Avoid partisan politics; we must have better health care

Imagine that you have been diagnosed with cancer. You need weekly chemotherapy treatments, but your insurance plan limits the number of times you may visit a doctor each year. Or your plan’s high deductibles and co-pays force you to choose between paying for treatment and paying the mortgage. Or your employer dropped its health plan and now you can’t afford one yourself.

Millions of people in America face harsh circumstances like these every day, and the economic crisis that has gripped the nation is bound to increase their numbers. Putting the country on firm economic footing will require that we improve the health care system for the nearly 46 million people without insurance and the estimated 25 million people with inadequate insurance that won’t cover critical treatments for life-threatening diseases such as cancer.

We can do better than the current system. To get there, we need to have a real debate about how best to improve health care. Regardless of who wins the presidential election, Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama owe it to the public to avoid partisan arguments that have divided the country and doomed health care reform efforts in the past. Instead, each should be prepared have a real debate after Election Day about how to improve health care. Unfortunately, we’ve begun to see more of the same old bitter exchanges, with one side accusing the other of pushing for government-run health care at one extreme or a system dominated by insurance companies at the other extreme. These arguments will only stall progress toward reform and divert attention from larger issues that must be addressed. Health care quality is one of those important issues. Despite remarkable scientific advancements in the prevention, detection and treatment of diseases such as cancer, the quality of care that consumers receive varies wildly. America has the best collection of scientific minds and health care facilities in the world, but the current system leaves far too many people without access to quality care.

To improve quality, we need to tear down the barricades that keep our family doctors from providing the highest quality care. The problem starts with a system that places far more emphasis on treatment than on prevention and early detection. We need to create incentives for doctors to prescribe and patients to seek preventive services —- such as by eliminating co-pays and deductibles for lifesaving screenings including mammography and colonoscopy.

We also need to rethink the way we approach the treatment of disease. Cancer patients and others battling chronic disease frequently suffer complications from other conditions and from the effects of treatment itself. They require a team of health professionals and a comprehensive plan of care. But the health care system often prevents caregivers from addressing their needs in a coordinated way, leaving patients to navigate the health care system on their own. The result is a double blow to the patient and the health care system: inadequate care at a high cost.

Fixing the health care system also requires that we empower consumers to better understand their health coverage. Health care represents 16 percent of the gross domestic product, but nowhere else in the American economy do we spend so much money while providing consumers with so little information about what they are purchasing.

Most people could list the amenities on their car more easily than they could explain what screenings, treatments and other services are covered by their health care plan. Consumers need straightforward, accurate and real-time information about health plans so they can effectively choose the one that is best for them and have thoughtful conversations with their doctor about the care they need.

If we have any hope of reforming the health care system, we must better define quality health care, empower consumers to evaluate their health care needs and discover ways to deliver the best care most effectively. We need to create new incentives for consumers to adopt healthy behaviors and for health care providers to produce better results, and to make both parties responsible for their decisions.

If instead we return to the destructive debate over private versus public health care, we will miss critical problems that must be addressed to dramatically improve America’s health.

> John R. Seffrin is the national chief executive officer of the American Cancer Society and its advocacy affiliate, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN).