While we don’t know exactly how reform legislation will move forward in the fall, Providence continues to advocate for effective health care reform during the August congressional recess. Many people with different opinions are speaking out during the recess, both in town halls and in the news media.
Debate is healthy and the United States wouldn’t be the country it is if there weren’t a healthy exchange of opinions. But health care reform is too important for it to come down to a shouting match. It is difficult to turn on the TV or read news online and not hear some pretty alarming ideas. We need to cut through the scare tactics and hysteria and focus on the facts.
One of the biggest myths reported recently is that there is legislation that would force seniors into government-encouraged euthanasia. This is not true. The current Congressional health care reform proposal would allow a provider to be reimbursed by Medicare when, once every five years, a Medicare participant wants to discuss end-of-life care.
People facing serious illness and approaching the end of their life have complex physical, social, emotional and spiritual needs. Providence believes a well-rounded discussion about end-of-life care should include palliative care, hospice programs, home health services, pain management services and chaplains and bereavement counselors. Hospice and palliative care give supportive care to people dealing with illness and focus on comfort and quality of life, so that they live each day as fully as possible. It is important to know that end-of-life care is not euthanasia or assisted suicide, and as a Catholic health care provider, we feel strongly that providers should never be put in a position of aiding a patient in taking his or her own life.
A discussion about health care reform involves a lot of complicated issues. If we are going to fix our nation’s broken health care system, we must remain focused on the facts and on broad, comprehensive health care reform. Effective reform needs to focus on increasing access, affordability, quality of care and accountability. Real change will happen when we change the way health care is both delivered and funded.
The people of Providence see every day why this is so important – why we can’t wait to reform health care. We believe everyone deserves access to quality care, regardless of their ability to pay. Our Mission to care for the poor and vulnerable is our calling to continue advocate for creating a better health care system.
We all need to know the facts and stay informed about what really needs to happen if we want to achieve comprehensive health care reform. Find out more about Providence’s views on health care reform.
|
