Working on America’s front lines

What’s wrong with the American health care system? The development of new treatments and technologies has far outstripped the ability of people to pay for them.

While doctors and researchers are constantly working to improve the treatment of disease and injury, too many Americans lose their health insurance if they lose their jobs.

Others have health insurance that doesn’t cover — or willingly cover, or adequately cover — certain ailments.

Meanwhile, companies that provide health insurance to their workers struggle to keep up with the system’s runaway inflation.

Millions don’t have health insurance, and when they get sick, they go to hospital emergency rooms — one of the most expensive parts of the system — for their treatment.

While most people and companies understand the problem, they fear the proposed solutions, especially a massive new government bureaucracy making health care decisions for everyone.

But the people on the front lines of this problem in the Dan River Region want things to improve. They know what it’s like when local people can’t afford the care they need.

“We’ve got to do something — it’s way past time,” said Kay Crane, executive director of Piedmont Access to Health Services. “… I would like people to keep an open mind and not to listen to liberals or conservatives. This can’t be Democratic or Republican. If we don’t come up with a plan this administration, I think it’s time for people to take to the streets.”

How big is the problem? At Danville Regional Medical Center, more than $21 million was spent last year on “charity care” and bad debt.

“We certainly hold to the belief that all citizens should have access to health care, and that is why so many free clinics have sprung up all over the nation,” said Denise Buckner, executive director of the Free Clinic of Danville. “The need is great, and with the declining economy, the numbers of uninsured are increasing. It is a concern for everyone.”

For too many Americans, the reality is a serious illness or even death because they didn’t have access to the greatest health care system in the world. It’s simply not good enough to say that the current system is good enough. It works for the people who have access to it. For everyone else, it’s a crapshoot often with deadly consequences.