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Health Forum Seeks Gripes: Group Will Share Results With Bush

Posted on: Monday, 20 March 2006, 06:00 CST

By Jeremy Olson, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

Mar. 20--If you've ever been frazzled by health care bills, frustrated by insurance denials or annoyed by long waits for medical care, then Wednesday's national forum on health care is your opportunity to sound off.

The University of Minnesota is taking part Wednesday evening in a "national conversation" on health care. Results of the three-hour discussion will be presented to President Bush and congressional leaders by the Citizens' Health Care Working Group, which Congress created in 2003 as a way to assess public attitudes about the state of health care.

Minnesota usually ranks as one of the healthiest states in the country, but the state isn't immune. In advance of the forum, here are 14 conversation starters when it comes to the state of the state's health care:

-- Private health insurance premiums rose 11.6 percent per year, on average, from 2000 to 2004. That tripled wage increases.

-- The oldest baby boomers are 60, and the looming health care needs of this massive generation might surpass the capacity of the state's hospitals and clinics.

-- One in three Hispanics in Minnesota lacks health insurance. The increase in immigrants working low-wage or migrant jobs is driving an increase in the state's overall uninsured rate.

-- Among diabetics, only 15.5 percent are in optimal shape, which means their cholesterol, blood sugar and blood pressure are at appropriate levels. Poor management of diabetes, hypertension and obesity is a major driver of rising health costs.

-- Minnesota hospitals performed 3,896 bariatric surgeries in 2003, a fivefold increase in the number of weight-loss surgeries in 1999.

-- Only 2.9 percent of Minnesota nursing homes had no deficiencies cited by state inspectors in 2003. The national average was 9.5 percent.

-- A statewide shortage of psychiatrists leaves some patients waiting as long as three to six months for an appointment.

-- Suicide is the second-leading cause of death among Minnesota teenagers. The state reported 198 teen suicides (ages 13 to 19) from 1999 to 2003.

-- The waiting list for organ transplants in Minnesota has 2,211 people on it. Almost half have waited more than two years.

-- The state of Minnesota has spent $3.85 million so far to cover glitches in Medicare's new Part D prescription drug program for senior citizens and disabled people.

-- UnitedHealth Group's top executive received $124 million in compensation in 2004. CEO William McGuire has contributed to many Twin Cities causes, but protesters argued last fall that this amount could provide health insurance for half of the state's uninsured children.

-- Black women with breast cancer are 50 percent more likely to die than white women with breast cancer. Similar racial disparities exist for infant mortality, cardiovascular disease and other disorders.

-- Twenty-one patients died or suffered serious disabilities in Minnesota as the result of medical errors classified as "never" events, according to the state's adverse health events report for 2006.

-- One in 20 nursing positions was vacant in Minnesota at the end of 2005. The total vacancies was 1,492.

Statistics were provided by the Minnesota Department of Health, Kaiser Family Foundation, Minnesota Community Measurement, Mental Health Association of Minnesota, Minnesota Department of Human Services, Universal Health Care Action Network, United Network for Organ Sharing, Minnesota Hospital Association and U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jeremy Olson can be reached at jolson@pioneerpress.com or 651-228-5583.

If you go

A public discussion on the state of health care will take place Wednesday night at the University of Minnesota and 21 other universities nationwide. The free event will be from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Malcolm Moos Health Sciences Tower, Room 5-125, 515 Delaware St. S.E., Minneapolis. Food will be provided.

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Copyright (c) 2006, Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minn.

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Source: Saint Paul Pioneer Press (St. Paul, Minn.)

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