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America must lower health care costs without
lowering quality or disrupting the doctor-patient relationship. Health
care is a universally emotional issue. At some point in our lives
either we or someone we love will need care and perhaps suffer
significant trauma. Nothing is more disturbing than to see loved ones,
friends, neighbors, or our fellow man suffering.
As miraculous as our modern health care system is, almost everyone
agrees that it needs dramatic reform. Everyone agrees that affordable,
high-quality care is the goal but there is very little agreement on how
to achieve the goal, and critically, maintain it.
Only genuine reform will expand insurance options, minimize quality
differences, and avoid limiting access to treatment options or
developing one-size-fits-all care. Whether the bill is paid by
government, business, or individuals factors including waste, fraud,
and over-utilization are making health care unaffordable for everyone.
Exploding state budgets, expenditures, and the uninsured are symptoms –
the disease is cost.
We hope to contribute to meeting the goals of lower costs, higher quality, and affordable health insurance for all.
Montana's Health Care Crisis
There are significant opportunities to improve the health of Montanans:
- Obesity in Montana, a key contributor to medical expenses has increased by 160% since 1990,
- Montana spent $175 million treating obesity in adults, and
- Only 75% of kids receive all their immunizations.
Rising health care costs are hurting Montana’s businesses and families:
- Rising health care costs are lowering wages, and
- Every working Montanan under 65 has Medicare debt of $139,314.35.
- 16% of Montanans are uninsured.
Much of the money we spend is wasted:
- Montana’s spend approximately $36.3 million on health care services that don’t “improve health outcomes,” and
- Montanan’s
pay for $230 million annually for medical conditions that are largely
avoidable.Rising health care costs are lowering wages, and
- Every working Montanan under 65 has Medicare debt of $139,314.35.
Government shouldn’t increase spending on a broken system:
- Montana’s Medicaid spending has doubled in the last ten years to almost $726 million, and
- Government-provided
health care costs more than private health care. Montana’s Medicaid
costs per enrollee costs are now $8,841 compared to $4,144 for
employer-based health insurance.
Guiding Reform Principles
There is a role for government and a role for patients in health care
reform. Health care reform cannot be achieved by imposing a
one-size-fits-all program overseen by Washington politicians. Genuine
reform does not mean spending more money when experts agree that the
cost of health care is the problem. Costs must be addressed to minimize
additional spending by patients and taxpayers. Genuine reform means
improving health care quality and cost consistent with the following
principles:
- Preserve patients’ rights to choose the health care that’s right for them,
- Reduce waste, fraud, and abuse to make health care more affordable,
- Implement malpractice reform to limit frivilous lawsuits,
- Incentivize personal accountability to minimize avoidable medical conditions,
- Make it easier for states for reform Medicaid and then apply what works to national reform,
- Give individuals the same tax break corporations receive on insurance premiums, and
- Preserve entrepreneurial incentives to develop life-saving procedures, technologies, and drugs.
Preserve Montana's High Quality Health Care
We must lower health care costs while preserving the high quality, patient-centered approach that saves lives:
- Since 1971 the number of cancer medications
in use in the United States have tripled and survival rates for
Americans exceeds that of Europeans and Canadians for 13 of the 16 most
common cancers.
- A higher share of
heart patients in Montana are given necessary medical treatments that
help stabilize heart attacks compared to the average across the country.
- A higher
percentage of patients undergoing surgery in Montana hospitals receive
appropriately timed antibiotic treatment compared to other states,
which reduces the risk of contracting an infection.
- Pneumonia patients
in Montana hospitals receive antibiotics within four hours of arrival
at a higher rate than the national average (84% of patients in Montana
compared to 76% nationwide).
- A higher percentage of mothers in Montana begin early prenatal care (83%) compared to the average in other states (78%).
The Montana Growth Network will continue to
monitor national and state health care policy and proposals with a
particular focus on how they affect the environment, the well-being of
Montana’s families, and the competitiveness of Montana’s businesses.
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