Health Care Costly Issue For Candidates

The state of the economy obviously is the uppermost concern of all Americans at the moment. And the mushrooming cost of health care - twice the rate of inflation in the past several years - is a major factor in that concern.
Some say universal health care is the answer to that part of the economic equation. Others insist that not only would it be another step toward socialism but that it would be a budget buster while drastically diminishing available medical treatment.
One factor in the situation is Medicare and Medicaid, which currently cost taxpayers more than $661 billion a year and have more than $50 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Still they are regarded as welcome, if not necessary, benefits by more than 53 million older, many poorer and less healthy citizens.
But those programs are only a small part of annual health care spending in the United States, which reached $2.3 trillion last year and is projected to reach $3 trillion in 2011 and $4.2 trillion by 2016. Right now, as a nation, we are putting more than four times as much into health care as we spend on national defense.
Yet an estimated 47 million of this country's population of 305 million people are thought to be without health care insurance of any sort. That does not mean, necessarily, that they lack all medical care.
They frequently go to hospital emergency rooms or charitable clinics where the tab for their care is paid by the public or good-hearted community members.
Critics point out that even a growing number of those with insurance are not adequately covered for chronic diseases or long-term care and have to forego family necessities.
So it is not surprising that during this election cycle health care costs, with premiums currently at an average of $7,600 per person annually, are a major issue for the candidates. If you subtract Medicare and Medicaid, which are included in health care costs, the entire remaining federal budget is only 1 percent more of the GDP than is health care, which is more than 16 percent.
Although he since has modified his plan, Sen. Barack Obama started his run for the presidency with a promise of universal health care as the change that is needed. Speaking at a Families USA conference in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 25, 2007, he said that "universal health care for every single American must not be a question of whether, it must be a question of how. We have the ideas, we have the resources and we will have universal health care in this country by the end of the next president's first term."
Advocates point to what they consider the success of such plans in Europe and Canada. A study by the Commonwealth Fund early in 2007 found that health care in the U,S., though twice as expensive as that in the other five countries examined, was the worst - measured by quality, access, efficiency, equity and consequent healthy lives. The result led fund president, Karen Davis, to endorse universal health care.
On the other hand, Michael Tanner and Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute, note that "many countries provide universal insurance but deny critical procedures to patients who need them." They point out that Britain's Department of Health reported in 2006 that nearly 900,000 Britons were waiting for admission to National Health Service hospitals and shortages forced the cancellation of more than 50,000 operations each year.
Tanner points out that France, the poster example for universal health care, ran an about11 billion euros ($15 billion) debt for its national system in each of the last two years for which there are statistics. Projected annual deficits are 29 billion euros ($40 billion) by 2010 and 66 billion euros ($92 billion) by 2020.
To support the health care program, all French workers and their employers pay nearly 19 percent of their paychecks directly into the health care system plus sales taxes on tobacco, alcohol and pharmaceutical company revenues that also help pay for it.
Since many health services are not covered by the national system and some providers won't participate, 92 percent of all Frenchmen also carry private health insurance.
There is not a one size fits all health care payment system in Europe, explains Michael J. Krivich, a fellow at the American College of Healthcare Executives with 20 years experience with hospitals and medical equipment businesses in Europe as well as in America. There are government programs, private insurance programs, employer-sponsored health insurance programs and consumers have much higher deductibles than what we pay and there is a greater emphasis on personal responsibility in maintaining health and wellness.
Many of the same medical industry problems - declining reimbursement, rising cost and necessity of information technology, the need to reduce medical errors, lack of qualified medical professionals, a shift to outpatient care - occur in Europe as well as in the U.S., reports Krivich.
Werner Christie, former minister of health in Norway, believes that the way the cost of health care systems are judged as a percentage of GDP is a mistake. Many of the benefits of either a government or private health care system - such as reduced suffering, restoration of physical and mental capabilities and renewing the ability to produce and enjoy goods and services in the market place - are intangible assets that counterbalance cost in terms of the GDP.
He also believes you should count the contributions of the health care system, including drug manufacturers, which generates "a substantial volume of tax as well as market demand for supportive products and services." And NHS is the single biggest employer in Europe, he notes.
Whether either of the major presidential candidates can or will change the health care system remains one of the big "ifs" in this election. But no "ifs" about it, a universal health care system will cost money whose source needs to be clearly explained.

Adon Taft retired after 43 years as a reporter for The Miami Herald, he now writes a column for Hernando Today. Contact him at Life to the Fullest, Hernando Today, 15299 Cortez Blvd., Brooksville, FL. 34613, or by e-mail to adontaft@yahoo.com. Please include your name and address.