Why does the US spend more than twice the amount in healthcare as any other nation and yet ranks 37th in the world in healthcare outcomes? Why have we seen our health insurance premiums skyrocket, our deductibles and copays rise and an explosion of high deductible plans emerge? Why are we paying 60% more for prescription medications than anywhere else in the world? Why are 50% of all bankruptcies directly related to medical costs and 90% of those from the middle class?

Having served the health care system for 25 years, I have watched it transform into an increasingly commercial enterprise. Insurance companies have taken control and it has become a increasingly fragmented, inefficient and administratively wasteful system. Patient care time squeezed out as providers are forced to spend more time on phone calls, computer and paper documentation. Physician reimbursements are at an all-time low, making it difficult to attract practitioners into the field. Patients are often left navigating an complex system they don’t understand and that does not serve them well.

We are facing a meltdown in our healthcare system, and bold measures are needed to correct our course. Try as we may to piecemeal this back together, the solution will require more fundamental changes. After a recent article in Time magazine “ What Scares Doctors?”, one physician wrote in “The interests of consumers and caregivers are losing out, and the winners are the publicly traded insurance companies which make hundreds of millions in profit as they cut patient services.“ I wholeheartedly agree.

Did you know that 1/3 of every dollar spent on healthcare goes to pay administrative costs for insurance companies? (1/2 if excessive drug prices and fraud are factored in.) Did you know that insurance company profits increased 80% faster than spending on actual health care in 2003? Insurance companies compete not by increasing quality or lowering consumer costs, but by avoiding unprofitable patients and shifting cost back to us. It is estimated that the United States collectively wastes more on healthcare bureaucracy than it would cost to provide health care to all of its citizens.

The reality in California is that over 20% of our citizens are currently uninsured, and many more are underinsured. This affects those who have the means to pay as well. For the past four years I have tried to obtain private insurance and have been unable to do so. The breakdown is occuring on multiple levels, and will continue with increasing urgency as our present system falls further into decline.

The goal I feel we should be working toward is health care for all, not wealth for the few. I encourage you to have a look at SB840, the California Health Insurance Reliability Act. It is a single payer insurance plan that would consolidate the many into the one providing secure, comprehensive healthcare coverage for all Californians. It is estimated that it will save 343 billion dollars over the first 10 years through increased efficiency and massive purchasing power.

Let us not wait for more ER and hospital closures. Let us not wait for more quality healthcare professionals to leave in utter frustration. Let us not wait for more bankruptcies and suffering by those who are inadequately served by this system. I would like to see California lead the way in creating a system that provides high quality, affordable, compassionate and equitable care that is easily accessible and understandable to all.

Please log on to www.healthcareforall.org or call 888-442-4255 for more information. Or check www.onecarenow.org. There are many ways you can help. Sign the petition in support of SB840. Join our local chapter of HCA.  This bill has the support of over 420 groups and associations including the California Nurses Association and California Physicians Alliance

This was an article I wrote for The Union newspaper in 2008. Update on contact for Nevada County chapter of HCA is Kent Clark at 530-615-4249. If you live in California and would like to join your local chapter, you can find contact info at www.healthcareforall.org.