WQOW TV: Eau Claire, WI NEWS18 News, Weather, and Sports"At Issue" - Healthcare
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Eau Claire (WQOW) -- It's been an issue among voters for decades.
"The healthcare issue has always been a burden." says one woman. "Too many people don't have healthcare, it's the biggest shame in this country." says another.
Some refer to it as "the healthcare crisis". It makes others angry that the United States doesn't have some form of universal healthcare.
What we do have is a hodge-podge of options and programs available: Medicaid, Medicare part A, B, Badgercare, Badgercare plus, ect. They're designed to give certain people discounts on healthcare. Because no matter who you are, it's expensive.
Dr. Randall Linton, President and CEO of Luther Midelfort, says "One of the biggest challenges, many people think they're not receiving the value they would like.
With so many programs and players in healthcare, it's tough to come up with a value that pleases everyone, which poses another problem.
"They want their care to be coordinated. They want to know the healthcare providers, the system, works together." Says Dr. Linton.
Dr. Linton works with the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center. For years they've been conducting studies and survey to better understand where healthcare is going.
The center has 4 cornerstones to change health care: value, coordinated care, payment reform - where the government would reimburse health care providers who perform well, and health insurance for all.
Dr. Linton says, "After the election, with the new administration, actually sit down with representatives to talk about the need to progress on these 4 cornerstones for care."
On the other side of the coin, there's Holly Hakes. She works for Aurora Community Services. The company provides in home-care for the disabled. Now Aurora is expanding to help the elderly.
Hakes says, "We aren't traditional health care. It doesn't have to be about what a doctor says, what your prescription says, what the medical model, as it exists today, offers for you. It can be about what options and solutions you want to create for yourself.
Holly contrasts their model of care against "the traditional medical model". So they offer care so people won't feel forced to leave their homes as they age.
This adds to what health care in America is today -- full of choice.
"If you can't afford it, if your health insurance doesn't cover it, you've got to be independent.
Aurora believes independence at home is the future of health care.
But is too much choice a bad thing? Is healthcare changing for the better or for the worse? These are all questions we have to ponder as we grow older.
"It's inevitable we will get there. It will be a challenge over the several years given the economy. How do the current healthcare priorities surface themselves in the current reality? Say Linton.
"It's your health care, it's your future, your solutions." says Hakes.
Thursday we wrap up our series with voter responsibility.
