How To Eat An Elephant

If you were king, or president, or governor or CEO... and you had a big problem that affected as much as a quarter of the people you were responsible for... would you choose a comprehensive solution that would take 10 years to implement, or... divide the problem up into 10 more manageable pieces so you could take some immediate action and solve it in 10 steps? There may not be a right or wrong answer - in fact, some will argue that a leader cannot and should not solve the problem at all.

Our new president and congressional leaders are faced with such a problem - as the healthcare crisis in America involves not only our neighbors in need of care and medicine (compassion)... but also every healthcare provider who is struggling to survive under the weight of provider services without reimbursement (sustainability). With votes being cast in the recent and upcoming days, healthcare policy is near the top of the list for President Obama and the Congress - along with every Governor and state government. The first big policy shift will be an expanded SCHIP program - to provide an additional $33 billion over 4 1/2 years to cover an additional 4.1 million children - along with the 11 million children already covered by the program.

While this still leaves tens of millions of adults and even children uninsured, maybe this is the way the Administration is planning to eat this elephant - one bite at a time - starting with children, then covering the parents of those children, and eventually filling in the remaining gap with a FEP (Federal Employee Program) - like solution and/or a significant funding for more FQHC clinics across the country. Where do you see this going? How would you chose to eat an elephant of this size?

There Is No Medicine Like Hope

Nearly 47 million Americans are uninsured – with 16 million struggling to manage serious chronic diseases like diabetes or high blood pressure – just like the rest of us who are fortunate enough to currently have insurance. Most work at least part time, but as fewer companies offer health insurance, and healthcare costs continue to rise, over 105 million Americans have incomes less than 200% of the poverty level and cannot afford essential medicines. While many communities are trying to provide a primary care “safety net”, nearly 25% of the uninsured admit they have not visited a health professional in the past year, and many just wait till they are sick enough to go to the Emergency Department. One study found that over 30% of Emergency Department visits were non-emergent or avoidable with earlier care – while the system tries to absorb the $40 billion in uncompensated care each year. For those who accessed care, nearly 60% could not afford to obtain the medicine prescribed to treat their condition– and go without. But there is HOPE. To see waht I am working on these days.... go to http://www.dispensaryofhope.org/