Turning to the health experts for help
PRINCETON — Over burgers, salads and sweet potato fries, Rep. Debbie Halvorson (D-Crete) and representatives from four local home health agencies discussed the proposed health care reforms and the impact on the public and home health care in general.
On Friday, Halvorson met with Becky Tirevold, manager of community health at St. Mary’s Hospital in Streator; Bonny Faibre of Mendota Community Home Health; Connie Banks of Prairieland Home Care in Spring Valley; and Colleen Sailer, chief executive officer of In-Home Care VNA in Princeton, who hosted the meeting.
Halvorson said she wanted to talk to the experts because she needed their input.
“They’re home health care workers, and they are the ones that are keeping our seniors out of the hospital, which is going to be a very necessary thing for health care reform because hospitals are the most expensive way to take care of people,” Halvorson said.
Halvorson said the reforms must include a public option to create competition to keep prices down for private insurance, and added the option must be self-sustaining and not funded by the government.
Halvorson said the United States is ranked 37th out of the 191 developed countries in terms of health care.
“When people say we have the best health care in the world, it’s not,” Halvorson said.
Tirevold said there is room for improvement in the area of doctor liability and the amount doctors must pay for insurance.
Halvorson agreed and said some doctors are doing more than they may need to in order to be careful, and are practicing too much “defensive” medicine. To combat that, the country must stop frivolous lawsuits.
The group discussed lawsuits that arose from complications the patient had been warned about, and complications that arose from doctor error.
Halvorson said a cap on settlements will not solve the problem, adding any lawsuit that goes to court will cost a lot of money. Instead, she discussed one option that would reduce the number of lawsuits filed, and said then each state could determine an appropriate cap.
“The whole goal is to keep frivolous lawsuits out of the courtrooms,” she said.
Another topic of discussion was the serious lack of dental care. Tirevold said it was surprising the number of deaths that came among people whose first complaint was a simple dental abscess.
Tirevold admitted she was confused about what all was included in the proposed health care reforms.
“I really have no idea what they’re trying to do,” she said.
Halvorson said, as a moderate Democrat, there were things she didn’t like in the proposal, but something needed to be done. She talked about a town hall conference call she held with her constituents Thursday and said an overwhelming majority of callers said some sort of health care reform was needed.
Sailer said she would like to see the heath care reform include coverage for home care for people with chronic illnesses, so they are not forced into the hospital. Halvorson repeated the goal is to keep people out of the hospital.
Banks asked about the so-called “death panels,” and Tirevold said seniors were scared and believed the movement was toward limiting options when a patient was diagnosed with a terminal disease.
Halvorson said that notion was completely false and said the “death panel” comments were made by well-respected people saying “goofy stuff that’s not even true.”
“It’s not changing anybody’s care,” she said. “If you have an optional discussion with your doctor about living wills or hospice or any end of life care, Medicare will reimburse your doctor. Period.”
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