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Cost control may reform system
When Melvin Brooks floored
Jayhawk Patrick Ritchie
during last week’s Nebras
ka-Kansas basketball game, my room
mate Erik and I cheered. The Huskers,
despite losing, had been playing more
physically the last few games, mak
ing them more fun to watch, at the
least. However, as Ritchie was scraped
off the floor and helped back to the
bench, a question formed in my mind.
“Hey, Erik, who pays for all those
medical bills?” Erik looked at me,
puzzled, and shrugged his shoulders.
“Probably the universities,” he
guessed. That got me thinking, not
about basketball, but about the health
care system and the looming crisis
President Clinton always talks about.
Many people who don’t have univer
sities to cover their medical bills are
apparently underinsured or not in
sured at all.
This problem is often shrugged on
and assumed to belong to someone
else. But on Sunday, I decided to
tackle the problem head-on by asking
Erik for an economics major’s per
spective. “What do you think of
Clinton’s health care plan?” I asked
during a break in the game.
“Oh, it won’t work. Costs are too
high for universal coverage to be af
fordable. In Canada, average medical
costs are one-third of ours. And even
there, the system is screwed up,” Erik
explained while we watched a shoe
commercial.
That got me thinking about what
Clinton was trying to do. Clinton was
trying to solve a problem by attacking
the symptom — underinsured Amer
icans — rather than the problem: ri
diculously high medical costs. So next
I asked, “Why are the costs so high?”
“Lots of reasons,” Erik helpfully
answered. I frowned, and Erik real
ized he couldn’t get off without a
better answer. While we watched the
game slowly elude Nebraska’s grasp
Erik clarified three controllable caus
es of rising costs.
The first cause is the pharmaceuti
Clinton was trying to solve a
problem by attacking the.
symptom — underinsured
Americans — rather than the
problem: ridiculously high
medical costs.
cal industry. When a company devel
3is a new wonder drug, they are
lowed to file for patent protection.
This gives them over a decade of
exclusive rights to this medicine.
Since a patient will often die or
suffer lots of pain without the drug,
they will pay almost any price for it.
Worse, these companies can charge
whatever they want because there is
no competition. Granted, the compa
nies must pay for the research and
development of the drugs. However,
current pharmaceutical prices do not
reflect costs but instead reflect prof
its.
A second cause is the result of too
much competition, rather than lack of
it. Hospitals are overinflating in high
priced equipment. Each hospital
thinks it must own its own CAT-scan
and every other gizmo, even though
the gadgets are not used enough to
cover their own costs. This drives up
the overhead for each hospital, rais
ing the prices of every procedure.
The third controllable cause is
malpractice insurance. One-third of
an anesthesiologist’s salary is paid to
insurance just in case he or she makes
a mistake. Other doctors pay similar
rates. While there are many cases of
true medical negligence, often a doc
tor will get the short end of the stick in
the courtroom.
Erik’s information helped me, but
he didn’t have any solutions. So I had
an idea. “So, Erik,” I asked, “if we
worked against these causes of high
medical costs, insurance would be
less expensive, right?”
“Welt, I guess That was all the
prompting I needed. I quickly ex
plained to Erik what I was consider
ing.
First, the period for pharmaceuti
cal patents should be cut to about five
years, and companies would receive
government assistance to reimburse
research and development costs for
successful innovations. A Medical
Care Board (the MCB) should be cre
ated to determine who gets the gov
ernment reimbursements and would
work as a watchdog on pharmaceuti
cal price controls.
Second, hospitals snouia oe grant
ed exemptions from antitrust statutes
and should work together to decide
what hospitals will buy which high
priced equipment. If they have any
disputes, the new Medical Care Board
would serve as arbitrator.
Finally, malpractice law should be
rewritten. This sort of reform is a
seldom-remembered idea of George
Bush’s, first proposed during the 1992
presidential campaign. It could work.
Also, the Medical Care Board would
offer malpractice insurance in ex
change for cost controls on medical
procedures. This would be similar to
the Federal Reserve Bureau’s insur
ing of the banking industry—volun
tary but with good advantages for
members.
Though Erik was more interested
in basketball, we both managed to
come up with solutions that are less
intrusive than what the government is
proposing now.
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Marriage alters love notions
Valentine’s Day is over. In an
other week the bon-bon boxes
will be empty, the roses dead
or dying and all those romantic can
dlelight dinners a dim gastronomical
memory.
Feb. 14 is the traditional time to
pop the big question, a time to get
down on bent knee and pledge one’s
love.
, hold on to your long-stem
roses, friends, because statistics show
that first marriages today have a 66
Kircent chance of ending in divorce.
ow’s that for discovering a razor
blade in your chocolate heart? Ouch.
But despite our apparent inability
to make it work, marriage is an endur
ing institution. In the United States,
less than five percent of us make it to
age 70 without taking the plunge.
Romantic love is what gets most of
us into a marriage. It is the basis of the
modern-day family. The nuptial bond
is our most common framework for
procreation and child rearing.
SO perhaps u we arc going iu
tying the knot, we should not focus on
the fact that so many marriages are
ending in divorce, but instead try tc
figure out how the remaining mar
riages manage to survive.
I’ll use my own blissful marriage
as an example of a successful union
And I use the term “successful” ver>
I don’t know that 1 want to use the
word “successful.” Let’s call it aver
age, or how about typical? Oh dear
they both sound so, so, uh, boring
OK, how about boring? Let’s look a
my own slightly boring, but still in
tact, marriage as a model for all of yoi
young lovers about to take the plunge
I spent my childhood getting read}
to walk down the aisle. I played house
“You be the dad, and I’ll be the mom.’
Barbie and Ken took frequent honey
moons, returning home for beach par
ties and barbecues. Not very realistic
but these were things most little girl
did in the 1960s; it felt as natural a
Twelve years and three kids later, I
know a few things about marriage
that those of you basking in the
glow of last night’s walk in the
moonlight need to know, too.
breathing.
However, as a teen-ager in the
1970s, I saw the women’s liberation
movement in full bloom. It wasn’t
catching on very quickly at our house
— Mom was still ironing Dad’s un
derwear—but, out in the real world,
women were burning bras and peti
tioning for the Equal Rights Amend
ment.
With that scene as a backdrop, 1
called my future spouse and arranged
our first date. During our courtship, 1
paid for my share of movie tickets and
popcorn. Eventually I begged him to
marry me. (I was liberated on the
outside, needy underneath.)
Twelve years and three kids later,
I know a few things about marriage
that those of you basking in the glow
of last night’s walk in the moonlight
need to know, too.
PeoDle change.
If your primary attraction to your
future mate is physical, remember
i that hairlines recede and bustlines
fall. Make sure that you are soul mates,
, notjust body buddies.
During my marriage, I’ve made
i my share of changes. I’ve become a
■ mother, quit work, gone back to school,
i started aousiness, become a vegetar
. ian, gained weight, lost weight and
t undergone various emotional and spir
, itual metamorphoses.
* There have been times that my
■ husband would not have known me as
- the women he married without that
, identifying mole on my backside.
5 Another thing to remember. Othei
s people will try to run your life. These
people include relatives, friends, talk
show hosts and the cashier at Hinky
Dinky. Don’t let them do it.
Before I got married, my Mom
gave me this piece of advice, “Be sure
to send Mark off to work with a good
breakfast and a tantalizing kiss.
Gee Mom, as I recall. Dad always
had a bowl of Frested Flakes before he
left for the office—and he poured the
milk himself.
And a tantalizing kiss i in me morn
ing? Those dynamints your sweetie
always popped while you were dating
disappear the minute you say “I do.”
Listen to the sincere advice, smile,
nod, then go home and forget it.
The truism that familiarity breeds
contemptexistsforareason. Romance
fades, passion wanes and the grass
starts looking greener elsewhere.
My advice is to lower your expec
tations. He’s no Prince Charming,
and you’re not Cinderella. If you turn
out to be anything like most of us,
your family life will more closely
resemble ‘‘The Simpsons" than “The
Waltons.”
Love, romance and marriage, like
that box of Valentine’s chocolates,
can be bittersweet. The pieces all look
alike, so you have to bite into one to
know what you’re getting. When I got
married, I thought I was getting a milk
chocolate caramel, and he turned out
to be a vanilla cream. I have no re
grets.
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Career Planning & Placement Events^
February 1994
I Cover Letter Writing
I Engineering & Technical
Career Fair*
I Choosing A Career
Tuesday, February 15 11:30 a.m.
Wednesday, February 23 9:30 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
Thursday, February 24 2:30 p.m.
East Union
Nebr. Union
East Union
•Sponsored by the College of Engineering & Technology
L_
Br STUDENTS
INTERESTED IN AN
ACTUARIAL CAREER:
Representatives from
The CNA Insurance Companies
will be on campus on
TUESDAY,
FEBRUARY 22ND
to interview Actuarial Science, Math
& Statistics majors
for Actuarial positions
at our Home Office in Chicago.
Contact the Career Planning &
Placement Center for details.
OVA
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