While sitting back in her blue jeans and wearing a heavy workout
sweater at the Legacy Emanuel Hospital’s Emergency room, Angela Jones
has her feet prompted up and crossed atop of a small table. When asked
about health care issues and how they affect her, Angela explains that
there is a portion of people who suffer from not having health care
insurance. She makes it clear that some of those who suffer most are
young people. Jones, who is a college student, declared her passion for
the young because it falls under her own age group.

Says Jones,
“The Oregon Health Plan should be open to more people who are under 21
years old. Private insurance shouldn’t be so expensive for young
people.”

According to national surveys, the primary reason people
are uninsured is the high cost of health insurance coverage.
Notwithstanding, nearly one-quarter (23 percent) of the uninsured
reported changing their way of life significantly in order to pay
medical bills. Economists have discovered that increasing health care
costs correlate to drops in health insurance coverage.

Jones
believes that some of the greatest challenges that people face across
this nation is obtaining affordable health care. “I would open an Oregon
Health Plan to a variety of people who don’t have insurance. It is hard
to get health insurance.”

Terri Heer, a registered nurse at a
local hospital, claims that in order to improve America’s health care
system a key ingredient is to “make sure that everyone (has) access.”

This
would include cutting out on expenses that are not palpable to so
called “health care needs”. Heer says, “First, we spend a lot of money
servicing people for illnesses that can be prevented. Some of the money
spent can go to other things.”

Over the long haul, should the
nations health care system undergo significant changes, the typical
patient may not necessarily see the improvements firsthand. “I would
love to say there will be a lot of changes. I am not a pessimist, but I
don’t think there will be any change,” says Heer. Heer does allude to
the fact that if more money were spent for people in the
health care arena, she says that there is a possibility that the
necessary changes would be more evident.

Whether health care is
affordable or not is an issue that affects everyone. According to a
recent study last year, health care spending in the United States
reached $2.3 trillion, and is projected to reach $3 trillion by 2011. By
2016, it is projected to reach $4.2 trillion. Although it is estimated
that nearly 47 million Americans are uninsured, the U.S. spends more on
health care than any other nation.

The rising tide of health care
stems from several factors that has an affect on us all. First, there is
an intensity of services in the U.S. health care system that has
undergone a dramatic change when you consider that people are living
longer coupled with greater chronic illnesses.

Secondly,
prescription drugs and technology have gone through significant changes.
The fact that major drugs and technological advancement has been a
contributing factor for the increase in health care spending. Some
analysts suggest that the improvement of state-of-art technologies and
drugs increase health care spending. This increase not only attributes
to the high-tech inventions, but also because consumer demand for these
products has gone through the roof, so to speak.

Thirdly, there is
an aging of the population. Since the baby boomers have reached their
middle years, there is a tremendous need to take care of them. This
trend will continue as baby boomers will qualify for more Medicare in
2011.

Lastly, there is the factor of administrative costs. Some
would argue that the private sector plays a critical role in the rise of
health care costs and the economic increase they produce in overhead
costs. At the same time, 7 percent of health care expenses are a result
of administrative costs. This would include aspects of billing and
marketing.

Terra Lincoln is a woman who was found waiting in the
Emergency room at the Providence Portland Medical Center. When asked
about the rising costs of health care, she said, “If you don’t have
medical coverage, it’ll cost you too much money. If I leave the hospital
right now and I need to buy two (types) of medicines, I couldn’t afford
it.” Lincoln says that she is a member of the OHP, but she believes
that there are still issues that need to be addressed.

Terra recognizes that to reduce medical costs, she
would have to start by getting regular checkups. “Sometimes people of
color wait till they’re in pain before they get a checkup,” she said.

A
national survey shows that the primary reason why people cannot afford
health care is because of soaring costs of health care coverage. In a
recent Wall-Street Journal-NBC survey it is reported that 50% of the
American public claims that their highest and most significant economic
concern is health care. Consequently, the rising cost of health care is
the number one concern for Democratic voters.

Regarding the rising tide of health care, Kristin Venderbush, a
native Wisconsin, and another patient in emergency at Providence says,
“I worry a lot about what happens to the working poor. They don’t have
OHP. If you can’t advocate for yourself, you will not get the health
care you need…on every level.”

Harvard University researchers
conducted a recent study that discovered that the out-of-pocket medical
debt for an average consumer who filed bankruptcy was $12,000. This
study noted that 68 percent of those who had filed for bankruptcy
carried health insurance. Apparently, these bankruptcy’s were results
from medical expenses. It was also noted in this study that every 30
seconds someone files for bankruptcy after they have had some type of
serious health problem.

In spite of all the social and economic
bureaucracy in the health care arena, some changes were made in
Washington on January 28, 2008. In his State of the Union address,
President Bush made inquired Congress to eliminate the unfair bias of
the tax code against people who do not get their health care from their
employer. Millions would then have more options that were not previously
available and health care would be more accessible for people who could
not afford it.

Consequently, the President believes that the
Federal government can make health care more affordable and available
for those who need it most. Some sources suggest that the President not
only wants health care to be available for people, but also for patients
and their private physicians so that they will be free to make choices
as well. One of the main purposes for the health care agenda is to
insure that consumers will not only have the freedom to make choices,
but to also enable those to make decisions that will best meet their
health care needs.

Kerry Weems, Acting Administrator of the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, oversees the State
Children’s Health Insurance Program, also known as SCHIP. This is a
critical program because it pays for the health care of more than six
and a half million children who come from homes that cannot afford
adequate health insurance. These homes exceed the pay scale for Medicaid
programs, therefore are not able to participate.

During SCHIP’s
ten year span, states have used the program to assist families with
low-income and uninsured children for their sense of well-being in the
health care arena. The Bush Administration believes that states should
do more of an effort to provide for the neediest children and enable
them to get insurance immediately. The SCHIP was originally intended to
cover children who had family incomes ranging from $20,650. This amount
would typically include a family of four. According to sources, all
states throughout the U.S. have SCHIP programs in place and just over
six million children are served.

Children and Health Care

Washington’s Perspective

What is driving health care costs?

The
fact that the U.S. faces ever increasing health care woes, has left
many to believe that the country’s current crisis is on a lock-step path
toward insolvability.