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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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Congressman
Elijah E. Cummings |
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by Congressman Elijah E. Cummings
Recently, I spent a night at the University of Maryland=s world-renowned Shock Trauma Center. Sick to death of all the dying that surrounds us, I felt that experiencing the life-or-death struggles that are Shock Trauma=s nightly routine would be important to my work in the Congress.
My night at Shock Trauma had that effect - in more ways than I had expected.
Under the leadership of Dr. R. Adams Cowley, Shock Trauma taught America how to transport patients to the operating room within that Afirst golden hour@ in which more damaged lives can be saved. Thousands of people are alive as a result.
As I observed Shock Trauma=s heroic efforts to preserve life, I was filled with admiration and respect. Then the thought came to me that almost all of those injuries could have been prevented.
I was witnessing the ultimate example of a medical system that is far better at reacting to injury or disease than it is at preventive care.
I saw more clearly the connection between the automobile accident victim and the person dying from cancer, cardiovascular disease or any of the other preventable killers that are devastating our communities. Shock Trauma practices very good medicine, but prevention is the best medicine.
The importance of preventing injury and disease is a crucial argument for reforming managed care this year.
Opponents of a real Patients= Bill of Rights are concerned about the cost of having too many people go to the doctor. I, however, am concerned about the even greater costs we incur - in both lives lost and dollars spent - when we discourage people from obtaining the early screening and quality care that allows effective management of their medical problems.
We must reform our managed care system to keep small problems from becoming overwhelming and deadly. We can and must return to the original concept of prevention that fostered health maintenance organizations. We must expand the availability of health care B not deny it.
The night I spent at Shock Trauma sharpened my thinking about health care policy. Shock Trauma is brilliant at responding to tragedies; but all the skill and dedication of its doctors and nurses cannot prevent those tragedies. Only we can do that.
Over 200 health care providers and consumer advocacy groups support the Norwood-Dingell Patients
= Bill of Rights that we passed in the House of Representatives last year over the intense opposition of Republican leaders and insurance lobbies. Both the medical experts and the general public understand that medical care of the highest quality is also more cost-effective in the longer term.Our Norwood-Dingle bill would return America to a strategy of preventive medical management. We would guarantee access to needed health care specialists at a time when further injury may be prevented; access to emergency room services when and where the need arises; and continuity of care protection to avoid gaps in care when our doctor is dropped by our HMO.
We would assure access to a fair, unbiased and timely appeals process for those of us aggrieved by our health plan
=s decisions; assure that doctors and patients can openly discuss treatment options; and provide legal remedies when patients are harmed by a health plan=s determinations.As I write, House and Senate conferees are meeting in an attempt to reconcile our strong patient-protection legislation with a weaker Senate version that is a
Apatients= bill of rights@ in name only. The Senate=s version provides few of the real protections required by a true system of preventive health care.The skilled doctors and nurses at Maryland Shock Trauma are not the only people who have it within their power to save lives. This is a very good time for all of us to ask our elected representatives: Do you truly care about our health care?
This is our
Agolden hour@ - the time in which we have the power to reform managed care and better protect the nation=s health.-The Honorable Elijah E. Cummings represents the 7th Congressional District of Maryland in the United States House of Representatives.
