Daschle 倾听医疗诉苦

Daschle listens to health woes
Obama's pick to lead health care reform visits Dublin fire station
DUBLIN, Ind. -- Deanna Russell of Cambridge City worries about the future health insurance of her 13-year-old son because he was born with a congenital heart problem.

4 V2 F6 n  \4 l$ \" k5 aJoe Fouts, office manager at the Bertschland Family Practice Clinic, is concerned about the time and hassle involved in filing insurance claims for patients.
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Dublin Fire Chief Bob French worries about where the money will come from to pay for a trained medic and additional equipment that will be required for the department's ambulance by 2010.
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Dr. Bill Ducey wonders why Medicaid will pay him to amputate a limb of a diabetic, but won't pay for the preventive measures that might have saved the limb.

4 v" C0 Z* [/ j4 {  XTheir concerns and others were shared Monday afternoon with Sen. Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) during a Health Care Community Discussion at the Dublin Fire Department.
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Although such health care discussions have been taking place across the country since mid-December, this was the first attended by Daschle, the leader of the Health Policy Team for President-elect Barack Obama and Vice President-elect Joe Biden.
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! N% y/ \9 d: Q; ^Daschle also is Obama's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

: S: s4 v/ s6 U; h. o0 ~$ n1 wDaschle spent most of the meeting, which lasted more than an hour, listening to the comments and concerns of area residents, firefighters, emergency medical technicians and physicians. He sometimes asked follow-up questions and took notes. Reid Hospital Chief Executive Officer Craig Kinyon facilitated the discussion.

Daschle was affected by hearing about the difficulties Jill King of Cambridge City had getting new medical insurance because she has had three past cancers, the decision Dolly Sweet of Cambridge City made to forgo a $35,000-a-year cancer medication because of its high cost, and how Dr. James Bertsch feels forced to make decisions about a patient's care based on what insurance will pay for, not what he thinks is best.
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( s! |' Y# @5 J! T) }; X"These (stories) are really hard to listen to in many ways," Daschle said, adding that hearing them also is a necessary part of changing health care. "We need to change the paradigm from illness to wellness."

He quoted Nelson Mandela, who said, "Many things seem impossible until they are done," and then said, "I believe it is not impossible ... together it can be done."

  U! x$ @5 v1 s' `% gRussell was the first area resident to speak during the meeting about her issues with the health care system. Her son, Kyle, was born with Ebstein's anomaly, meaning that his heart didn't develop correctly and he has had to have several surgeries to repair it. He has trouble regulating his blood pressure and often requires trips to the hospital in the Dublin ambulance. She is concerned because the ambulance doesn't have a medic who can give medications or start IVs.
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Russell worked at Ford/Visteon in Connersville when her son was born and had good insurance to pay for his care. At least a half million was spent on his medical bills during the first two months of his life.

"If not for that (insurance), I don't know where we would be," she said.
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/ j4 W0 _% i6 y) `( _  LNow that the Visteon plant has closed and she is substitute teaching and taking classes at Indiana University East, the bills are more challenging. Russell also sees the problems others have with health care.

"I know other kids right here in this town who can't afford to have the procedures they need to survive," she said.

Russell said it is painful and stressful seeing your child suffer without adding the stress of wondering how the bills will be paid.
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Looking toward Kyle's future, Russell is concerned that if he goes into the workforce, his employer's medical insurance won't cover him because his condition is "pre-existing."
"In many cases," Russell said, "that could be deadly or fatal to him."

Fouts said he regularly has patients that come into the clinic with a new insurance only to discover it won't pay for pre-existing condition treatments. "People leave crying," Fouts said.
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Bertsch and Fouts said their problems are much worse than they were five years ago. Patients sometimes don't get testing for allergies or needed physical therapy because it's hard to get the insurance company to pay such claims.

1 [6 [$ X$ }" {- j"Insurance companies shouldn't make the rules," Bertsch said. "Insurance companies only pay for it if it's cost effective for them."
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Dr. Brad Barrett said he has experienced the challenge of both sides of health care. He and other partners at General Surgeons insure 16 employees and have had the insurance cost rise 50 percent, but as a doctor, his reimbursement from insurance companies continues to decrease. It is also challenging to meet the obligation of service to the community of treating patients who cannot pay.
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. m4 X" ^3 j; W1 U9 s$ N' |! J- JBarrett said he was recently on-call for 72 hours and saw six patients -- three of whom had no insurance.
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# S" Y* j* e; J7 ^: F# k"If we don't take these people, where will they go?" Barrett said.

6 p4 A7 \0 o6 H1 _& b$ YMany, Dr. Michael Baldwin said, end up in the Reid Hospital emergency room, where he is director. Baldwin said when he started in 1984, the ER saw about 22,000 people a year. This year, it will see about 52,000. The numbers have increased but the population hasn't.
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He attributes the rise to a shrinking number of primary care physicians and the growing number of uninsured.
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"We're on a train and there's a bridge out," Baldwin said.

, [- }3 g9 H  S; G# j" Lhttp://www.pal-item.com/article/20081230/NEWS01/812300302

Dr. Bill Ducey wonders why Medicaid will pay him to amputate a limb of a diabetic, but won't pay for the preventive measures that might have saved the limb.

. z% v3 ]- z) DThe above is a social phenomenon in our country as well.