Aging Population Will Need More From Health Care System

BY BART HOVE
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER

One of the blessings of living in a democracy is that every opinion has a chance to be heard.
No one opinion is without validity, and most are given their day in court, so to speak. Voters and lawmakers consider these opinions, and policy takes its direction from this process.
Arguably, no topic sparks more opinion – and difference of opinion – than does health care. This is especially true during an election year.
YOU HAVE, no doubt, heard plenty of opinions regarding the health care system of the United States. Many claim our system is broken, or at least inadequate to meet the needs of a nation that is increasingly older and underinsured. Some opinions have been offered as means of improving this system.
One option is greater privatization of health care services to allow competition and free enterprise to guide future development. Another option is to allow greater governmental involvement in an effort to ensure equality to the access and quality of care offered to all Americans. There are countless options in between.
As a hospital leader, I have a significant interest in this debate. I have my own personal opinions, as do the other leaders, physicians and staff that provide health care to our region. Those opinions may differ, but we all have one desire in common – the desire to care for people in need.
So in one sense, the system in which our hospital operates is irrelevant. Our hospital takes all comers. If someone is sick, they will find help here. Admittedly, this is partly a function of law and partly a function of our desire. But we honestly don’t care whether health care is a patient’s right or privilege. It’s simply our mission.
OBVIOUSLY, though, the system in which we operate will have an impact on how we can deliver health care. The reimbursement the hospital receives, the availability of physicians and caregivers and several other vital components to our health care system will be significantly impacted by the policies and opinions of those elected to office.
For example, there is a difference of opinion as to whether health care is a service or a resource. I argue that it is the latter, and like any resource, health care has finite limits. Some people, it seems, fail to recognize this.
So when our hospitals and the physicians who serve them are increasingly asked to do more with less, we eventually reach a level of capacity. Our physicians are retiring, and there aren’t enough new physicians entering the field to meet this need. Americans are an aging population, increasingly dependent upon their health care providers for longer periods of their lives. Underinsured populations are taxing emergency departments instead of accessing primary care physicians.
In short, there may well be a day when there aren’t enough doctors and other providers of care to treat the number of sick people in our country. At that point, the question of access created by debates on insurance coverage or federal reimbursement just won’t matter. So many issues in health care relate to cost, but if hospital and physician care continues to be treated as a service without limits, I can assure you of one thing – we’ll all end up paying.
This is not to imply that we as individuals are absolved of responsibility. Each of us is responsible for our own health, and as our health system is taxed by the above issues, it becomes increasingly important that we make healthy decisions and lead healthy lifestyles. This is not only good for us, but good for health care.
Still, our government and its policies are just as important a piece to the puzzle facing our nation. So as our health care options are debated over the coming weeks, I simply urge our candidates, and those of you who support them, to fully examine each issue, weigh the pros and cons and make educated decisions.
There is far too much at stake to make these decisions based solely on one’s opinion.
Bart Hove is president of Bristol Regional Medical Center, one of the founding hospitals of Wellmont Health System.

Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of guest op-eds on the nation’s health care system.