Let's build a strong foundation for health care by making certain we have adequate resources to handle the great demand if suddenly 50 million more people have insurance.
We will need more primary care physicians to care for these people. But the nation simply is not producing enough of this kind of physician.
We must find ways to finance, and quickly build, additional facilities.
NorthBay has been working on expanding VacaValley Hospital for more than two years. If we are fortunate enough to meet various state requirements and to secure financing, Vacaville will have an expanded hospital capable of providing new and currently unavailable services by the end of 2013.
That represents more than five years of planning and preliminary work before one bed is ready. Such a lengthy process will not work in the future if there is a surge in demand.
We need to create incentives for people to take better care of themselves. Nothing in the languishing healthcare reform plan in Congress addresses this fundamental personal responsibility. People who engage in personally destructive behavior should not automatically expect the rest of us to pay indefinitely for their health care.
Most of all, before proceeding there needs to be a national consensus about healthcare reform means. That is a longer process, but it will net better results.
