Health care is broken and must be fixed

By Marty Steffens

SABEW Chair

(Editor's Note: This is the first in a series of articles covering the Fall SABEW conference, being held at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill on Oct. 20-21.)

First up is David King, CEO of Laboratory Corporation of America, on the “Future of Health Care.”

King described a gloomy future for health care with spiraling health care premiums, a growing number of chronically ill patients, and a pending epidemic of health concerns caused by obesity.

By 2015, King said the cost of providing employee health care will exceed the cost of employee pay. “If it costs more for benefits than for wages, then (companies) will stop paying benefits or stop paying wages,” said King. This is on top of a troubling record of medical care – only about half of patients get correct care.

And the cost of poor care is breaking employees and patients – employers are cutting back on health care plans and half of those who file for bankruptcy cite medical bills, King says.

“We have a payment system that drives procedures, not quality,” says King. And even though today’s consumer is more educated, thanks to the Internet, King says are not getting proper care. And that number holds true for 25 million Americans with chronic illness, whose care consumes 80 percent of health care spending.

The U.S. health care system and reimbursement policies contribute to system that is broken and expensive. King says that we need to act quickly because today’s obesity epidemic will be tomorrow’s diabetes epidemic.

He cautioned that creating technology fixes don’t change personal habits that cause the underlying disease.

Physicians are undercut in applying treatment because of needed approval methods.

King's prescription to fix the health care system:

• Pay to prevent and delay the onset of disease.
• Pay for care, not for procedures, and move to a fee for outcome system.
• Expand the use of personalized medicine that uses diagnostic testing to predict the possibility of chronic disease so steps can be taken to improve health, and reduce costs.
• Increase incentives for self-care and preventative measures.
  

Posted Oct. 20, 2007