Associated Press
450 W. 33rd St.
New York, NY 10001
October 6, 2011
Dear Editor:
Yesterday, you reported that the nation’s worst hospitals treat twice the amount of elderly black and poor patients than the best hospitals. These patients receiving care from the worst hospitals are more likely to suffer and die from heart attacks and pneumonia. This is quite alarming because we’re seeing the scope of health care inequality and inaccessibility in its worst way. This is a time when our nation’s poorest are in great need of proper health care yet they’re not receiving it. As a student, I’m completely baffled and appalled at the blatant lack of consideration for our fellow Americans. What people don’t realize is that 5% of our population accounts for about 50% of health care spending. If we allocate money and resources to these “worse” hospitals and pay better attention to delivering adequate primary and preventive care, we could avoid such egregious spending. In addition to that, the notion that western medicine maintains about focusing on treatment needs to be changed and instead focus on prevention. Many patients could avoid having to seek out medical services for otherwise avoidable health problems. Until then, we’re only going to continue accruing mass debts among health care costs with no end in sight.
Sincerely,
Gryska Gonzalez
http://news.yahoo.com/study-worst-hospitals-treat-larger-share-poor-200222522.html
I wanted to start off by making a correction to the article when it said “What people don’t realize is that 5% of our population accounts for about 50% of health care spending.” What I am assuming the writer of this letter means is that the Top 5% of Medicaid enrollees account for more than half of the medicaid spending - 54.1% (FY 2008) with the elderly and the disabled accounting for 90% of those expenses. Medicaid enrollees comprise of be low-income (since the program is means tested) children, their adult care takers, the disabled, and the elderly. Income inequality is a huge factor as to why the poor are going to the worst hospitals as these are socioeconomically related problems. However, one’s income and geographic location should not be an excuse for the poor quality of care. The writer of this letter did mention how we must shift gears and work more towards the preventative side. I agree. Looking at the two populations that account for most of this spending (the disabled and the elderly) it only makes sense that preventative care is the better investment. Unfortunately, a lot of politics is involved with allocation and resource distribution. What if we were to come up with a policy/program that rewarded hospitals that provided the most/best preventative care? The incentive/game is enough to initiate a change.
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