Piece Description

Access to healthcare is becoming increasingly difficult, even for those with good insurance. As wait times to see doctors increases, and as the number of people with no insurance increases, hospital emergency rooms are becoming the primary health service for a lot of people. It's not uncommon for people who do have true medical emergencies to have to wait up to 12 hours just to be seen. With the financing of our healthcare system being centered on acute medicine, often patients who go to the hospital for an out patient procedure that's not emergent are not taken care of. So problems that could have easily been remedied if treated early become so severe that now they need a hospital admission at many, many times the cost. The system is so inefficient that that happens all the time. As we look at a more broad universal coverage program, we must refocus on the preventative and primary care aspects of our population and make some decisions about what's covered and not covered.