05/09/2022
Lynn Murphy Mark
Health Care week
For some reason this week is designated as one to honor people who are working in the huge health care system in this country. One piece of the pie is paid for by the federal government. It shelled out 1.2 Trillion dollars in 2019: 644 Billion dollars on Medicare, Medicaid cost us 427 Billion dollars, and care for our Veterans is about 80 Billion dollars. That is a lot of zeroes for something that is not an automatic right for all citizens. In 2023 the budget for the department of Health and Human Services will be 1.65 Trillion dollars. Now, that also includes the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health, and the CDC.
I am going to two Cardinals baseball games this week as even Major League Baseball acknowledges health care week. The tickets were a more reasonable price – not because I’m a retired nurse, but because we’ll be playing the Baltimore Orioles and they are not high on the “must watch” list. I don’t care. I’ll take any discount on tickets that I can get, and I am such a fan that I don’t care if the Cardinals play a Little League team. I’ll be there.
Back to health care. This is not a good news paragraph. Compared to 7 other developed countries, (i.e. Canada, Germany, the UK, etc.) we rank last. Last in measures of quality, access, equity and life expectancy. I am shocked, but not really surprised. I spent 46 years in the system and I have seen so many changes in practice patterns that I can’t keep up. All of them were intended to make care more efficient and more cost-effective, yet here we are, dead last.
Jan and I just spent 22 days in a hospital. With only one exception, the staff was nice and helpful and pretty efficient. Jan had 5 specialists working on her case. She spent a week in the Intensive Care Unit, possibly the most expensive location other than the Emergency Room. I cannot imagine what the final bill will be, but it will be in the thousands of dollars. Thankfully she has Medicare and a good supplemental plan. However, I’m willing to bet that there are patients in the hospital who don’t have such good coverage and will be responsible for huge bills. The tragedy is that there are people who go bankrupt because they can’t afford the care they need.
Some people in the USA are uninsured. This means they avoid getting care for their health issues, or they wait until the problem is so aggravated that they go to an Emergency Room for care. Emergency Rooms have to provide care in any emergent situation regardless of the patient’s ability to pay. Many smaller rural hospitals have closed because they can’t get enough funding to pay staff. This in the richest country in the world.
As I read this over I sound negative and cynical to myself. Maybe I shouldn’t write this blog today….then I remember when we were in Prague, in the Czech Republic, and Jan fell and injured her shoulder. We had to go to an Emergency Room there. It was in an old building, which is so European – everything there is pretty old. However, we were seen quickly, Jan had two sets of x-rays, saw a doctor twice, got a sling and a shot for pain and a referral to see an orthopedic doctor when we returned home. We went to the front desk to pay for care. I was expecting a big bill. Much to our amazement, all of that care was provided at the equivalent in Euros of $47.00. Forty-seven dollars won’t even get you into a room in any facility in the USA.
So, I salute all health care workers doing their best to function in a somewhat broken system. We are a brave and tenacious bunch and I am proud to have served in the ranks.