States lead the way on universal health care
By Bill Settlemyer
President and CEO, Setcom Media
As we move through the early stages of what has to be the longest presidential primary campaign in history, it’s becoming evident that access to affordable and effective health care is going to be a hot button issue.
More candidates are talking about universal health care, which can be just about any plan you could dream up that would help insure that everyone has access to some reasonable level of medical care.
As I predicted a long time ago, it is unlikely that we’ll wind up with single payer health coverage provided solely by the federal government. But it’s looking more likely that many states and perhaps the federal government will be moving forward with the development of mixed public-private systems for giving everyone (or almost everyone) access to health care.
Massachusetts has taken the lead with its universal health care program. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney deserves a substantial amount of the credit for getting the legislative framework passed that allows this experiment to go forward.
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal noted that something shocking happened in Massachusetts: People with differing political and social views actually came together to make the difficult compromises necessary to implement the program after the legislation was passed. That alone is a milestone after the foul and contentious history of political discourse in recent years.
Those involved in this bold initiative readily admit that it is fraught with challenges, but they realize that the status quo is not sustainable. We’re damaging the social fabric of our country and our economic competitiveness by failing to create a more inclusive and effective health care system.
Action in the Upstate
Here in South Carolina, we’re also on the move. Last month I attended the first annual meeting of the South Carolina Business Coalition on Health at Furman University, just a short drive from downtown Greenville. An overflow crowd of more than 300 attended the event.
SCBCH members include major Upstate employers like BMW, Furman University, Greenville County and Michelin. The providers are represented by the area’s major hospital systems, several physicians’ groups, pharmaceutical and medical supply companies as well as insurance brokers and health insurance plans.
The mission statement says the purpose of SCBCH is “to serve as a partnership for businesses, organizations and individuals in South Carolina and inside the healthcare field to act collaboratively in creating sustainable initiatives to improve healthcare quality and efficiency, promoting greater consumer responsibility in healthcare decisions, improving the overall health of South Carolinians and thereby improving our economic competitiveness and quality of life.”
That’s a mouthful, but it’s an excellent statement of the task before us in our respective regions and across our state. You can find more information on the group’s Web site at http://www.scbch.org/.
Here in the Charleston area, we’re continuing to work on the task of organizing a similar group for our region. The SCBCH is much further along the road in terms of specific initiatives to improve health care in their part of the state, and they have a paid staff, which is vital for any such initiative. As their name implies, the SCBCH would like to reach further across the state in pursuit of their mission.
To which I say, GREAT! hat’s exactly what we need to help bring regional efforts around the state together to shape a more effective approach to improving the health of our citizens and the affordability and quality of medical care.
Regardless of the statewide mission adopted by SCBCH, there’s still a need to form coalitions elsewhere around the state to work on the issues at the local and regional level. There’s a saying that “you can always tell the pioneers by the arrows in their back,” so I’m happy to find a strong group is already up and running that we can use as a model and mentor for our efforts here.
And speaking of efforts in the Charleston region, one presentation at the meeting was about a program created by the American Pharmacists Association Foundation, or APhA. Health care funders such as self-insured employers pay pharmacists to be “health coaches” for people with diabetes, helping them track their condition, stay on their medicines and adopt and maintain healthy lifestyles that reduce exposure to the serious diseases that often afflict diabetics.
I’m happy to report that several major employers in our region are involved with this program as part of a 10 city challenge, including the municipal governments of Charleston and Mount Pleasant, the Charleston Water System, Roper-St. Francis Healthcare and Piggly Wiggly.
The “Diabetes Ten City Challenge” is an innovative program from the APhA Foundation that employers and communities can use to fight diabetes and reduce health care costs by implementing the APhA Foundation’s Patient Self-Management Program. You can find more information on the program at http://www.aphafoundation.org/.
So guess what? It looks like the logjam may be breaking, and we’re finally getting serious about tackling the serious shortcomings of health care in our state and around the country. No easy fixes, but thank goodness such efforts are under way.
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