Posted by Alan Nye

Erik Jorgensen introduced Dr. Chuck Radis, a Clinical Professor of Medicine at the University of New England and a rheumatologist with an interest in Public Health issues. After 22 years in private practice at Rheumatology Associates in Portland, he now provides rheumatologic services through the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth. 

Dr. Radis believes that universal health coverage is a basic right. He described the problems with our current health care system as “the bridge is burning.” Dr. Radis indicated that in 2007 15% of our country’s total gross product went to health care and that number is now 17%. He told us that the most common reason for bankruptcy in the U.S. is large medical bills.

Without getting into a full discussion of the Affordable Care Act, Dr. Radis stated that it provided benefits by allowing younger adults to be insured longer under their parent’s policies and by coverage of pre-existing medical conditions. The ACA didn’t, however, control costs.

Dr. Radis argued that a new health care system is necessary and that to be effective, it needs to be:

1. Simple (the current U.S. system is much too complex);

2. Fair (universal); and

3. Sustainable (with cost controls).

Dr. Radis then gave examples of what he personally was charged on his medical bill for same day surgery in 2015 and compared those figures with the medical costs of the individual items. The differences were in some instances staggering. He also gave other examples, like the average cost to Americans for an MRI is $1,119 – in Australia it’s $215. He noted that the only two countries that allow prescription advertising on television are the U.S. and New Zealand and that this advertising adds about 20% to the cost of prescriptions.

Dr. Radis then discussed Medicare and noted that it has substantially less administrative costs as compared with private insurance. Medicare also pays less to hospitals and physicians than private insurance. Dr. Radis said that what Medicare can’t do by law is negotiate the price of prescription medicines and he believes this should change. 

In summary, Dr. Radis believes that the solution to our health care cost crisis is to design a system that looks a lot more like Medicare. His proposal – both during his talk and afterwards when taking questions, provoked skepticism and outright disagreement by some Rotarians who argued that his examples were oversimplified and in some examples erroneous. It was a lively discussion about a critically important topic.

 
 
(Photo L-R: President Don Zillman, Dr. Chuck Radis and Erik Jorgensen.)