Thursday, February 24, 2005
A doctor's call for universal health care
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Eskenazi is a pediatrician at Physicians to Children in Roanoke.
The news has been replete with numerous stories about what is wrong with American health care - doctors fighting with health-care insurance companies over appropriate reimbursements; lawyers, doctors and malpractice insurance companies fighting over who's at fault for the malpractice crisis; local, state and federal governments struggling with pharmaceutical companies over the cost of medications.
Health care in this country is remarkable for some of the incredible miracles that occur every day and remarkable for its appalling failure to provide basic medical services for so many of its citizens.
Unless you've been living under a rock, you've undoubtedly heard much or all of this and want to climb under this rock to not hear it any more. As a health-care provider, there are many days when I just want to take care of my patients and join you under that rock.
These are huge political and social issues that tug on the fabric of our country, and yet what is often lacking in all the global rhetoric is the cost to our neighbors and friends. Two items in The Roanoke Times of Feb. 11 highlight how broken our health-care system is truly becoming.
I do not know Elaine Fleck, but I am honored to live in her community. Her art and her community activities make my life better. The next time I am in Highland Park, I will know at least one person to thank for its beauty.
She is fortunate that she has such a wonderful group of friends to organize a fund-raiser to help pay her bills for uterine cancer surgery. But I suspect it is more than good fortune - I suspect that those who know her want to give back to someone who has given so much to them. Deep down, I know that all who read this article wanted them to succeed gloriously.
But why does someone who works hard and raises a family not have health insurance just because she has chosen a career that doesn't involve working for a company that provides health insurance? Sure, she could have bought her own insurance, but individual policies cost far more than group policies. And if you have a pre-existing condition, forget about it.
A smaller (in length) but no less poignant story farther back in the paper is that of Skylar Corvin, a 9-year-old battling childhood cancer. I don't know her either, but in the interest of full disclosure, my wife is one of her physicians.
Skylar, too, is blessed with caring neighbors who are giving of themselves to help with the enormous medical costs her family is burdened with. They are fortunate because they have health-care coverage for her, and yet that coverage does not meet the full costs of her treatment.
When I moved to this community four years ago, I was immediately struck by the community support and spirit for those in need. We have the highest per-capita giving to the United Way. We have among the highest per-capita fund raising for the American Cancer Society through Relay For Life.
These two stories further illustrate what a wonderful community we live in here. I am grateful for my colleagues who support Project Access to help those who work but are uninsured. But why should there even have to be a Project Access?
What about those who live in less-giving communities? What about those who live on the margins of society and don't have the kind of supports these two families have?
What is the function of government? Is it to provide a basic standard of well-being for all its citizens, or merely to protect us from each other and external threats? It's time for politicians, business leaders and health providers to spend less time pointing fingers at each other and more time working toward a solution whereby all citizens receive basic health care.
Because, even if we don't know each other, we are neighbors.
