In US healthcare plan, haste will waste dollars

This 2005 colorized scanning electron micrograph (SEM) depicts numerous clumps of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) bacteria. Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections, e.g., bloodstream, pneumonia, bone infections, occur most frequently among persons in hospitals and healthcare facilities, including nursing homes, and dialysis centers. [Photo by Janice Haney, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]Democrats hold a position of power on US healthcare—they can basically do what they want to do. But if healthcare policy is pushed through without a specific and realistic plan to cover the costs, the loser as always will be the US taxpayer. It’s trendy to emphasize health—prevent disease and you will live a long and prosperous life. But there are many factors that impact healthcare costs and no one’s really talking about them. The only talk we hear is the usual damn-and-tax-the-smokers routine. If the day comes when people stop smoking legal substances, you better get your wallet out. Children’s healthcare programs would tank and you’ll be picking up the bill. Meanwhile, the issue of radon is completely tabled although it’s the second leading cause of lung cancer. Radon has not been studied with the obsession given tobacco.

I heard a hospital administrator talk about disease caused by smoking. Not a word about acetaminophen, a drug that most Americans have in the cabinet along with other over the counter painkillers. A cited article at Medscape says: “Acetaminophen is the drug most commonly ingested in overdoses. It is also a common co-ingestant. Because of acetaminophen's widespread availability and the underestimation of its potential toxicity, acetaminophen poisoning is the most common cause of acute liver failure and overdose deaths.”There are other issues no one is even talking about, and some impact in a big way on healthcare costs.

Crime and healthcare costs
In states with large metropolitan areas and high crime rates, the healthcare tab looks like Al Gore’s international travel budget or worse. How much does it cost to treat one victim in a trauma center? In an event SC Attorney General Henry McMaster spoke at in Charleston, SC, the Regional Business Journal said U.S. businesses lose $6 billion a year in health care expenses and lost productivity as a result of domestic violence alone. That $6 billion is not a small chunk of change. And we haven’t even tabulated the costs of gang members who routinely use guns to settle disputes or gain “respect.”

Violence isn’t the only item on the healthcare ticket. In states like Texas with large numbers of undocumented foreigners, USA Today said the state comptroller estimates illegal immigrants cost hospitals $1.3 billion in 2006. One state = $1.3 billion likely unrecoverable dollars.

Costly medical mistakes; costly individual choices
No one’s talking about medication errors. The National Academy of Sciences said medication errors injure 1.5 million people each year. A report issued by NAS found, “The extra medical costs of treating drug-related injuries occurring in hospitals alone conservatively amount to $3.5 billion a year, and this estimate does not take into account lost wages and productivity or additional health care costs, the report says.” Note the loaded word ‘conservatively.’

We haven’t gotten around to trauma costs for car accident victims, or any preventable accident victims, for that matter. What do STDs cost us? What do resistant infections from MRSA cost us if healthcare protocol gets sloppy?

Government-induced cost increases
As government gradually injected itself into healthcare, costs rose and rationing is now a matter of procedure. If President Barack Obama and the Democrats in Congress succeed in taking over another industry, it is certain the quality of care will go down and those of us who don’t want government provided care will pay higher costs. In my opinion, we the taxpayers have brought much of this dilemma on ourselves. We rolled over when government got on the Schip wagon. The Wall Street Journal said, “Schip was pitched a decade ago as a safety net for poor kids, and some Republicans helped sell it as a free-market reform. But Schip is now open to families that earn up to 300% of the poverty level, or $63,081 for a family of four. In New York, you can qualify at 400% of poverty.”

I’m not advocating for or against healthcare reform with these questions. But it seems to me that there are many issues impacting healthcare costs and those issues don’t revolve around the single theme of prevention. Unless elected representatives tackle every monetary issue, with the forthcoming healthcare plan that is likely to be pushed through by the Pelosi-Reid team and the Obama administration, haste will make wasted dollars, and US taxpayers will once again find their pockets contain a whole lot less “change.”

In US healthcare plan, haste will waste dollars by Kay B. Day at The US Report