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The Register-Guard Editorial: Homegrown health care
Homegrown health careA Register-Guard Editorial
Published: Saturday, August 19, 2006
The one good thing that's come of congressional gridlock over the nation's dysfunctional health care system is that state and local leaders have been forced to devise creative solutions on their own.
While Congress was busy taking care of its benefactors in the pharmaceutical and insurance industries, states such as Massachusetts and Vermont were finding ways to vastly expand health care coverage for their uninsured residents.
In addition to those innovative programs, a particularly promising effort has emerged in Lane County that has the ambitious goal of providing health care for 100 percent of the people within the county.
That's right - everyone.
Appropriately christened the 100 Percent Access Coalition, this group of problem-solving civic leaders is determined to reach the one in five Lane County residents who currently lack health insurance. They'll gladly use any combination of public, private, pro bono, shared, scrounged or donated resources necessary to get the job done.
The coalition formed in the wake of a 2004 United Way of Lane County survey that confirmed what every social service provider and employer already knew: Across the board, access to health care was the No. 1 concern in the county. Not only was it the obvious top issue for the county's 65,000 uninsured residents, but fully one-third of the households surveyed reported they lacked access to health care at some time in the previous year.
When people don't have health insurance or the ability to pay for medical care out of pocket, they head for hospital emergency rooms. Many times, such patients don't have real health emergencies, or they are in a health crisis that could have been easily prevented if they had sought appropriate care sooner. This illogical mismatch of patients least able to pay with the most expensive form of health care is one of the key drivers of spiraling costs.
United Way pulled together a group of more than 100 volunteers from health care, insurance, government and social service agencies who believe they can build a better mousetrap. The aim is to reorganize health care resources, secure donated services and volunteers, partner with the area's safety net clinics and promote prevention and wellness services that would ultimately reach every county resident who needed primary, mental health or specialty care.
It's a tall order, and as every one of the area's safety net clinic directors will testify, it's relentlessly hard work. Matching the types of charity care available from local health professionals to the needs of patients is a gigantic and often frustrating administrative task. Donated drugs and clinical services don't just drop out of the sky. They exist on the other side of mountains of paperwork.
Then there's the challenge of reaching the population that needs to know how to gain access to this care network. Many are itinerant and haven't seen a doctor for years.
Lane County's 100 Percent Access Coalition is just beginning the daunting task of bringing together the resources needed to provide health care to every county resident. It's not clear exactly what the system will look like when it's finished or even how long it can be sustained.
But one thing is certain: Whatever these dedicated community leaders come up with will be 1,000 percent better than what the federal government is prepared to offer Lane County's uninsured residents today. It's a homegrown, neighbor-helping-neighbor solution that deserves everyone's full support.
© http://www.100percentaccess.org