States’ health depends on the statehouse
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Re “Governors on Divergent Paths to Control Health Costs,” March 14
The health crisis that governors must address is how to ensure that their constituents get the care they need. Otherwise, the U.S. will continue to rank behind more than two dozen other countries in life expectancy and infant mortality rates.
Governors who focus on shifting more financial risk to individuals must be prepared to take responsibility for the fact that many of these individuals will forgo necessary care. Studies show that when you ask people to pay a large share of their healthcare costs, many of them go without the care they need. And, as long as the governors support a system that lets hundreds of different for-profit plans deliver limited coverage, we will not be able to reap the efficiencies of one insurer pool -- including reasonable, negotiated service rates and low administrative costs, as we have with Medicare.
DIANE ARCHER
Founder, Medicare Rights Center
New York
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