Basic Health Access

By permission from Shane A Avery, MD    August 29, 2018 12:47 PM as posted in AAFP News I am a rural, solo, self-employed family physician who is practicing with his wife, an NP; in one of the poorest counties in Indiana. I was one of the physicians who reported the first cases of HIV during the historic outbreak in 2015. I lobbied at the state level for a needle exchange program when our governor and state health department said it should not be done. It is quite sobering to have the heads of the HIV division of the CDC sitting in your hospital boardroom. I had fought the opioid epidemic before it was recognized, when JCAHO was telling us to monitor pain as the 6th vital sign. I watched a rural community flounder under an epidemic of death, disease, and disability brought on by opioids with the blessing of the healthcare and pharmaceutic industry. But I am a family physician. I kept seeing patients in the office, providing complex care coordination. I did home...

There are more indications of the punishment of health care costs upon our nation. A recent article in Forbes indicates that GoFundMe accounts are increasingly used to help with overwhelming costs.  There are numerous indicators of worsening facing most Americans - the ones that health care designers fail to understand most. Generally the article is a good review of the increasing costs as out of pocket expenses go up, employers and health insurers move to lesser coverage, and high deductible plans hit hard. Those who have lower income are often forced to go to lower cost high deductible plans - but of course the $10,000 that they have to pay is overwhelming. The answer to this issue is we need to fix the healthcare system. There is enough spending at over 3 trillion. How the dollars are spent actually makes the situation worse.  There are many solutions that can lower healthcare costs. The author lists some We spend 10% to 20% more in overhead than ot...