Health Care Reform-Workforce
Abby Butterfield
It is obvious to me that there are major changes that need to be made in today’s world of health care. In today’s economy, I seriously believe that some sort of a universal coverage system should be made available, with the option to have additional coverage if you wish to pay for it. Having care available to everyone is just the first step, though. We also have to build care delivery systems to get care to the populations that need it the most. In today’s age, doctors have been put on a pedestal, and I think that we need to seriously consider how much we are paying doctors and maybe try to re-delegate that money in a way that will benefit not only doctors but the general population as well. We need to offer quality care at an affordable price. Second to economic recovery, health care reform is the most important topic discussed in Washington. The reform we are looking for has to be a balancing act between being affordable without losing the quality of care people need.
In order to create a quality care, we need to spend money in order to produce quality physicians and surgeons. There is no compromise when it comes to surgical care especially, seeing as their training and expertise are unmatched by anyone else. I also think we need to better allocate how money is spent. For instance, instead of opting right for surgery, which could be very expensive, we should spend more money paying physical therapists, child life specialists, art therapy aides, or pet therapy aides in order to decrease the amount of money spent paying for pharmaceuticals, as well as decreasing the money spent on unnecessary surgeries.
According to Shi and Singh, the baby boomer population between 2000 and 2010 will require 1.9 million more health care workers, seeing as they will all be reaching retirement age. Another issue that must be addressed is more health care workers need to be trained in geriatric care, seeing as we have an aging population that will require special care. Also, as more women and minorities enter the workforce, there needs to be cultural competencies that people working in health care need to understand.
Citations
http://www.oshpd.state.ca.us/ April 5th, 2009
http://www.workforce.com/wpmu/washington/2009/03/20/health-care-reform-pitfalls-may-test-bipartisanship/ April 5, 2009
http://www.facs.org/ahp/hcreform08.pdf April 5th, 2009
Shi and Singh. Delivering Health Care in America: A systems approach.
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I agree with this reform proposal because I think too many times people jump right to surgery before looking at other options. It cost a lot to have surgery and I think our country could save a lot by looking at other alternatives. Also, the amount of health care workers needed to serve the baby boomers is a scary but real need.
ReplyDeleteI agree that something has to be done about universal health care. However, I do not agree that doctors should be paid less in order to reallocate money. There is a reason why they go to school for 12 years. Not many people are adequate enough to fulfill this position and should be rewarded. Yet, I believe that it is important to reduce surgery options and look at other resources like physical therapy.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea that producing more physicians and primary care providers will increase access, but where do you propose the extra money comes from? Yes, medical school is expensive and time consuming, but do you think its fair that tax payers pay for their tuition and training and not for the training of (for example) an EMT, a dentist, or chiropractor?
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree that we need to put more money into geriatric training. It is, like you said, going to be a huge need in the future and even today. I think this area actually should have more emphasis than physical therapy and other therapies. While therapy is a wonderful thing, I believe that more money should go into primary care as opposed to tertiary care.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that all doctors should not take a pay cut, but maybe some of the most highly paid doctors in the world could take a tiny cut in pay as well as the highly paid administrators in a hospital system. I also agree with maria to the point that money should be put into primary care, but that secondary care such as physical therapy and rehabilitation are just as important and need to be focused on too.
ReplyDeleteI think that its not exactly fair but it does kind of make sense for a taxpayer to take on some of the costs of medical school because we are using the doctor's expertise in order to get better, so if we pay in taxes we would then pay less in health insurance costs, so it would all even out.
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