Last week a Health Care Forum was held at the United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, a very large congregation located near our offices in Leawood, Kan. In contrast to some recent forums on health care reform, the audience listened respectfully as each of the seven panelists explained their particular point of view. http://www.cor.org/seasonal-special/health-care-forum/
The Rev. Adam Hamilton, pastor of the church, framed the issues from a moral point of view as one would expect. His point is that 47 million Americans do not have health insurance, and therefore, don’t have access to adequate care. We applaud the civil discourse that dignified this event in contrast to some of the shouting matches that have been held in the name of health care reform, but the real moral issue is not about access.
Ultimately, anyone in America can get necessary care, but too many times that care is delivered in an expensive hospital emergency room and the costs of that care are shifted to all the other people in the country who are covered by insurance. The moral issue is about access to education that enables individuals to make decisions about their health and consequently their own health care. The problem isn’t lack of access; it is over-utilization of health services by people who are living unhealthy lifestyles.
If we could have a few forums that focus on personal health decisions such as proper nutrition to avoid obesity and diabetes, stress reduction, minimizing environmental pollution, for example, we’d be taking steps toward real morality in our health care system.
Currently, health care consumers don’t have incentives to make proper health care decisions. Most people get their care through an employer-sponsored health insurance plan. Quite likely, that plan provides a list of providers from which they can choose; but they get no incentives to lead healthy lives.
From what we can see churning through Congress under the rubric of health care reform, the consumer won’t be any more enlightened if any of these proposals actually become law. The government will probably make matters worse by expanding the rolls of the insured by several million without making the public accountable for their own health. We would, in fact, be removing them from all responsibility. And that doesn’t seem moral to us.
The public needs education. People need to know that the every-day decisions they make – consuming junk food, drinking to excess, taking illegal drugs, misusing firearms – all lead to a health care system that is overused. Our company partners with about 2,000 physicians. Most of them routinely provide care to uninsured patients. However, this is care that is delivered in hospital emergency rooms, the most expensive health care venue you can find.
Yes, let’s expand coverage to the uninsured, but not without getting something in return. The free enterprise system rewards those who can identify the wants and needs of their customers and then provide a product or service that meets those needs. We can’t have the government provide a “one-size-fits all” health care plan that will reward bad behavior. Consumers owe something in the bargain and that is a good-faith effort to be healthier. Give them credit for healthy decisions, but don’t make the rest of us pay for their bad ones.