Health Care

Posted on: Thursday, 3 February 2005, 15:00 CST

Feb. 3--There's something unhealthy about the American health care system, according to a survey released this week by the nonprofit medical research alliance Research!America.

The survey, conducted in January, found that 64 percent of Americans claim they are not getting adequate health care, and 60 percent say the U.S. health care system is not the best in the world.

Yet, the United States spends more on health care per capita -- $5,700 annually -- than any other nation, according to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid.

The survey is more evidence that the U.S. health care system is mired in a deep crisis, said Dr. Gordon H. Deckert, a member of the Oklahoma Board of Health.

Deckert, chairman of the board's policy committee, is known as the "father of the annual State of the State Health Report" that tracks the collective health status of Oklahomans.

Oklahoma's health report should be issued in about a month, he said. It will focus on cost-effective prevention priorities and on the economic consequences of Oklahoma's health status.

"The (Research!America) poll is an accurate perception," Deckert said. "We are the only market economy among the members of the International Monetary Fund that does not have any level of health care guarantee to its children."

One in six children in Oklahoma do not have health insurance of any kind, neither Medicaid nor private health insurance, Deckert said.

"Yes, it's a fact, the United States has by far the most expensive health care system in the world," he said.

Deckert cited numbers showing that Switzerland is second to the United States in per capita health care spending at $3,400 annually. And the average of 25 International Monetary Fund members is roughly $2,500 annually, he said.

"We are not one of the more effective (health care systems); in fact we are one of the least effective ones," Deckert said. "And we are unequivocally the least cost-effective one."

In a news release that accompanied the survey, Mary Woolley, president of Alexandria, Va.-based Research!America, sounded a similar theme.

"We're paying the most but not getting the most for our money," she said.

Research!America advocates increased spending for health care-related research and cited survey results that showed 56 percent said a higher portion of the health dollar should be spent on health care research. Currently, only 1 cent of every dollar spent on health care goes to research, the alliance said.

What can be done?

First, Deckert recommended more emphasis on prevention. The United States is on the bottom of that scale, too.

Second, implement some sort of "standard-payer system" for the health care industry to deal with.

"I didn't say a 'single-payer system, I said a standard-payer system," he said for emphasis.

Health care providers are burdened by dozens of different payers and systems used to reimburse them for services, he said.

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(c) 2005, The Daily Oklahoman. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News. For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

Source: The Daily Oklahoman

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