National Alliance For Healthy Communities

The Alliance is only reporting on the facts, not whether they are good or bad.  The President’s proposal is a total revamping of the healthcare delivery system.  Some call it Universal Healthcare, others call it simply healthcare for all Americans. Whatever you call it, change is on the way.  Wall Street is already commenting on the proposals of the Administration as health plan stocks such as Aetna and Humana have dropped significantly from where they were … a year ago.

What is the vision?  The vision is simple: Every American has the absolute right to affordable, able to access and quality healthcare.  

What does this mean?  It means that programs like MediCaid and Medicare will be expanded to cover more people and more products.  This increases access to insurance.  Then the idea is to allow people choices.  They can keep what they have or they can buy into the federal system which would be similar to the benefits federal employees receive.   

What the facts show now is that premiums continue to rise as health plans attempt to cover losses. Reimbursements to doctors are being reduced so the return to health plans is greater.  What is also occurring now is less doctors are becoming primary care doctors, which means access to primary care is more challenging.  Managed care doctors work on a ratio of 2200 patients per doctor and often incentives are provided for not seeing patients. As there becomes less doctors, the patient load will increase and the compensation will decrease.  Therefore, the facts justify some change. What Congress will review is what type of change should occur and whether is should be in phases.

How does this affect your community?  Many communities have large hospitasl and a strong medical presence.  These communities will see significant economic changes.  Communities who have little healthcare have great opportunities now and will have more as these changes occur.

Did you know that there are government loan funds at 3% interest available to assist medical clinics as well as grant funds available in the federal budget?  Money is available to provide medical groups economic incentives to go into rural communities like Sanger, California and other communities.

Programs that can be centered around a medical clinic could include funding for the clinic, staffing, a mobile health unit (exam room), teleMed and more. This is a primary focus of the Alliance. It can lead to funding for jobs, increased economics for a community and much more.