Provided by Clinician 1

It seems we PAs and NPs have given up. As you know, I am pretty straightforward about my feelings on many issues. Where have the NP and PA professions’ voices gone when it comes to national healthcare? Have we put our heads in the sand as the issue has become more partisan? More divisive? To me that’s not good enough. We have to be more vocal on this. Not that we can solve it, but we can keep calling for a better system and one that uses both our professions to their full potential.

The bottom line is we still need some sort of national health insurance, maybe even more than we did last year. Why? Politicians will tell you that “most people are happy with the insurance they have" – at least that’s what some want us to hear. Why change something that is not broken? I think most of us who provide care know it was broken before and still is. Remember the millions of families who have no insurance. They have not gone away. We forget that people won’t leave jobs, or start businesses, or take risks because they are afraid of losing the coverage they have. We forget the arguments we all have had with the insurance clerks.

Lately, something new has happened, which I think has not filtered down yet to the regular citizens or our elected representatives. Something which will be another huge reason for us to push for national healthcare. Employer-paid plans are slowly but surely being replaced by “defined contribution” plans. Simply, you will have to pay more and more, and your employer will pay less and less, for your coverage. When the increase in your payment goes up 20%, 30%, 40% every year, more people will revolt. Many will see what the real costs of care are and pay for a while. Some will not pay and even more will be added to the millions without.

Insurance companies are also reducing coverage while significantly raising costs. Some companies have stopped selling health insurance as they can’t keep up with the cost increases. My insurance agent said most companies are raising rates significantly to hedge their bets because there still is a chance that national healthcare passes in one fashion or another. Be sure, they will also keep charging us more, one way or another.

Again, look at the auto industry. One of the costs that doomed them was healthcare, both to retirees and their active workforce. Why has Canada gained so many auto plants? One reason, no healthcare costs. Which industries are next? Newspapers, and most of publishing in general, with their thin margins; airlines; sales jobs. These are the next who will drop all health coverage. There, again, will be large segments of the population who can’t afford to be covered. It’s only a matter of time.

I am very wary of any Federal “takeover” of healthcare. I know that it may take awhile to get it right. But I also know that talk of “death panels,” “socialism” and “let the insurance companies run healthcare” are scare tactics. People forget that with Medicare, Medicaid, social security disability, the military healthcare system and the VA, the Federal government is already a MAJOR player in healthcare. All of those agencies provide care – some better, some worse. Let’s see the people screaming “socialism” burn their Medicare cards – never happen. The Republicans really have no workable plan, and the Democrats have done a really poor job explaining their plan or why healthcare reform is critical for our future. To keep our economy strong. To keep all Americans healthy. Instead, we are back to “he said, she said” and no one is really moving us ahead.

So I say the question we have to help answer is this one: How do we cover and insure at a rate that is affordable to our citizens who have, or soon will have, no healthcare? I am scared of the Feds taking anything over but more scared of the insurance industry raising rates until no one has care.

PAs and NPs have a stake in this. If we really care about our own futures and the futures of our patients. Keep letting people know our feelings. Let your patients know. Let your elected officials know that the only way we will solve this is by all parties working TOGETHER. Enough partisanship on this one.

After all someone has to advocate for our country’s healthcare. As a real professional, take a minute and do so.

Dave has been a PA, and later NP, leader for thirty years. He strongly believes that NPs and PAs must work together to insure a better future for both professions. Most recently Dave has been busy launching another dream; Clinician 1, the first internet community for PAs and NPs. In October 2008, Dave was honored by the New Jersey State society of PAs with its “Lifetime Achievement Award”.

The viewpoint expressed in this article is the opinion of the author and is not necessarily the viewpoint of the owners or employees at Healthcare Staffing Innovations, LLC.

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