Recognize reality of health care crisis

Maine’s Republicans are proclaiming that, “Maine doesn’t have a health care crisis – but the people of Maine have a health insurance crisis.” It’s disheartening to believe that the “Republican” interpretation of our crisis is so recklessly narrow and dangerously misinformed. They insult themselves, the party, and violate our trust with such incorrect assertions.

We must stop making a political game of Maine’s health care reform. We must recognize the reality of the crisis. We must begin to imagine what health care should be, and work together to create it.

I own a small business. I pay the health insurance premiums for my employees and their families – it’s simply the right thing to do. Our premiums doubled between 2001 and 2003. I definitely “get” that our problem is unsustainable. But, disturbingly, the cost of insurance is only the tip of the iceberg.

Do Republicans recognize how many more MRI machines Maine has than most of America – eight times as many as New Hampshire – and how much more this and other redundancies adds to our medical costs? Do they know that Maine’s health care bills are unnecessarily among the highest in America?

Are they aware how many Mainers suffered from preventable hospital acquired wound infections and other adverse events in 2005 – among them 3 who suffered wrong-site surgery, 5 who now suffer permanent loss of function, and 20 who, tragically, died – and how much this adds to everyone’s premiums?

How do they reconcile Anthem’s CEO, Larry Glasscock, making 46.23 million dollars last year – $3.73 million more than the Savings Offset Payment – with the tens of thousands of working uninsured in Maine?

It is a seductive idea that the crisis is only about the cost of insurance. It enables the ill informed to be attracted to Association Health Plans, Health Security Accounts and High Risk Pools. These misguided propositions fail completely to address what drives-up costs and undermines the quality of health care. They are like “Rearranging the chairs on the Titanic.”

With the rest of our nation, Maine is hemorrhaging money into the health care system and not getting what we are paying for, including well insuring everyone. However, those benefiting from the present system are happy with it – everyone likes the bits of Dirigo that don’t require them to change.

It has been said that America’s health care system is like “A broken train speeding toward a cliff.” We have a systems problem, folks. It’s not the usual type of problem familiar to most of us. It is huge, complex, and ugly – it has no simple solutions. Nonetheless, these are no excuse for our legislators to mislead us.

The Institute of Medicine, the most respected, nonpolitical voice in American medicine, reports that we must address the three “dimensions” of the health care crisis – unsustainably rising cost, unacceptably varying quality, and unconscionably limited access – simultaneously. Maine wisely responded with the Dirigo Health Reform Plan. It’s a long-term initiative, still in its infancy. The 2000 Maine businesses enrolled in Dirigo Choice are delighted with it.

If you want comprehensive coverage that rewards healthful behavior, pays for preventative care, treats mental health like physical health, has unlimited lifetime benefits, and is priced according to your ability to pay, consider DirigoChoice. And be sure to check your eligibility for subsidies – they are a hand up, not a handout – paid for by system savings. Even if you don’t choose DirigoChoice, you are wise to support Dirigo health – its cost and quality measures benefit everyone in Maine.

The unsustainable rise in the cost of health insurance is what woke me up to the crisis. But it’s the threat the crisis is to our common good, beyond the money, that moved me to investigate and get involved. We must strike a new balance between profits and people. None of us can do it alone, and none of us can afford to ignore it.

We hire our legislators to represent us in the process of making law. We need them to recognize the reality of the crisis – to stop making a political football of Dirigo. We can do better.

We can remember what, in health care, is not about the money. We can imagine what our system should be – its costs, its quality, and access to it – and commit to working together to create that.

David White owns a small business on Mount Desert Island and is a member of the Maine Quality Forum Advisory Counsel.