Badger Club forum set to explore navigating healthcare as funding concerns mount

What is happening with healthcare in the United States? Across the country, hospitals are faced with meeting the healthcare needs of an aging population as the economics of meeting these needs has never been more fraught.

On Thursday, April 17, the Columbia Basin Badger Club will host Reza Kaleel, Providence Southeast Washington Service Area chief executive, in an online Zoom forum beginning at noon to share his insights into the challenges facing healthcare in our region.

The Providence Southeast Washington Service Area includes Kadlec Regional Medical Center in the Tri-Cities and Providence St. Mary Medical Center in Walla Walla.

Healthcare economics, particularly for hospitals, do not follow typical market rules. For example, if you show up sick or injured at a hospital emergency room, you will be treated regardless of your ability to pay.

But once you are discharged, the hospital must find a way to cover its costs. And that depends on what kind of insurance you may or may not have.

How a society pays for health care for its citizens depends on that society’s history and values. In the U.S., paying for health care has traditionally been a personal responsibility backed up by an amalgam of private insurance, paid for by individuals or employers, and government-funded insurance programs such as Medicare, primarily for those 65 and older, and Medicaid, the combined federal and state health care insurance program for lower-income Americans.

Each insurance plan has its own coverage rules and requirements for controlling costs. This complexity adds to the administrative burden on hospitals. It affects access to health care, and it adds to the confusion, costs, as well as the dismay, patients can face when they try to sort out and pay for a hospital bill.

Now we add to this situation uncertainties stemming from current political and economic forces.

At the national level, it has been said that the U.S. government is an insurance agency with an army. And when it comes to fiscal outlays you can see why.

Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid account for nearly 50 percent of federal government expenditures, and they are a major driver behind the nation’s annual deficit. So if you want to reduce government spending by any significant amount, you must go to where the money is.

With Social Security and Medicare seemingly untouchable, that leaves Medicaid. But any significant reduction in federal support for Medicaid would be devastating for hospitals. They would still be faced with the moral obligation to treat those in need, but who would pay?

In recent years, hospitals across the nation have been consolidating or joining larger systems to benefit from economies of scale and operational efficiencies. Locally, Kadlec affiliated with the Providence system in 2014.

Ten years later, Kadlec and Providence St. Mary in Walla Walla began operating as part of a single Providence Southeast Washington Service area. This move marks a practical step forward in facing the challenges of surviving in an imperfect system.

The success of this venture will be critical to the future health and welfare of our citizens.

You can register for this event, which will include a Q&A session, at columbiabasinbadgers.com to receive a confirmation and links to join the hourlong Zoom forum and a half-hour “Table Talk” open-mic session afterward. Cost is $5 for nonmembers, while club members can join for free.

William Pennell is a retired Pacific Northwest National Laboratory scientist and a member of the program committee of the Columbia Basin Badger Club.