I’ve participated in discussions across Alaska about our health care system. The conversations don’t usually start out about health care. They are stories about life – about our families, our businesses. They’re about money and the quality and availability of medical treatment. They’ve taken place in villages and hospitals, on city streets and in rural clinics, in homes, businesses and airports. Sometimes they begin with the high cost of insurance or workers’ compensation. Or the strength and weakness of our retirement and pension plans. Or the anguish of a parent unable to provide for children, or the desperation of an elder caught up against the crushing cost of medicine. Doctors and nurses frustrated by regulations and procedures that have more to do with paperwork than patients. And patients who dread the system that is supposed to help them. Loss and hope and fear swirl through these conversations.

Alaskans are worried about the quality, the cost and the availability of health care.

A cumbersome bureaucracy has developed around health care. Changing rules and procedures are often contradictory, restrictive and create confusion among health care providers and the patients they care for.

Health care providers find it hard to negotiate their way through overly complex and restrictive Medicare and Medicaid programs, which exist to meet the needs of the most vulnerable Alaskans. Indeed, perhaps frustrated with the lack of a stable and productive environment, some health care providers opt out of those programs, resulting in a smaller pool of providers to meet the complex needs of Alaskans who rely on those programs.

Many Alaskans don’t have access to primary health care providers or to specialists. Alaska’s physician and nurse population is aging. Many are nearing retirement age. Alaska has a severe shortage of physicians and nurses, particularly in rural areas. Roughly one in five Alaskans has no health insurance, including many children, exacerbating the problem.

Alaskans want leaders to get us out of this predicament. That’s why I have proposed an Alaska Commission on Health Care (HB 396) to achieve these goals:

• Affordable, effective and quality health care system for Alaska
• Access to affordable health insurance
• Disease prevention and management to improve public health
• Sufficient health care workforce to treat Alaskans
• Making the true costs of health care publicly available as a step in controlling costs

Let’s simplify and streamline the bureaucracy to reduce costs and improve care.

We should encourage a new generation of Alaskans to enter the health care field. Let’s encourage health care professionals to stay and work in Alaska.

Alaska has many challenges that cry out for solutions. Health care is one of the most important. If we apply intellect and energy towards achieving those solutions, we can find ways to deliver quality, affordable health care to more Alaskans. Ultimately, that’s what this debate is about – making sure doctors and nurses can deliver health care based on their best professional judgment and that Alaskans have access to that care without going broke. Delivering quality health care is essential to keeping Alaska’s promise.

Tags: Alaska, health, health care, insurance