THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 31, 1994 TAG: 9407290284
SECTION: PORTSMOUTH CURRENTS PAGE: 07 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Letter
LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
America needs health care reform. We need to ensure that everyone who needs care gets care. And we need to pay for it.
Not surprisingly, paying for reform is a major issue among policymakers. And, not surprisingly, rather than tackle the issue head-on and solve the problem, many policymakers are resorting for fiscal sleight-of-hand.
For example, many of the major health reform programs proposed wringing money out of Medicare and Medicaid, the programs that care for the elderly and the poor, to pay for health reform. What's the result? A study from Lewin-VHI, sponsored by the American Hospital Association, projects the impact of the $70 billion in proposed Medicare cuts on hospitals over the next five years.
Frankly, the outlook is grim for Maryview Medical Center and other hospitals in Virginia.
According to this study, under the proposed cuts, by the year 2000 Medicare might pay just 71 cents for every dollar it costs to provide care to Medicare patients in this country. In Virginia, the figure would be 67 cents. Under the Medicare plan as it now exists, Maryview still will be reimbursed 13 cents less than actual cost for every dollar's worth of care for a hospitalized Medicare patient. If some of the changes from proposed health care reform legislation are enacted, this loss could double to more than 26 cents on the dollar . . .
One thing is certain; we need health care reform. We need to restructure the inequitable and inadequate way health care is paid for and delivered.
To Maryview, restructuring means establishing cooperating groups of local health care providers in Virginia. Hospitals, doctors, nurses, community health agencies and long-term care facilities must work together to deliver care in the most effective and efficient way possible. It means working under a payment system that rewards providers for keeping patients healthy, rather than for just treating sick patients.
We also need to guarantee that all Virginians get the health care they need when they need it. Costs will continue to spiral and the health of communities will deteriorate if we fail to provide coverage for all.
Maryview is an integral part of this community. We stand ready to provide care all day, every day, all year long. But we cannot keep doing this with less. Crippling insurance programs such as Medicare will not only burden our elderly patients, it will burden every patient we serve.
Painful Medicare cuts don't make sense. They impair our hospital's ability to provide care and citizens' ability to receive it. However, sound alternatives for financing health care reform do exist. For example, additional taxes on products and behaviors that increase health care costs, such as tobacco, alcohol, handguns and assault weapons, could produce $75 billion in revenues.
Solid alternatives and a solid future is the kind of reform all of us, young and old, poor and wealthy, insured and uninsured, need and deserve.
Write your congressman and tell him you want health care reform that guarantees access to a basic package of benefits for every Virginian, and that includes a fair and equitable financing plan, not simply more arbitrary cuts in Medicare and Medicaid payments.
Gary J. Herbek
Executive Vice President/
Chief Executive Officer
Maryview Medical Center by CNB