Reform Americas Health Care System

Dear Friends and Colleagues;
Attached you find an opinion piece from the Miami Herald endorsing the recommendations from the report issued by the "Citizens for Healthcare Working Group".
This working group was established by the US Congress as part of the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act Of 2003 and charged to address the following issues:

* Provide for a nationwide public debate about improving the health care system to provide every American with the ability to obtain quality, affordable health care coverage.
* Develop an action plan for Congress and the President to consider as they work to make health care that works for all Americans.

The Working group as citizens through an open and transparent process to answer the following questions:

1. What health care benefits and services should be provided?
2. How does the American public want health care delivered?
3. How should health care coverage be financed?
4. What trade-offs are the American public willing to make in either benefits or financing to ensure access to affordable, high-quality health care coverage and services?

Over nearly eighteen months, the Working Group engaged thousands of Americans, including:

* About 6,650 people attending 84 community meetings across the nation as well as meetings organized by individual Working Group Members and other organizations by the end of May, 2006, and input from over 700 people attending 14 meetings after the Interim Recommendations were published on June 2nd, 2006
* Over 14,000 responses to the Working Group Internet poll; and another 6,000 sets of responses to open-ended questions about health care in America
* Over 500 descriptions of experiences with the health care system submitted via the Internet or on paper, and about 400 email letters, handwritten notes, letters,essays, and copies of reports that people sent to the Working Group.
* About 7,300 individual email and written comments on the Working Group’s Interim Recommendations

The Working Group released an Interim Report in June 2nd 2006 and a final report on September 25, 2006.
In its Executive Summary the Working Group points out a consistent response that:

Americans should have a health care system where everyone participates, regardless of their financial resources or health status, with benefits that are sufficiently comprehensive to ensure access to
appropriate, high-quality care without endangering individual or family financial security.

The final recommendation are as follows:

* Recommendation 1: Establish Public Policy that All Americans Have Affordable Health Care
* Recommendation 2: Guarantee Financial Protection Against Very High Health Care Costs.
* Recommendation 3: Create Innovative Integrated Community Health Networks
* Recommendation 4: Define Core Benefits and Services for All Americans
* Recommendation 5: Promote Efforts to Improve Quality of Care and Efficiency

As physicians we should fully endorse those principles and focus our efforts on reforming and rebuilding our FAILING healthcare system.
Yes, our health care systems fails to deliver comprehensive, high quality care for all Americans.
Since 911 our country has spent over 500 Billion Dollars on the war on terror. We have proved that we can mobilize financial resources for our nations defense. Why should we not make similar efforts to rebuild Americas healthcare system?
I think we could if we wanted to. The problem is that we elect and reelect politicians that failed to represent our interests.
In November we have a change to vote those politicians out of office. What are we waiting for?

Yours truly
Bernd







Posted on Sat, Sep. 30, 2006

VERBATIM
Toward universal healthcare that works

By HEALTHCARE

Below are excerpts from ''Healthcare That Works for All Americans,'' a report issued this week by the Citizens' Health Care Working Group (www.citizenshealth care.gov).

Americans want a healthcare system that works for everyone. But the reality is that the healthcare system that captures vast amounts of America's resources, employs many of its talented citizens and promises to both promote health as well as relieve the burdens of illness is failing far too many of us.

Over the past year, the number of uninsured has grown by more than one million, and tens of millions more are underinsured and at immediate risk of financial ruin if they are seriously ill or injured.

Individuals, families, employers and every level of government are feeling the financial pressure of rising healthcare costs. More often than not, people do not receive the best care that science has to offer. Many are bewildered by the complexity of healthcare and insurance coverage. As one citizen voiced to us, you cannot ``navigate the healthcare system without luck, a relationship, money and perseverance.''

The need for change is clear, but transforming healthcare so that it works for all Americans is a daunting prospect. It will involve difficult decisions about how healthcare is organized, delivered and financed.

The Citizens' Health Care Working Group was established by Congress to ''engage in an informed national public debate to make choices about the services they want covered, what healthcare coverage they want and how they are willing to pay for coverage.'' What we heard was that many Americans believe that public policy designed to address the growing crisis in healthcare cannot succeed unless all Americans are able to get the healthcare they need, when they need it.

Recommendations

• Establish public policy that all Americans have affordable healthcare. This public policy should be established immediately and implemented by 2012.

• Guarantee financial protection against very high healthcare costs. A national public or private program must be established to ensure participation by all Americans, protection against very high out-of-pocket medical costs; financial assistance to pay for this coverage based on ability to pay.

• Foster innovative integrated community health networks. The federal government will provide leadership and financing for a national initiative to develop integrated public/private networks of healthcare providers.

• Define core benefits and services. Establish a nonpartisan public/private group to define America's core benefits and services and update them on an ongoing basis. Core health services will cover the continuum of care throughout the individual's life span.

• Promote efforts to improve quality of care and efficiency.

• Restructure end-of-life care so that people of all ages have increased access to these services in the environment they choose.