Edith "Dotsy" Fauntleroy Smith
June 3, 2009Enell Bradley Brown
June 5, 2009
Area residents voiced their concerns and offered solutions for the nation’s ailing healthcare system at a public forum hosted by Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-LA) last Thursday in Houma.
The meeting was held to gain input from local residents about healthcare issues as the third-term congressman readies for the political battle to come over the next few months.
“I don’t want to do the talking. I came to listen,” Melancon told the 30 attendees. “I’d like for you to tell me what it is we need to worry about, real problems.”
Healthcare professionals complained about the ever-increasing bureaucracy, which adds to the cost of providing services.
Linda Songy with Terrebonne General Medical Center protested the red tape caused by the Joint Commission accreditation organization, which requires hospitals to look at patient outcomes and follow certain procedures to receive Medicare payments.
“The confusion is unbelievable. This year already we’ve had three changes to standards,” she said. “That requires more than one person working full-time plus to redo processes to be able to comply to get Medicare reimbursement.”
Private practice physicians like Houma ophthalmologist Dr. Keith Kellum, co-owner of Kellum Eye Center, are in a similar situation.
“My office manager has to fill out 15 pages just for a change of address – and that’s a small thing,” he explained. “When you add complexity, you add to the cost. I have to hire more people to do this.”
Business owners were upset about the higher premiums that have to be paid to provide employee insurance.
According to a Families USA report, insurance premiums for small business have risen 129 percent since 2000. In that same time frame, premiums have more than doubled for wage earners while wages have virtually stood still.
Workers fear not being able to choose their own healthcare provider under a new system, the report stated.
And both sides dread the prospect of government-run universal healthcare, which Melancon vowed not to support.
“This is not about creating socialized medicine. I will repeat that as many times as I need to,” he said. “This is about America. This is about you and your kids and my kids and the future generations. If we don’t get it right because somebody just wants to play politics, then shame on them.”
The common fear among the audience was that Congress would move too quickly and pass huge spending increases without much debate or transparency.
“We need to slow this down. This is going way too fast,” said Sandy Hindelang of the Louisiana Coalition Against Government Rationed Health Care. “A proposal hasn’t even been drafted yet, but (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi and President (Barack) Obama are already demanding that it be approved this summer.”
Melancon ensured the audience that a vote on the final healthcare bill is months away and constituents would have time to offer their input.
Even if a healthcare reform bill passes Congress, Melancon cautioned that sweeping changes would not occur immediately.
“This is something that’s going to take five to 10 years to bear out,” he said. “This is massive.”
Melancon, a member of the conservative Democratic group the Blue Dog Coalition, has identified some parameters of what the healthcare reform bill should include.
“This needs to be budget-neutral, meaning no new dollars are spent until we find all the savings we can in the current system,” he said. “That means avoiding the duplication and concentrate our money on preventative medicine.”
With 47 million Americans not having health insurance and the cost of treatment and prescriptions rising unimpeded, the issue may overtake the economy as the top domestic priority this summer.
Melancon claimed that at the rate healthcare costs are increasing, in 20 years the nation could reach as high as $56 trillion in debt.
“Healthcare is in a critical position right now,” he insisted. “Not only will it envelop the federal budget if we don’t fix it, it will envelop the economy of this whole country because of the costs that are projected if we continue down the same path.”
Rep. Charlie Melancon addressed a group of 30 residents about the need to reform America’s healthcare system last Thursday at the Terrebonne Parish Main Library. Melancon suggested at the current pace healthcare costs are rising, the country will be $56 trillion in debt by 2030. * Photo by KEYON K. JEFF
