Consensus elusive on how to reform health care
An overwhelming majority of Utah households, 80 percent, believe something has to be done — and done immediately — about the rising cost of and the dwindling access to health insurance coverage. A mere 12 percent did not think reform was needed.
Only 52 percent of the 413 respondents in the Dan Jones and Associates poll, conducted Jan. 8-10 with a 5 percent margin of error, had confidence in whether legislators and governor can work out an effective reform plan. Additionally, 36 percent believe a reformation is actually going to make the health care system worse.
"Oh, it's broken all right," Sen. Allen Christensen, R-North Ogden, and co-chairman of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Appropriation Subcommittee said Wednesday. "So is the effort so far figuring out what to do." Christensen, a pediatric dentist, along with several other lawmakers are taking an "ask me tomorrow, I'll know more" response when asked what they believe should be done.
Fifty percent of poll respondents supported one of the specific proposals, which would require that all Utahns carry health insurance, just as they are currently required to have auto insurance.
House Majority Leader David Clark, R-Santa Clara, is planning to carry the sweeping reform bill this year. Although it is not ready for public review, he told fellow Republicans Wednesday that it is nearly complete.
At least three years, and as many as 10, will be needed to fully implement the six-step plan to transform health insurance in Utah to a consumer-driven "market" that will "contain costs, enhance access and improve quality," he said.
"This is not socialized medicine and does not change Uncle Sam into Dr. Sam, and there will be a lot more individual accountability," Clark said.
Whatever plan or combination of plans is passed — there seems to be enough support among legislators for reform that something will likely pass — everyone can expect to be a lot more responsible for their own well-being.
"People being responsible and being held responsible for their own personal health habits will definitely be part of it," said Pamela Atkinson, a former Intermountain Health Care Executive and a health policy advisor to Gov. Jon M. Huntsman Jr.
Many health care reform advocates agree that any changes to the structure of health care won't work without people recognizing their own contribution for good or ill to their own health. "People have more control over not getting sick than they often realize," Atkinson said. "Many diseases are caused by conditions of an unhealthy lifestyle, and we can't expect the structural changes, whatever they are, to be of any benefit if we haven't done all we can to educate people about nutrition, wellness and prevention."
Recent comments
"The care of every man's soul belongs to himself. But what if he…
Thomas Jefferson | Jan. 17, 2008 at 10:14 a.m.
The quickest and easiest thing the Legislature could do to improve…
Big Gulp | Jan. 17, 2008 at 9:48 a.m.
Maybe they should just make it illegal to get sick or injured.
Dave | Jan. 17, 2008 at 7:28 a.m.
