Don Grady is a CPA and Professor of Accounting at National Louis University, Chicago
Did you catch the âOn the Road with the Health Wagonâ segment that aired in early April on CBS 60 Minutes? It was a timely reminder that there are still numbers of Americans that are still not covered by health care insurance. The âHealth Wagonâ segÂment showed examples of those Americans who live in Appalachia, Virginia, where they are not covered by state Medicaid or Federal Medicare, and they canât afford Obamacare. They are our fellow Americans that have fallen into the âhealthcare gapâ. The United States is quick to provide financial aid to forÂeign countries, but we havenât figured out how to take care of ourselves yet.
In an earlier article I addressed the continuÂing rise in U. S. healthcare costs and the chalÂlenges the United States faces to fix the probÂlem. The solutions to financing health care are not easy to identify and implement. However, it is not hard to find examples of those who fall into the âhealthcare gap.â
The political quagmires at the Federal and State levels within the United States keep us from appropriately allocating resources to solve our national problems. The complex relationships we have with the international community cause us to commit resources elsewhere, which could have been used to reÂsolve our domestic problems here. That is the issue at 10,000 feet. But on the other end of the scale, The âHealth Wagonâ in Appalachia, the progress is being made at chipping away the iceberg.
The âHealth Wagonâ exists because of FedÂeral grants and corporate sponsors who have stepped up to the plate. What is sad about the âHealth Wagonâ situation is that the same nurse practitioners who drive the âHealth Wagonâ each day and provide health care to patients at each stop are the same nurse practiÂtioners who âwriteâ at night for Federal Fund Grants and appeal to corporate donors to keep the wagon rolling. There are too few good Samaritans with the spirit, skills, and ambition to make things happen. While the politicians get a better handle on the big picture, we could use more âHealth Wagonsâ out there to care for our fellow Americans.
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