St. Petersburg Times
Put priority on food, shelter,
health care
By Marc Yacht, Guest Columnist
Published Sunday, December 14, 2008 5:03 PM
The current
economic climate has created much worry among local health and human services
providers. Collaboration among local
service agencies will drive future initiatives.
However, in the
rush to save banks and now automakers, health care and human services may take
a back seat. Compromised human service
needs will affect the entire community, not just the indigent.
Some would suggest
the economic adjustments should take place without interference. That is fine talk from the ivory tower but
offers little solace to the laid-off worker bereft of income or to the family
about to lose their home. Government has
a crucial role to protect community constancy and work toward a fix.
Jobs and important
benefits represent more than just money. They are essential for the stability of family
life. The pressures and tensions within
the family with income loss can fracture relationships and have untold
consequences on the family unit. Single
moms or dads losing income, while raising offspring, face ruin.
Other consequences
include the potential loss of the citizen to do volunteer work with schools,
churches, youth sports, and other activities. The community's viability suffers with job
loss as people drift to other areas for work or simply withdraw from local
participation due to shame or stress.
I am concerned that
the approaches to our current recovery will work through the corporations and
not focus on the need for health care, extended unemployment benefits or
efforts to keep families in their homes during a troubled economy. Corporate executives have a way of taking care
of their own needs first. We need a
bottom-up resolution to current problems.
Lately, the talk
concerns the Big Three automakers: Ford, Chrysler and General Motors. No one can argue that their collapse would
have devastating impact on jobs and the economy. However, the big three for me are food, shelter,
and health care.
Recent studies show
many American children go to bed hungry due to poverty, and increasing
foreclosures have forced people from their homes. The local Salvation Army soup kitchen serves
increasing numbers of families in need. One
must wonder where many of those families go after a hot meal. Communities collaborating with the federal
government must address housing needs.
The abysmal failure
to resolve health care for the American people exemplifies health care
corporations protecting their turf at the expense of the American people.
Money and influence
have derailed every effort to reduce administrative costs, address equitable
regulation and institute efficiency. I
would suggest that health care is a house of cards about to collapse on itself.
It may prove to be the next financial
catastrophe on the heels of banking and the auto industry.
A simple
legislative solution such as Medicare for all goes nowhere as Americans suffer
the consequences of a failing health care system affecting those with and
without insurance. Onerous oversight and
other cost-cutting measures, driven mainly by insurers, have demoralized
physicians, hospitals and other providers.
A recent survey of
primary care doctors concluded that 50 percent would leave the profession if
other options for work were available. The
joy of practicing medicine proves victim to a fractured, inefficient, and
profit-driven system that leaves too many unprotected.
After 50 years of
protecting the private health care sector and its profiteering, it is time to
support a national health plan mandating services for every American. The
detractors will continue to scare everyone as to the possibilities of
socialized medicine. Frankly, such
rhetoric rings hollow when families face financial ruin relating to one
hospitalization or health insurers cut costs by denying needed services.
I hope that our
elected officials are getting the message that business as usual is undermining
this country's wealth and quality of life. Addressing my big three must be the priority. Every community should have in place an
effective network to help the homeless with food and shelter, everyone should
have a right to equitable health services, and no child should go to bed hungry
in America.
Dr. Marc J.
Yacht of Hudson is the retired director of the Pasco County Health Department.
His Web site is www.marcyacht.com