FP1-11

12/02

Update

Examining Health Care: What is the Public’s Prescription?

Prepared by: Sue E. Williams, Ph.D.

Family Policy Specialist

104 HES, Room 321

OCES, Oklahoma State University

Stillwater, Oklahoma 74078

(405) 744-6825

sarahk@okstate.edu

Background. Each year the Kettering Foundation as part of the National Issues Forum project prepares issue books on challenging social issues facing our country. Each book in the series outlines an issue and several approaches to public policy that address the issue. Rather than conforming to any single public policy proposal, each choice reflects widely held concerns and principles. By intention, issue books do not identify individuals or organizations with partisan labels. The goal is to present ideas in a fresh way that encourages readers to judge them on their merit.

Examining Health Care: What is the Public’s Prescription? This issue book developed in 2002 examines the health care situation in the U.S. and poses three approaches. The U.S. spends more than any other country in the world on health care--$1.3 trillion in 2002, or $4,637 on every man, woman and child. Yet serious problems with access, cost and quality persist, depriving many people of the care they need and jeopardizing the health of our nation.

From doctors to insurance executives, from patients to politicians, an overwhelming number of Americans say we desperately need to reform health care in this country. But which is the best path, the best approach? What is the best prescription for breaking down the barriers that are preventing so many people from receiving appropriate medical care?

At the heart of people’s concerns about health care are important questions about what we value as Americans and what we are and are not willing to do to improve health care. Although they are not mutually exclusive, the following approaches reflect different perspectives and priorities that people bring to this critical issue.

Approach 1: Connected parts, not fragmented pieces. The most effective way to improve health care in America is to take firm hold of it and make it run like a true, well-coordinated system. We need to take the existing, unwieldy collection of health care fragments and fashion them into a connected web of health care services, where information flows readily between the pieces and they work in concert.

Approach 2: Partners, not just patients. Health care in America is ailing because individuals are not treated as partners in their own health. People’s decisions about their health care are undermined by too little time and rapport with their health providers and the lack of accessible consumer information and advice. Individual’s rights and responsibilities too often are ignored. We need to create new relationships in health care where consumer and professional work hand-in-hand.

Approach 3: Care for all, not just for some. The heart of the problem with American health care is that too many people fall between the cracks. The system is fraught with obstacles that keep people from getting timely and appropriate care, often leading to problems that are more difficult and expensive to treat. We need to set new priorities in

Update

Examining Health Care: What is the Public’s Prescription? (continued)

health care aimed at providing Americans with the care they need when they need it.

This book could be used to assist citizens in gaining awareness of the issue and considering a wide range of alternative public policies to address the problem. To obtain an issue book, contact:

Kendall-Hunt Publishing Company

P O Box 1840

Dubuque, IA 52004-1840

800-228-0810

Cost is $3.60 per book

Issue books address several other topics. For more information, review the National Issues Forums web site at www.nifi.org. Issue gooks are available in regular and abridged editions.