Health care costs in Arlington and beyond

I read with interest on Arlington Patch about the which, among other things, included their health care insurance—concessions that would save $1.3 million for the fiscal year 2012 budget. I applaud our teachers for their courageous stand, a stand that surely makes it more difficult economically for each of them, but one that will aid the town in maintaining essential services.

And today, the second in a series of statewide public hearings on Governor Patrick's health care cost containment bill (HB1849)—one of several solutions that have been put forth in the Legislature—is taking place in Worcester.

This phenomenon of skyrocketing health care costs, unless checked, is on a trajectory that is unsustainable. The cost of our universal health care in Massachusetts – a system that has been extremely successful in providing insurance to 98 percent of the Commonwealth's population—is nonetheless not only the most costly in the United States, but in the entire world.

Unfortunately the expense does not translate into the most effective care for the patient—surely the person for whom universal health insurance is designed. Our country spends more on health care per capita than any other developed country, yet consistently underperforms in many important areas. 

The prognosis, my friends, is not good. If universal health care on the state and federal levels is to be truly universal, we need to examine every option—every possible system of health care that has proven to be reliable and cost-effective.

We need to be thinking out of the box. We need to recognize that there are different approaches to health care—approaches that people have found deliver the results that they are looking for. And those include systems other than allopathy, such as homeopathy, naturopathy, and proven prayer-based methods.

“Universal” should really mean inclusive—not exclusive.