Our Major Problems

The Newtown CHAT participated in a community health care discussion to give feedback to President-elect Obama's transition team regarding health care issues facing many people in Sarasota. The Obama administration wants a collective effort to reform health care and asked participants to fill out a survey and give discussion feedback on a variety of health concerns. By the beginning of next month, the Health Policy Transition Team will use the feedback they received to prepare a report for the President-elect. Senator Daschle, the nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, has also been participating in the community discussions occurring across the nation.

All of the participants were eager and excited to talk about health care issues. Everyone provided thoughtful responses to the seven discussion questions the Obama administration wanted to get feedback on. A copy of the discussion guide can be found on the transition project's web site, here.

Over the next week, I'm going to cover the exciting discussion participants had during the meeting. This week's topic comes from the first question asked by the transition team: What do you perceive is the biggest problem in the health system?"

Based on the comments, there are several major problems with our health care system that participants wanted addressed. First, access to quality health care is often difficult, especially since the health care system in our country can be complex. Many of the participants said that it can be very hard to navigate our health care system. They said that insurance companies make it more difficult to get the type of care patients want, oftentimes requiring referrals and limiting access to certain doctors or medical procedures. Insurance companies often limit care by limiting coverage. There was a large amount of frustration over the role insurance companies have in our health care system. It seemed apparent that insurance companies often dictated patient care, which is frustrating for both doctors and patients.

Another major issue is that health care services differ across socioeconomic levels. Due to affordability issues, people in lower socioeconomic levels have many more challenges getting decent health care. Minor health care issues can become major financial issues for people with limited health care coverage and income.

Research on health disparities greatly support the comments participants made on our greatest problems with our health care system. According to policy research by the Obama transition team, "large medical bills have contributed to half of bankruptcies and foreclosures." Additionally, one previous blog post talked about some of the health problems associated with living in a poorer community. Furthermore, "being uninsured leads to delayed care" and expensive treatment. But, "even people with coverage are increasingly finding that it is insufficient or simply not there when needed."