Quality and cost of that health care were ranked third and fourth in importance.
About 90 people were at Scott & White Memorial Hospital on Tuesday to participate in an Obama-Biden Transition Project Health Care Community Discussion.
Dr. James Rohack, director of the Scott & White Center for Healthcare Policy, was the moderator.
The new administration is holding these meetings to find out what concerns the general public has about health care, Rohack said.
The group worked its way through eight questions, detailing what they thought would be required to have meaningful health care reform.
Bill Jones III, Temple mayor and business owner, said he thought one of the biggest problems in the health care system is the disconnect between the cost of health care and the people receiving the care. Individuals aren’t aware of medical care costs because of insurance. If the person doesn’t have insurance, he or she will show up at the hospital emergency room to receive care, with little chance of that bill being paid.
“We’re a take-a-pill society,” said Rita Kelley, Bell County indigent health services director.
Everyone believes health care should be available when it’s needed and it’s expected to be the very best, she said.
“But we don’t focus much at all on how we take care of ourselves,” Kelley said.
A Scott & White physician said until the country decides whether health care is a right or a commodity, it will be difficult to come up with any solution.
Removing the waste in the system would go a long way to help reduce the costs of medical care, one participant said.
“One person’s waste is another person’s profit margin … how are these companies going to fund innovations or new drug experiments?” an audience member replied.
Addressing the uninsured is a huge issue, especially in Texas where 25 percent of the population is uninsured, an audience member said.
Those who are paying for health insurance - an individual or employer - are paying for the medical care of the uninsured, he said.
“This policy has to find a way of covering these individuals so they pay their fair share, in a way that won’t bankrupt them when they have to write the check,” he said.
There was a consensus among participants that individuals should take some responsibility for their own health - eating a decent diet, exercising and maintaining a healthy weight, and getting preventative screenings.
In a show of hands, everyone in the audience had received the recommended screenings.
However, a physician in the audience said the participants in the Tuesday forum were not representative of America because he deals with patients every day who haven’t had the suggested screenings or vaccines in more than a decade.
There has been a proposal to remove the employer from the health care process and that individuals buy their own insurance policies, but it would require everybody participating, in order to generate a large enough pool of customers to make it cost effective.
“Let’s face it, the healthy pay for the sick, that’s how insurance works,” Rohack said.
Prevention can be a tricky topic, he said. People make choices that can result in costly medical care - not getting a flu shot can result in some contracting pneumonia, catastrophic injuries in an auto accident can be avoided if a seat belt is worn.
What is the role of public policy in promoting healthier lifestyles, Rohack asked.
It costs about $1,000 to put breathalyzers on all motorized vehicles … and the cost benefits would be huge if injuries from drunk driving accidents could be eliminated.
“Are we ready to go there?” he asked.
In order to be effective, prevention should start early, and requires school involvement, a participant said.
Unless parents are aware, they will continue to feed their families fast food, because it’s cheap, he said.
“Education is going to be very important in addressing these issues,” he said.
Similar discussions on health care policy have been held around the country. A tape of the meeting and a summary of the discussions will be sent to the Obama transition team.
