Re: America's Health Care System will Collapse

I think the most important issue is providing patients will Quality
care, and the fact that technology can enhance the quality of care so
drastically is great. However, the electronic card has been brought up
many times recently and I think it is a definite trend for the future,
even with the expense. People will immediately recognize the benefit of
having this card and will be willing to pay for the security if their
well being. I mean there is only so much we can wait around for the
government to do for us. I think if we want something we are going to
have to take some burden of the cost. The government may have to incur
the initial cost, but I think once the system is set up, the benefits
of having the card will out weigh the costs. I do not think the
government is willing to set this up right now in the current dynamic
of the healthcare industry, but it is definitely something that will
have on impact on healthcare quality.



Tiffany wrote:
Regarding the Technology, this electronic card seems like the ideal
solution to preventing unnecessary deaths due to medical mistakes.
However, the question becomes how much will it cost to set up all 300
million Americans today with this technology? And what additional costs
will be involved in developing a system where every new American is set
up with this electronic medical record? Don't get me wrong, it seems
like such a simple and brilliant way to save so many lives each year,
but how much money do you think 98,000 lives is worth to the American
Government?


Ron Peterson wrote:
From http://www.govtech.net/magazine/channel_story.php/99517 :

Tommy Thompson: America's Health Care System Will Collapse by 2013
May 15, 2006 By Wayne Hanson
Day one of GTC week began with the "C-Level Summit" at a downtown
Sacramento hotel. State CIO Clark Kelso set the tone by outlining a few
"global population demographics and their approaching impact on
government and society," while preparing the audience for the keynote
by former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy G.
Thompson.

We are growing older as a population, Said Kelso, and that trend will
continue through the 21st Century. "The number of people over 65 will
more than double by mid century, and the number of those over 85 will
quadruple." As a result, he said, society and government will focus
more on aging, healthcare, transportation and mobility. And just as IT
remade financial services, healthcare is poised for a similar
transformation.

Tommy Thompson
Thompson -- four-term governor of Wisconsin and former federal
secretary of Health and Human Services -- is now chairman of the
Deloitte Center for Health Solutions and a partner at the law firm of
Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld.

The Secretary of Health and Human Services is a huge responsibility,
began Thompson. Its budget of $600 billion is larger than Defense -- 23
cents out of every dollar goes to HHS vs. 18 cents to Defense. However,
he said, the federal government is paralyzed with the status quo, and
if health care is to be solved, states will need to be involved.

As governor of Wisconsin, said Thompson, he would wake up with good
ideas, and had some chance of implementing them. In Washington, ideas
had to be vetted through thousands of people. "And then OMB turns you
down nine time out of ten just to show you who is boss." After that the
idea goes to more people, to the president and then to Congress.

Even though American health care is the best in the world, said
Thompson, he predicts the health care system will collapse about 2013.
"The first reason is that we spend about 16 percent of our GDP on
health care, while other countries spend from four to 11 percent. Japan
spends 7 percent. We spend a lot more than any other country." And, he
said, by 2013 we'll double the expenditures; from $2 trillion to $4
trillion -- from 16 percent of GDP to 20 percent of GDP.

General Motors has the largest private health care system in the world,
said Thompson. "For every car they sell, they put $1,525 into their
health care system for employees -- more than the cost of the steel in
their automobiles." In comparison, said Thompson, Toyota spends $225
per car for health care. And GM's share of the auto market has slipped
from 52 percent down to below 25 percent.

The second problem with health care, he said, is that companies of 50
or fewer employees are getting out of the health care business, which
shifts the burden to state and other private-pay employees.

And Medicare will deplete its surplus by 2013 and start going broke,
said Thompson.

Thompson went into some detail as to where health care funds go, and
what can be done about it. Seventy-five percent of the $2 trillion goes
for chronic illnesses, and 125 million people have one or more chronic
illnesses, some of which are preventable. Nearly half a million
Americans are afflicted with tobacco-related illnesses, for example,
and a smoker's lifespan is reduced 14.5 years on average.

Thompson advocates a $1 tax on every pack of cigarettes sold, to be put
into a fund for smokers to quit smoking.

Twenty-one million Americans have diabetes and another 14 million are
pre diabetic, said Thompson. A five-10 percent loss of excess weight
can reduce certain types of diabetes by up to 40 percent. "There's no
law in America that says you have to eat everything on your plate,"
said Thompson to the post-luncheon assembly, "no matter what your
mother said." Americans -- at 3,774 calories per day -- are at the top
of caloric intake. And Americans consume 158 pounds of sugar per year.
Mexico is second at 110 pounds.

Technology
Health care could use more information technology, said Thompson.
"Ninety-eight thousand people died last year from medical mistakes,
half of which were the wrong medications at the wrong time in the wrong
amounts to the wrong people."

An electronic medical record could cut those mistakes significantly
said Thompson. "In St. Petersburg, Russia, I ran out of money. I went
to the ATM and got money and the account record from my bank in Elroy,
Wisconsin. But if you had a stroke here and were taken to the hospital,
it would probably take days to find out your name, your allergies,
illnesses and other medical information."

Thomson displayed a card which he said has 100 pages of his medical
history on it. "The technology is there, we should have it. So if you
do have an accident or a stroke, the hospital could load your card, and
take care of you."

Thompson also discussed the 45 million Americans without health
insurance. When they get care, the public pays, and since they are
uninsured, they often go to the emergency room, the most expensive of
all. Thompson advocated preventive care and state-driven health
insurance for all. "We require everyone to have auto insurance, why not
health insurance? instead of a drag on the economy, it would be a
stimulus."

GTC continues today, with preconference workshops and seminars. On
Wednesday "Coach Carter" and Gov. Schwarzenegger will present.

Wayne Hanson

- -

--
Ron

.

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