Free Press Op-Ed on Health Care
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200880612057
Market reforms better for health care
JUNE 15, 2008
There may be talk about the problems with our current health care system, but as the Detroit Free Press reported in May (“Bosses light a fire under smokers ready to quit,” Patricia Anstett, May 19, 2008) employers and health care companies are indeed working together to benefit patients.
The article describes a growing number of Michigan companies that are helping their employees quit smoking. Some offer coaching and self-help materials to keep patients focused, while others reimburse their workers for nicotine replacement therapies or medicines that help them quit. Many insurance plans offer lower premiums to patients who quit, and top executives are working hard to promote workplace wellness.
The new collaborations are showing impressive results. The Gardner-White Furniture Company, based in Warren, has partnered with Humana, Inc. to provide free coaches, a lower monthly premium, and a free annual physical to smokers who quit. Since the company’s wellness programs began four years ago, smoking rates have dropped by 5 percent.
Still, programs from health care providers can only do so much alone. Because employers are part of the health care system, they can join forces with their health plans to make their tools available, appealing, and adapted to the needs of their employee base. Beating an addiction is difficult, and while care providers create the programs, the employer’s participation is vital. It’s the employer’s connection with the health care company that lets them tailor these kinds of initiatives to their workers, improving productivity and curbing costs while benefitting employees.
If the Democrats succeed in creating their socialized health care system, innovations like this will be a thing of the past. Dr. Merrill Matthews, Jr., director of the Council for Affordable Health Insurance and an expert on health care policy, wrote recently about the dangers of giving politicians control over Americans’ health decisions:
"Reducing health care spending isn't hard: Just give the government control over the national health care budget and you'll see spending decline. Access to physicians and hospitals, the newest technology, important therapies and the best medications will also decline over time. But that's the trade-off society makes when the government controls health care spending." (Wall Street Journal, 8/15/07)
Instead of letting insurance companies and employers work with employees to incentivize healthier lifestyles, a government-run system would mandate standardized care for diverse customers with diverse needs. Employers can design flexible, comprehensive, and affordable plans, but a universal health care plan would suffer from the same problems as current government-run health care programs. (The exception is Medicare Advantage, which is privately administered and provides far better care and far more innovation than traditional fee-for-service Medicare.)
The bloated bureaucracies of traditional Medicare distort prices in the health care market. The federal government uses arbitrary price controls to limit the amount that doctors can be reimbursed, so doctors must either raise prices for privately-insured patients to make up for their losses or stop seeing patients on Medicare. Covering everyone at rates that could keep doctors in business would be extremely expensive, so a national health care program would involve either huge tax hikes or a reduced standard of care – or, knowing governmental inefficiency, both.
Regular taxpayers are struggling to afford their own insurance and medical care, and their employers are working hard at new programs to get them better value on their health care dollar. If the government has to take action on health care, it should encourage businesses to create innovative strategies like the Michigan companies’ quit-smoking programs.
These collaborations are good for everyone: they lower costs for insurers, keep the workforce productive for employers, and encourage working Americans to take responsibility for their health. And that’s a healthy dose of commonsense for Michiganders.
Detroit native Saulius "Saul" Anuzis is the Chairman of Michigan Republican Party
