As we approach the pivotal presidential election of 2008,
comprehensive health-care reform has evolved into perhaps
the most important domestic issue of all. Already, major
candidates from both parties have outlined plans to improve
quality and broaden access in a system where some 45
million individuals – including 9 million children – lack even
the most basic medical coverage.
Nearly 15 years after the Clinton health proposal in 1993,
all signs point to the bright prospect of fundamental reform
in a system that sorely needs a major overhaul. Groups that
were on opposite sides of the debate over universal coverage
in the early 1990s are now uniting in an effort to heighten
quality, reduce costs, and pare the ranks of the uninsured.
Why the recent momentum?
For many Americans,
health-care reform didn’t become a key issue until concerns
like cost and access began to affect more than just the
uninsured. For too long, it was “someone else’s problem.”
Now, it’s everyone’s problem – and that includes businesses
suffering under the weight of staggering annual price tags for
employee benefits.
Indeed, it’s become increasingly apparent that the U.S.
health-care system cannot be sustained in its current model.
It’s time for us to step up to the plate and declare that health
care is a basic right for all Americans.
Now, the bottom-line questions are these: What do we
need to do to make our nation healthier? How do we create
a comprehensive, coherent, equitable, and politically viable
system that works for everyone?
The American Hospital Association has developed a
framework to help make reform a reality. The plan, called
“Health for Life,” focuses on five key components to help
foster widespread changes in the health-care system.
A giant step in the right direction, this plan includes a
focus on wellness and the promotion of healthy lifestyles;
more efficient, affordable care; higher-quality care
through improved cooperation and coordination between
health-care providers; better information and enhanced
transparency; and the belief that everyone has a role
in expanding care and paying for it, including individuals,
hospitals, businesses, insurers, and governments.
The AHA’s plan, more than 18 months in the making,
asks a lot of this nation’s hospitals. But hospitals alone can’t
solve all of the problems. Everyone has a stake in the future
of affordable, high-quality health care in this country. With
so many daunting challenges ahead, we can no longer be
satisfied with an “attempt” to reform the health-care system.
We must transform health care, creating a vibrant system
that covers everyone and is supported by everyone.
As part of this overall reform movement, I also think
individual organizations, especially health systems, must
take action to care for their own employees. For instance,
Catholic Health Initiatives is evaluating the salary and benefit
packages offered to our workforce to make certain that we
provide a just, living wage, as well as benefits that will ensure
health coverage for all employees – especially those on the
lower end of the pay scale. CHI is working to realize our
People Strategy and become the employer of choice in every
community we serve.
Our national effort to ensure justice in the workplace
is another step in the incremental process of health-care
reform. After years of debate, inaction, and inertia, there’s
a growing acceptance across-the-board – from government
agencies, consumer groups, and organizations like the
American Hospital Association – that something must be
done. And nearly everyone agrees that the time is now.
Kevin Lofton is a graduate of the Robinson College’s Health Administration
program and is a member of Robinson’s Board of Advisors. |
