Copyright 1999 St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Inc.
St.
Louis Post-Dispatch
August 1, 1999, Sunday, FIVE STAR LIFT
EDITION
SECTION: IMAGINE ST. LOUIS, Pg. B6
LENGTH: 1034 words
HEADLINE:
PROVIDING ACCESS TO HEALTH CARE FOR ALL OUR CITIZENS: YOUR LETTERS
BODY:
Here are letters received in response
to last week's Imagine St. Louis articles on the cost of access to health care,
and its effect on regional businesses.
Answer basic question
first
Is health care a right? If so, to what extent? This question is
unrelated to the method of health care delivery. The question needs to be
answered first. I suspect that ultimately the answer will be "everyone is
entitled to certain basic health care." Basic health care will be defined as
society determines how much it is willing to spend for the health
care-industrial complex. After deciding our philosophy, we can then work to
obtaining the most health care for our dollars. The consumer's responsibilities
in this matter is overlooked. He/she is responsible for lifestyle and habits
that affect their need for health care services.
Leonard F. Lang
St. Louis, Mo.
Multiple changes needed
Congratulations on taking on a difficult subject of vital importance.
However, if you want to do this subject justice it will require going
into other areas in the health field. For example, how many physicians do we
need? How many specialists? Are there too many medical schools?
How much should graduate education be subsidized? How effective
are guidelines for diagnostic evaluations? Should insurance be like a utility
and its profits limited or should we have a national insurance?
Until we
realize that a piecemeal approach won't succeed we will not solve the health
care problem. This does not mean that a revolution is necessary, but we need to
make a start. To resolve this, everyone will need to suffer a little, including
the patient, for the good of everyone.
Morris Alex, M.D.
St. Louis
Health care and greed
My concern
about health care is that it has gone to greed. The bottom line is the dollar
with little concern for prevention of illness and caring for the sick with
compassion and mercy. Why is it that the CEO of the HMOs must be paid a million
or more a year? Why is it that 20 percent to 25 percent of every health care
dollar goes to the administration of health care? Why is it that religious
institutions pay no taxes and nonreligious institutions pay taxes? The only
difference is payment to shareholders by the latter. All hospitals are for
profit.
I'm for the government limiting the amount that CEOs of HMOs can
make per year. I'm for letting death take its natural course and not treating
aggressively in the end-stages of life.
People should have the option of
paying premiums to their state government for health insurance. Co-payments
should be included. Only 5 percent to 10 percent of the health care dollar
should be allowed for administration. All children should be covered. Part of
the money for the State Government Plan for the children should come from our
taxes.
Frank Holland
Manchester
A
single-payer insurance plea
I believe single-payer universal health care
would be advantageous over our present system in many ways. I operated a small
business (under 10 employees) for 26 years in St. Louis and it was very
difficult to maintain insurance for myself and the employees. People say they
detest government bureaucracy, but it cannot be as bad as insurance bureaucracy.
We are happy to have the government build and maintain our highways, run our
public schools, provide police protection, maintain food and drug safety
standards, administer social security, and operate Medicare. At least our
elected officials are answerable to us at the polls. Insurance stockholders and
CEOs are not.
Universal health coverage would be a big change. It is
controversial. But so was Medicare. And Social Security was a big change when
first proposed. Today neither would have a chance if it was just now being
proposed. Universal health care has already been tried successfully in other
industrialized countries. In America we have resisted it far too long and to our
own detriment.
James Hoggard
St. Louis
Avoid polarizing the issue
The Post-Dispatch was on target by
highlighting the dilemma faced by small businesses who want to grow and maintain
their employees amid escalating costs of health insurance. The health plans also
face a delicate balance between remaining financially stable while meeting the
demands of the public.
Small business accounts for 65 percent to 70
percent of the economic engine of Missouri. Fortunately, this segment of our
economy has prospered in recent years. But, health care casts a shadow over the
future of small, emerging businesses. With low unemployment, companies try
harder than ever to keep employees content and motivated through incentives, and
none is more important than good health insurance coverage. If businesses are
forced to cutback on coverage, raise deductibles or the percentage of employee
contribution, they could lose good workers and stifle their growth. Missouri, as
a state, would become less competitive in the world market.
Even worse,
should employers drop coverage due to cost, the result would be an increase in
Missouri's 750,000 uninsured population. This is clearly unacceptable.
However, we must be careful not to polarize this difficult issue by
assessing all the blame on health plans or any other single actor in this drama.
At the state level, we in Missouri government have already instituted reforms
that make insurers more accountable and give consumers greater control over
their own health treatment.
Government's involvement in micro-managing
health care policy may not guarantee better public policy. We need constructive
dialogue that is more concerned about solutions than blame. We need to keep the
cost of health insurance to business in mind when we list everything we want. We
need to come together to shrink the uninsured population and simplify layers of
regulations that prevent seriously ill Missourians from accessing a "high risk"
insurance pool.
Dare we imagine a civil process of problem solving that
lets businesses and health providers achieve an equitable plan for the future
without a government rulebook?
Franc Flotron
Missouri State Senator, 7th District
LOAD-DATE:
August 1, 1999 
