WHAT HEALTH CARE BILL MEANS TO YOU
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ROCKFORD — Even though landmark health care reform legislation was signed Tuesday by President Barack Obama, overhauling the system will be a long and challenging journey, local health care leaders say.
“I’ve been of the belief all along that reform is absolutely necessary,” said Bill Gorski, president and CEO of SwedishAmerican Health System. “Addressing care for the uninsured and underinsured has been a huge issue for us and will directly affect us. Covering the care for those individuals is an important thing for our entire society.”
The Affordable Health Care for America Act is expected to provide coverage to more than 30 million uninsured people, and Gorski and his colleagues in Rockford say it is among the issues that will likely affect this area the most.
Patients rise at Crusader
With the Rock River Valley’s burgeoning unemployment rate — 19.7 percent in the Rockford metro area for January — it’s perhaps not surprising that Crusader Community Health, a community health center that offers a sliding scale to uninsured patients, treated more patients than ever last year.
“I honestly think Crusader is already (carrying out) the goal of the bill,” said Gordon Eggers Jr., Crusader’s president and CEO. “We are a safety net. The bill wants people to have access, and we’re cost-effective access. We provide a medical home for people, and we don’t turn away people because of chronic conditions. More people are turning to us.”
Gorski said that access is important because SwedishAmerican — as well as Rockford’s other two hospitals — has seen a significant uptick in requests for charity care, a program that provides discounts for people without insurance.
The legislation is the first step toward expanding access to the uninsured, according to a statement from OSF HealthCare System, which runs OSF Saint Anthony Medical Center in Rockford, but noted that implementing the legislation’s reforms will take time.
“We are concerned that the overall health care payment system is not addressed,” according to the statement.
The legislation also includes expanding Medicaid at the state and federal levels. Gorski and other local leaders wonder whether Medicaid reimbursement rates to doctors will grow, along with the Medicaid population.
There’s also concern that the legislation doesn’t do enough to provide for more primary care doctors when millions more patients will need them.
Health system leaders expect patients also will worry about individual insurance mandates — the requirement that the uninsured will have to pay for coverage. More than a dozen states already have filed lawsuits questioning the constitutionality of the law’s insurance mandate.
Bill could have done more
As for Gary Kaatz, president and CEO of Rockford Health System, the law doesn’t do enough to address the skyrocketing costs of health care. He’d hoped to see more debate about defensive medicine, medical malpractice reform and better review of the pharmaceutical and medical device-making industries.
But, he said, “we’re going But, he said, “we’re going to have to analyze this in detail, and it’s going to take a while. In the meantime, we have to be prepared to handle the immediate changes.”
Dr. Martin Lipsky, dean of the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Rockford, echoed Kaatz’s concern about cost and said he was disappointed by the lack of bipartisan support.
“You see predictions on both sides of the aisle referring to costs that are wildly different estimates,” Lipsky said. “It’s going to be unclear until it all starts to unfold. I’m also concerned about how both sides are digging in. ... Regardless of what passed, we’re going to run into roadblocks. Economies change, new technology could dramatically change the way we care for patients.
“Rather than pointing fingers, I’m hoping as we move forward there will be more of a bipartisan approach.”
Gorski hopes people don’t react to the fear surrounding the law.
“Clearly the game has changed in health care, and I still believe it needed to and it’s not over yet,” Gorski said. “People shouldn’t panic about this. At the end of the day, this is such a huge issue to take on.”
Reach staff writer Melissa Westphal at mwestpha@rrstar.com or 815-987-1341.
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