Locals tackle health issue

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November 30, 2009

Anonymous The Kokomo Tribune Mon Nov 30, 2009, 10:27 PM EST

THE ISSUE:Some area employers are doing what they can to address health care.

OUR VIEW:The local solutions are worthwhile, but they can go only so far in addressing the problem.

While politicians in Washington wrangle over the best way to reform health care, some area employers are taking matters into their own hands.

Materials Processing Inc. last month teamed up with Logansport Memorial Hospital to open a clinic for the 250 workers at its three Logansport subsidiaries.

The clinic offers free medical treatment to employees and family members covered under the company’s group medical insurance plan. The goal is to make medical care convenient for employees, perhaps keeping them healthier by catching medical issues before they become acute. The clinic will also promote healthy lifestyle choices through employee education efforts.

To begin with, the clinic will be open four hours a day, three days a week, but if things go well, the company hopes to expand the hours.

The City of Kokomo will launch a similar program for employees, their families and retirees.

This is an effort worthy of applause, and it’s good business. A healthy employee, after all, is a productive employee.

We hope the idea will catch on with other large employers.

In the meantime, employers in Howard County are beginning to insist that their employees’ working spouses sign up for their own employers’ health insurance plans. These organizations say they don’t mind covering their employees and their employees’ children and non-working spouses, but they don’t want other employers’ insurance programs taking a free ride.

It’s hard to find fault with their argument.

Meanwhile, Howard Regional Health System, St. Joseph Hospital and Logansport Memorial Hospital say a recently announced cut in Medicaid reimbursements will impact their bottom lines.

At the same time, the hospitals have seen the number of Medicaid recipients using their services going up, and they find themselves writing off millions in charity care and millions more in bad debt accumulated by people who simply can’t afford to pay their medical bills.

Clearly, the American health care system is in need of reform, and it’s obvious some steps can be taken locally to address the issue.

Employers can work to encourage healthy lifestyle choices. They can work to make sure their employees have ready access to medical care.

They can even take steps to make sure other employers are picking up their fair share of the expense.

Some things, though, are beyond local control. The hospitals have no power over Medicaid reimbursements. They can’t cut the waste out of Medicare or put new restrictions on the health insurance industry.

Supporters say the measure now pending in the Senate will reduce the federal deficit by $130 billion over the next decade. They say it will also tax the sort of high-cost insurance plans that have been blamed for the overuse of medical care.

They say the bill will create a commission to recommend ways to control Medicare costs and it will take preliminary steps to encourage more efficient ways to deliver health care.

Those are the sorts of solutions only Washington can provide.

– Pharos-Tribune, Logansport, and Kokomo Tribune

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