It's time to heal our health care system

May 11, 2009

BY BOBBY L. RUSH

One of the most profound questions Jesus asked during his ministry was put before a sick man who had spent 38 years waiting near the base of the Bethesda well for his turn at treatment. ''Do you want to get well?'' Jesus queried, as the man lay surrounded by other broken, paralyzed, blind, mentally and spiritually infirmed people waiting for his turn to be healed.

Today, the man from this story could be any one of America's poor or uninsured who lay in wait within the nation's many overburdened hospital emergency rooms. It is only because of faith and perseverance that I am not one of them. As a recovering cancer patient, I have experienced firsthand the lifesaving work of physicians, nurses and other health care workers who are able to focus on restoring a person's health rather than being saddled by administrative policy and financial restrictions.

Recently, a hospital in my district has come under fire for reportedly engaging in a deplorable practice known as "patient dumping," the inhumane exercise of turning away poor, uninsured and elderly patients to other facilities, refusing to administer care due to overcrowding and other obstacles. It should be no surprise that a majority of the patients being turned away are poor, and often people of color. This practice is even more startling when you consider that six hospitals have closed on Chicago's South Side, placing an enormous burden on any hospital whose doors are still open, with thousands of people depending on fewer hospitals, atop the over restrictive nature of an already-broken health care system.

Nearly 47 million Americans are without health insurance. Since the beginning of the recession, an estimated 4 million more Americans have lost their health insurance. On average, 14,000 Americans lose their coverage every day. Where, then, do these citizens go and to whom do they turn when they need to get well? Are they condemned to suffer silently, waiting for 38 years like the man at the foot of the Bethesda well?

Health care reform is the single most important domestic issue facing our nation. In 2007, we spent $2.2 trillion on health care. This is why expanding coverage and making insurance affordable has been one of my top priorities since taking office in 1993. We are increasingly becoming a nation of the "have-mores" vs. the "have-nots" -- the invisible people who linger on the margins of society as they seek the American Dream.

This is why I have co-sponsored the "Access to Emergency Medical Services Act of 2009" (H.R.1188/S.468) and am an original co-sponsor to H.R. 1678, both of which will improve access, quality and efficiency of emergency care.

I also sponsored pioneering health legislation called the Melanie Blocker Stokes Postpartum Depression Research and Care Act (H.R.20/S.324). This bill will provide immediate attention and resources toward one of the most underdiagnosed conditions after childbirth. It has passed the House and is on its way to becoming law.

There is growing support for my Medicare bill (H.R. 444), which will expand the federal discount drug program to make it easier for the underinsured and low-income patients to access the medication they need. These efforts are just a small piece of the health care reform puzzle that must be put together. And I urge all of you to call on your elected officials to get engaged in these issues, as well.

President Obama and Congress have made it a top priority to pass comprehensive health care reform legislation this year that lowers costs, improves quality, increases coverage and preserves patient choice of plan and doctors. Left alone, our broken health care system will cost the American people another $2.2 trillion. We need reform now. Families cannot wait. America cannot wait.

When it comes to U.S. health care reform, lawmakers can no longer act like Sisyphus, a man condemned to forever roll a ball up a never-ending hill, moving forward but never making progress. It is time for America's health care system to answer the question, "Do we want to get well?"

U.S. Rep. Bobby L. Rush represents the 1st Congressional District of Illinois.

Thyatiria Towns

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