Thursday night the Covenant
School of Nursing hosted an Obamacare panel to answer many questions that many
still have about this controversial law.
The sole purpose of this event was to give the general public in depth
information about the effects, give medical and governmental views of the
program, and local predictions on what to expect when this law is fully
implemented.
The panel consisted of four
members who included: State Representative Charles Perry; Democratic Party
Chairman Kenny Ketner; Clarke E. Cochran, Ph.D; and Patricia Freier MSN, RN-BC,
RCIS. Each of the members was intended to
bring a wide range of perspectives on the law while offering their expertise to
dissect the different components of the law.
During the debate, the panel
was focused to address 4 main questions concerning the law.
1.
How will the public be
affected by the new legislation in both personal and financial aspects? Will
prices of healthcare actually increase or decrease overall for the average Joe?
2.
What new regulations and
protocol will the hospital (Covenant) have to implement to be in compliance
with the new legislation, how will this affect the public, and when will they
begin to see the changes?
3.
In your own words, how will
this legislation affect the work of Doctors/PA/NP/Nurses who serve the public?
4.
What is one part of the new
legislation that you believe that everybody needs to know?
Because the Covenant School
of Nursing was hosting the panel, a majority of the issues covered were the
behind the scenes effects of the new law and how it would change the functions
of healthcare providers. Medical jargon aside, many of the changes were said to
be more noticeable on the care-giver side rather than the patient side.
Among other things brought up
during the Q&A that followed the debate, the cost of Obamacare was the most
concerning issue the audience asked about. Coincidently, this was the one thing
the panel could agree on; Obamacare does not do enough to control costs. This
is a question I personally brought to the panel because it is obvious that,
aside from the individual mandate, costs were the biggest concern among the
audience.
"We have the best
healthcare in the world...if you can afford it" were the words from Democratic
Party Chairman Kenny Ketner.
These words, surprisingly
enough, are very true. And coming from the Democratic Party Chairman is a bit
of a shock to me. It’s almost unheard of to hear anybody from the Democratic
Party say anything less than praise about the new law. It’s generally known
that supporters of Obama and the Democratic Party are also die-hard supporters
of Obamacare. While shocking to hear, it is comforting to know that even the supporters
of the law do see the problems it poses and address its shortcomings.
Dr. Cochran gave a noticeable
opinion on the law saying he gave Obamacare 2 cheers rather than 3 because of
this failure to control the costs of healthcare. He also said that neither the
proposals by the Republicans or Democrats would control costs.
“Is the American Healthcare
system affordable? No.” Cochran said in response to my question.
Dr. Cochran gave these reasons
as to why the cost of healthcare was so high:
·
Prices, such as salaries to
doctors, nurses, etc., being much higher than the rest of the world.
·
Administrative costs of
running hospitals and healthcare programs.
·
Technological Innovation
driving up healthcare costs, getting us less and less health for the dollars we
spend in research and development. But nobody wants to reduce R&D or be
slow to adopt the newest drug and/or procedure.
One interesting point brought
up that the rest of the panel seemed to leave out of the discussion was made by
Patricia Freier as she made her response to my question. While the other
panelists focused on the failure of Obamacare to control the rising costs of
healthcare, Freier looked at the source of the rising costs and a solution to
it.
“We really have not talked
about personal responsibility” Freier said in her response. “It’s all about
costs we’ve been talking about here tonight.”
She used heart-attacks as an
example to explain the rising costs of healthcare, a subject she specializes
in.
“We know what causes a
heart-attack; we know how to prevent it. All heart-attacks are preventable.
But, you have to do your part and participate in that regiment. We have to have
those people who can do those expensive procedures…and that’s driving up the
costs of healthcare. It is actually not that expensive to go do this method,
find out what your root causes are and treat them, and never have a
heart-attack. But we don’t really talk about that, we don’t take that personal
responsibility and that point needs to be made.”
A very interesting point
brought up by someone who seemed to be a supporter of the new law.
Obamacare was designed with
the best intentions in mind, but I do agree that the cost of healthcare is the
real problem with the healthcare system in America and is also the biggest
issue that Obamacare fails to address.
Nevertheless, it was great to
have this panel come out and address one of the biggest problems many have of
the new law; just not knowing what it is and how it works.