SATURDAY, KA2CH 27, 1S22-THE CAr,CU?iATTIES-19
. .The real problem with the skyrocketing cost of
medical care is that no one wants to deal with
issues. In 1965, prior to the onset Of Medicaid and
Medicare, his nation spent 4.7 7o of its Gross Na
tional Product on health care. In 1980, after the ad-'
vent of this legislation, of the GNP was ap--propriated
for health care expenses. Though politi
cians like to point their finger at welfare fraud, the
facts show that welfare fraud makes up very little of
the health care expense problem. r -
The drains on the health care system and the ex
penses borne largely by the public are in part due to
the following: . ...?.. ; -.
The cost, of institutionalized care both in
hospital and nursing home type facilities are a ma-,
jor chunk of the money spent on health care. :
; 2. Drug and manufacturing companies have vir
tual monopolies on patients, and products used in
the delivery of health care services. The cost of
medicines continues to rise' with few checks on
whether these costs reflect production and usage.
The cost of one antibiotic, Cephalosporin in par-?";
ticular, hypertensive medicines and a few other fre- '
quently used medicines, is disproportionate to what
it now costs the company to make these products.
$. With each new technological advance, there is
often a rush to use the product to avoid malpractice.,
rather than because one believes the study is in-
Spectacles: A Closer Look: :v
The High Cost of Medical Care
Part II - Skyrocketing Cost
. By Ada M. Fisher
v.-
dicated. Many of the x-rays now being ordered are ,
not necessary' but arc being obtained to avoid legal
entanglements and because of the medical profes
sion's vulnerable position in legal areas. ; . ( ..
4. Because of the adversary relationship between,
medicine and the law, the fees for malpractice In
surance in some states run as, high as $25,000 per
year. Of course these costs have to be paid and tin
fortunately they have to be passed on to the pa
tients. ?;;
5. Though the general public still believes that
doctors charge too much, medicine is one of the few
professions where costs are regulated. No matter
what one charges, the cost for care to the poor is
not always adequately reimbursed by various
government agencies.
A View From Capitol Hill:
Professor Dennis Brutus vs.
South AfricaUnited States
ByGus Savage
Member of Congress
The U.S. State Department must decide whether '
or hot an exiled South African professor, who has
been living in America for the past ten years and'
fighting racism, should be deported. Basically,!
these are the reasons the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service wants to kick professor Den
nis Brutus out of the country. ;
His protests against South Africa while living in
me u.b. come during a time when the Reagan Ad
ministration is moving closer to better relations'
with the racist government of South Africa (recent
ly, for example, some new trade agreements were
aiuiuuiibcu. ruiu inc piUlCSSUI IS CUnSlUCTCU a gOOU)
organizer against apartheid no matter where he
is. Last year, he was teaching at Northwestern
University in Evanston, Illinois, but he took time to
; organize a protest against the university's
multimillion dollar holdings in South Africa. As a
result, the university's president has shied away;
froth putting direct pressure on the State Depart
ment, although others have come forward to pro
mote Brutus' cause. Black professors from all
across the nation and throughout tjie Third World
are sending letters of support. ,
The recent publication in England of a book call
ed "Inside BOSS" (BOSS is the South African ver
sion of the CIA) has an entire chapter on Brutus.
He is described as "one of the twenty most wanted
, blacks now living outside South Africa." Clearly, if.
t . im mu3 is sciu uac. iu ouuiu svinca, or even lOZJm
babwe, his life would be in danger. South African
last Tulv former nationalist freedoms finhteftt ImDli'i
uqabi was ; killed, Brutus had been jailed with
., Gqabi for some years earlier in South Africa. In
fact, Brutus has been banned three times for
political actions while he was living in South Africa.
Finally, he agreed to leave that country. But his
fight against apartheid did not cease. When the Spr
ingbok rugby team toured the U.S. last year, Brutus
was protesting. This is the same man who helped get
South Africa banned from the Olympic Games.
Third World nations will boycott the 1984 games
if the U.S. deports Brutus.
The American officials who want Brutus out of
this country argue, with a blind passion, that he
failed to renew his visa and work permit on time.
What they keep failing to take into account is that
conditions beyond Brutus' control prevented this
from happening. Brutus was born in Rhodesia
'which is now called Zimbabwe, although he was
raised and educated in South Africa. When Zim
babwe gained its independence from Britain last
year, all passports were withdrawn and Brutus and
his countrymen were told to reapply for new
passports from Zimbabwe. Brutus was working in
the U.S. before his new passport came. University
officials and insensitive immigration administrators
lost,, misplaced and otherwise derailed vital
documents relating to Brutus', work file.
We must not allow the U.S. State Department to
boot this man out of a land where his persistent
voice is needed most. Dennis Brutus Defense Com
mittees have sprung up all over the nation most
notably in Chicago and Amherst, Mass. Currently,
he is a visiting professor at Amherst College. Other
supporters include Senator Paul Tsongas (D-Mass.)
and the Congressional Black Caucus. However, as
the pressure against the professor grows, so must
. fiur resistance to this political insanity." More letters
Tht first time a baseball player from another city and
another team received homage at a major-league baseball
stadium was when Roberto Qemente, of the Pittsburgh
Pirate, was to honored at Shea Stadium on Sept. 24, 1971.
LE. AUSTIN
Editor-Publisher 1927-1971
(USPS 091-380
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Volume W. Member 12. '
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association. .
Opinions expressed by columnists in this newspaper do act
necessarily reprCMnt the policy el thij newspaper.
This newspaper &&1 MOT BE feeXfQNSIBLE tor the tsUira at ua
toHcW picture. ' ,
of support must be directed to the State Depart
ment. The Brutus defense committees also need:
financial assistance with the mounting legal fees.
Brutus is not a raving rabble-rouser, but a soft-:
spoken distinguished poet and scholar, an impor-
In 1978, a $10 office visit inone North Carolina
;.county saw a S3 reimbursement for Medicaid pa
tients, $6.40 from Medicare, and $10 from those
iwho had to pay out of their.pocket. Subsidized pa-,
tients do not have the full cost of their care reim
bursed and as' the economy tightens, even less of
. their costs will be paid; hence many may find
themselves being denied the care which was once
available to them. '.
The publicity accorded to health professionals
who have made more than $100,000 from Medicaid
andor Medicare is unfortunate. This allows the .
public to labor under the illusion that doctors get
rich from these patients when the reverse is more
tant figure within the international artistic com
munity. If he is deported, we will lose access to a
compelling literary representative of. the Afrjcan
continent. The Encyclopedia Britannica has termed
Brutus. "A gifted African Scholar; . . As a peo
ple, we must be prepared to do whatever we can to.
reverse the threat of deportation a most grievous
situation for all progressives. Brutus has spoken out
against and fought an abhorrent system of racism in
South Africa, and he must be allowed to continue
to make his voice heard. His contributions toward
the elimination of racial injustice are unparalleled.
I am proud to be a co-convenor of the Dennis
Brutus Defense Committee and I shall continue to
speak out in support of this freedom-fighting,
literary giant's right to remain in America and live!
often true. The reimbursement for federally sub
' sidized patients varies from state to state with the
southern sta'tes traditionally reimbursing the least.
Consequently, most M.D.'s have' refused to accept,
assignments for MedicaidMedkare patients.
"-. As money is allocated to states in block grants,
expect to find less of it available for federally sub
sidized patients and more doctors requiring cash
payments in advance of services. s y
The cost of drugs is forcing patients to buy one-,'
- half pf their prescription or skip their medicines'
because they can't afford the cost of staying alive.
Equipment for offices, hospitals,- health centers is
expensive in part due to the limited competition in
their production and in large measure secondary to
materials: and labor costs , in an inflationary
economy. "
A luxury hotel room can be obtained for less than
.- $ 100day; however, the cost of a normal hospital
roomj jn most major cities runs $100-5200 per day
with intensive care units costing $3OO-$5O0day.
The cost of personnelsupplies;, facilities and
- losses accrued due to those who can't pay will con
tinue to escalate costs. The economic realities of
.'running medical practices dictate that they be
' operated on sound business principles if the system
is to remain financially solvent. It has little to do
: with any lack of compassion or commitment to pa
tients, but rather reflects the realities of survival ia a
capitalistic "society.
Jf the state and federal governments would come
clean with health professionals and consumers, we
would both understand that all of as are victims of
a burgeoning bureaucracy which has served as an
unnecessary middle man and feeds on our mutual
distress.
Black people must wake up and take a more ac
tive interest in their health and health care. Black
people stand close to being written out of the health
care picture if we do not become politically inform
ed and appreciate just who is low man on this socie
ty's totem pole. We face a time when health care
may be rationed in accordance with the whims of
those who control the money and on the basis of
our economic worth to society. We all need to stay
healthy stay alive and get involved in decisions
; regarding our health care and its costs.
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