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FeedHealing the System
Almost everyone agrees that our healthcare system needs reform. The question is, where do we begin? Some local leaders believe they have the answers.
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AstraZeneca vice president Robert Perkins says some surveys indicate that nearly 90 percent of Americans are satisfied with their healthcare coverage. Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Delaware CEO Tim Constantine says availability of specialized treatments and procedures, funding for medical education and research, and lack of long waits for care make the United States’ healthcare system superior to any European or Canadian single-payer model. So what’s the fuss over reform all about?
“There are 46 million or 47 million people in this country currently uninsured, the cost of care is too high, and the outcomes of the care that is provided are not where they should be,” says Constantine.
In other words there, are serious cracks in our system that, according to some providers and government administrators, threaten to bring down the house. Some local industry and government leaders believe they know where reform should start.
In 2007 a consortium of Delaware healthcare stakeholders sought to determine what action could be taken to make healthcare better for Delawareans. The focus of that summit immediately became the state’s 100,000 uninsured.
“We thought the summit might raise the level of debate on the state of the uninsured, as well as generate a consensus on what the state’s employers and charities could achieve in getting the uninsured covered,” says Perkins.
Though participants believed the issue could be addressed with some success, the over-arching problem of the uninsured nationwide may be the key to meaningful and sustainable reform.
Page 2: Healing the System, continues...
