Health Care Costs R
Inflation has touched Just
about every aspect of
American life in recent
years. But few areas have
been as inflation-prone as
the health care industry
where costs have
skyrocketed by more than 80
percent since 1960, about
one-third faster than the rise
in consumer prices as a
whole.
Nor does it appear that
costs are leveling off. Ac
cording to a recent
statement by Casper
Weinberger, U. S. secretary
of health, education and
welfare, since economic
controls were lifted in April,
doctor’s fees have risen at a
rate of 19 percent a year and
hospital charges by 18
percent. During the same
period, prices for all con
sumer items were rising at a
13 percent rate.
Of all life’s essentials,
good health care has never
been inexpensive to
Americans, certainly not the
way food, clothing and, until
shelter have been.
Federal farm subsidies
have helped keep our food
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and fiber costs down;
various government
programs, including VA and
FHA mortgage insurance,
have helped people fulfill
their needs for adequate
shelter. By comparison,
government has done
relatively little to guarantee
adequate health care for the
broad mass of American
citizens.
It’s not that there haven’t
been attempts to make
adequate .health care
available to all. National
health* insurance was first
proposed in the late 1940 s by
formdr president Harry
Truman. Largely because of
stiff opposition by organized
medicine, the Congress has
not yet approved a health
insurance plan.
But with inflation noshing
the cost of health care even
further beyond the reach of
the average American, there
is a growing clamor for a
government supported
health insurance program to
take some of the financial
pain out of being sick.
There are now almost two
dozen bills on the subject
$e 80% Since 1960
before Congress. And even
ex-President Nixon said
national health insurance is
"an idea whose time has.
come in America" when he
sent his administration's
health care proposal to
Congress.
While the Congress in
Washington moves toward
consideraton of a national
health insurance plan, the
legislature in Harrisburg is
considering several
measures that deal with
some of the aspects of
financing health care.
Among them are Senate Bill
53, which would relieve
families of the legal
obligation to support.men
tally disabled relatives after
age 18, and House Bill 2018,
designed to help control
hospital costs.
Under our present set-up
in the state, children who are
in institutions because of a
mental disability remain the
legal responsibiity of their
parents wo must share in the
cost of their care. S. B. 53,
patterned upon laws already
enacted in eight states,
would relieve the family of
its legal responsibility after
the child reached the age of
18. After that, the state
would pick up the full cost.
The bill is based on the
idea that a family is
not legally responsible tor
the upkeep of a normal child
once it reaches maturity,
and it is therefore fair to
apply the same standard to
all persons. Besides,
sponsors say, mental illness
and retardation are often
life-long, and an in
stitutionalized family
member places an
enormous strain on the
family’s resources long after
a normal child would have
left home.
House Bill 2018 deals with
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the problems of rapidly
rising hospital charges by
giving the State Secretary of
Health a measure of control
over hospital rates and
budgets. It would require
hospitals, skilled nursing
homes and other such
facilities to file projected
revenue and expense
plans, including rate
schedules, with the
Secretary of Health. The
Secretary, along with an
Advisory Council to beset up
by the bill, would have the
power to approve hospital
rates and to audit hospital
expenditures and income.
In addition, the bill would
require that all items
provided to patients which
are not included in the basic
rate would have to reflect a
constant percentage mark
up and could not vary
from patient to patient.
Incentives are provided
for hospitals -that demon
strate they are holding down
costs by adopting efficient
methods. However, because
the incentive concept per
mits efficiently run hospitals
to raise their rates, it is a
< feature of the bill that some
legislators object to and it
is likely to be the focus of
amendment attempts as
the bill comes before the
Jlouse.
Another objection often
voiced against H. B. 2018 is
that it covers only those
hospitals receiving federal
funds. This would exclude a
large number of private
institutions who could skim
the profitable business off
the top and leave the
medicare and medicaid
business to hospitals
operating under the bill’s
controls.
Halfway toward passage is
House Bill 1710 which was
approved by the House in
June and is now in the Senate
Health and Welfare Com
mittee. The bill is intended to
help control hospital costs by
requiring state approval of
few health care facilities or
major additions to existing
facilities. Approval would be
needed for any capital
projects costing more than
$lOO,OOO, new construction or
modernization of any
building or increases in bed
capacity. This is to prevent
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hospitals from building Consumers' Corner
expensive facilities that are
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munity but are viewed as a recently released Anal regulations
urestiee-builder bv jre( l ulrin « over-the-counter antacid
prestige ouuuer uy p roduc t s to meet new standards
the hospital. for safe and effective ingredients
For example, it wasn’t so as well as for dosages to be
long ago that 14 south- permitted. .
western Pennsylvania Most antacid producU will re
. ~ , / , , mam on the market, but labeling,
hospitals were equipped for ingredients, dosages and promo*
open heart surgery, but most tional claims may be (hanged
of the time the expensive under the new rules, highlights
equipment was idle. In the "jJJ* , section
meantime, the costs of called “Drug Interaction Prccau
maintaining the facilities tions” that will tell consumers
were pro-rated in the bills what drugs react unfavorably
charged to every patient, the ingre< * ienks ' n the ant "
The facilities were sub- —Manufacturers must limit the
sequently cut back, but claims for the antacid’s effective
similar situations involving n «ss to heartburn, sour stomach
duplication of. expensive t,on be combined
equipment exist in many Wltb „ analgesic (pain reliever)
parts of the state, and it is only if the product’s label says it
the aim of H.B. 1710 to bring is designed to relieve headaches
the spread of needless, “ weU “ * dd
overlapping and expensive —Labels listing ingredients will
facilities under control. be required
11
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