Where Are Our Health Care System's Priorities?
Are we putting access to specialists ahead of access to family doctors and affordable health care?
A Commonwealth Fund and Harris Interactive survey of almost 7,000 sick adults in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Germany found:
· Americans are the most likely to pay over $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses and far more likely to forgo a needed treatment because of costs
· Americans have the most difficulty getting appointment with their doctors and receiving care after hours
At the same time:
· Americans (and Germans) are far more likely to see a specialist within 1 or 4 weeks and to receive elective surgery within 1 or 4 months
While the study doesn't examine causation, the results suggest a correlation between our system's easy access to specialty care and its shortcomings in terms of costs and access to family doctors.
Given the importance of family doctors to preventive care, improved access to family physicians could help Americans manage their conditions before they worsen to the point of requiring specialty care. And is it possible that priorities embedded in our health finance system work against middle class Americans who lack sufficient access to their family doctors and who do not share equally - for reasons of geography, knowledge and bargaining power, or other factors - in access to specialty care?
The survey's authors note that the German system performs well on specialty care as well as access to family doctors and controlled costs. They rightly suggest that, "Understanding how Germany has achieved access to physicians, afterhours care, and specialized care while spending much less than the United States spends as a percentage of national income could help inform U.S. policy." For a Congress caught in gridlock over health care finance, perhaps a look at another system would trigger some fresh ideas.
Good question. One, the people have been asking for years. We are not waiting for an answer. There are grassroot organizations working right now to make this a priority of our goverment at the local and state level. Each one of us needs to get envolved in our own best interest . A movement of Healthcare NOW, is growing across the nation. If our collective voice is loud enough, our goverment, will not be able to ignore the call. It is time we make it a priority!
November 13, 2005 8:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
I wonder how much of the "no problem seeing specialists" in the US is an artifact of decreased demand as well as increased supply (we do tend to have lots of specialists).
That is, if one can't see a primary care physician, how does one know that one needs to go to a specialist? I mean, if one has nighttime abdominal discomfort, it could be heartburn or a bum ticker. One needs a GI specialist, the other a cardiologist. But if you can't even get to a doctor to talk about your heartburn, you won't be referred to the cardiologist.
So, there would be shorter lines in the US not because specialists were more accessible, but because they were LESS accessible.
Fairly plausible explanation.
November 16, 2005 11:54 AM | Reply | Permalink