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High health costs leave many without coverage

By Megan J. Peterson
UW-Eau Claire Public Affairs Reporting Student
Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007

With a secure job for 13 years that provided him with a health care plan, 38-year-old Larry Haus was content.  However this June when Hutchinson Technology Inc. laid him off without warning, Haus faced the task of finding health coverage that he could afford on his own.

After losing his job, Haus decided to become a non-traditional student and get a bachelor of science degree at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire in business administration.  His transition from full-time professional to student left him with more monthly costs and less income.

After a few months of searching, he realized an affordable health care plan is not easy to come by.  Through his job with Hutchinson Technology Inc. he paid $30 a month for a $900 deductible.  To continue with coverage similar to that, Haus would now have to pay $325 a month through the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, which he referred to as COBRA.

As this was simply not feasible, he went to his car and homeowner insurance agent to find a plan that was affordable.  Haus was able to find a plan where he pays $50 a month for a $3,500 deductible.  While he found a plan that fit more reasonably into his lifestyle, many Americans are not so successful.

In the United States today, at least 45 million people are living without health insurance.  “It really does all come down to cost,” said Kate Spaziani, legislative director for U.S. Rep. Ron Kind, D-Wis. “(Cost is) one of the main causes of the high number of uninsured in the country.”

What can be done to make health care more affordable for people?  No one seems to have a firm answer to this question.  It’s almost a guarantee that every presidential hopeful battling for the top seat in the White House is including a plan to improve health care across the United States in their campaign.

The presidential candidates all have their own broad plans but they lack details, Spaziani said.  Many Americans seem to agree that something needs to be done.

“Our health care system obviously needs changes, Laura Chellman, director of Student Health Services at UW-Eau Claire said, “We can’t continue to have double digit increases in the cost of health care.” 

One reason many people are living without health coverage is because employers can’t afford to offer health benefits to their workers.  Of the estimated 9 million children who are uninsured, 90 percent have at least one working parent.

 “Businesses can’t hardly afford it,” Chellman said, “So they’re passing it more on to employees, who in turn can’t afford it, and people are just dropping health insurance.”

Elderly citizens are also affected by high health care costs.  While there are programs to help pay for coverage such as Medicare and Medicaid, the Education Coordinator at Dove Healthcare Nursing and Rehabilitation in Eau Claire, Bobby Scanlon, said there are just not enough available programs.

She said the current health care system in the United States is “very inadequate in meeting the needs of our elderly people.”

When many people enter the Dove Healthcare facility they have little income, and they don’t have a supplemental insurance plan to cover costs, which “puts people in a bind,” Scanlon said.

About 15 percent of the population at Dove Healthcare is private pay.  Private pay residents have to pay about $124 a day to cover all of their costs.  Scanlon said it’s rare for an elderly person to be able to afford to pay privately after they use up any Medicare and Medicaid benefits that may receive. 

Issues involving the cost of health care affect people at the local level.  The third district congressman's biggest concerns in regards to health care are how costs can be controlled, what should be done about the problem of many being uninsured, and how we can make sure we are paying for quality health care, Spaziani said. 

The cost of health care continues to be a concern of many Americans.  The quality of health care is an issue to deal with too.  “It’s not like we’re spending all of this money and getting the very best in quality in return,” Spaziani said. 

One idea for improvement that Kind is in favor of is the establishment of Health Information Technology, referred to as HIT to make doctors handling of patient’s records more efficient.

Spaziani said she personally would like to see doctors and hospitals adopt an electronic health record system.  Using electronic health records instead of paper charts might allow doctors to see patterns in people’s health more easily. 

Doctors would be able to see prescription price differences more quickly as well.  This could save consumers unnecessary costs.  It would also serve as a way to make sure all doctors are staying on task and are accountable.

However, most improvement ideas regarding health care require spending money before saving it.   The controversy over who has the best plan to improve health care in the United States continues.  

“It seems right now to have percolated to the top of the national and political scene as the number one issue that people are concerned about,” said Richard Thoune, director and health officer of the Eau Claire City-County Health Department. 

As far as what might be done to solve that issue Thoune said, “Everybody wishes they had a crystal ball and could foresee that.”