Whole vs Term

As the state Secretary of Health and Hospitals Alan Levine speaks at the monthly meeting of the Thibodaux Rotary Club, he clearly asserts with his statements that the current problems of national health care are not addressed in the bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives.

“When you read this 2,000-page bill, it goes so far beyond that you forget what you’re trying to solve,” Levine said. “This idea that the public option is the solution is just wrong.”

According to Levine, a lot people need access to health care, but government involvement in health insurance is not the answer. “It doesn’t work.” If the government focused on reducing costs rather than providing everyone health-care, Levine said, enough money could be saved to pay for universal coverage.

“If you can address these inefficiencies and correct that, there’s enough money to provide for an expansion of coverage,” Levine said. “We can improve our health-delivery systems with private-sector principles.”

In the middle of the assembly, Rotarian Barry Landry, a Thibodaux surgeon, asked why state leaders weren’t fighting against these changes. Levine frankly answered that state leaders may be apprehensive in voicing opposition to federal health-care plans as this could lead federal administrators to further decrease support to those states.

On the whole, Levine thinks that health-care decisions are better handled by community-level health systems focused on the doctor and the patients. “We sitting in an ivory tower in Baton Rouge cannot decide what is best for John Smith here in Lafourche Parish,” Levine said. “I believe in empowering consumers to make choices about what kind of health care they want.”