Be Active in Your Health Care

By Scott Culver
Communications Specialist
WEA Trust

May 2003

As health care costs continue to rise and push premiums higher, you are likely to read a lot in the general media about potential solutions to this crisis. Many of these solutions, however, simply pass increasing costs on to employees.

At the WEA Trust, we have introduced various options that members can use to get a handle on their health plan costs. But we realize that, ultimately, rising health care costs will require fundamental reforms at the state level.

That’s why we have introduced The New Wisconsin Idea, an innovative plan for tackling the state’s health care cost crisis. This initiative (see Page 1 for details) would fundamentally reform the state’s health care delivery and financing systems and provide help for improving the quality of health care.

If enacted, these reforms would make affordable health care available to every resident of the state.

However, an ambitious reform plan takes time to implement. While the reform effort progresses, you and your colleagues can take steps to have a more immediate effect on health costs and quality of care.

It pays to be involved
It’s easy to forget that your health plan is part of your overall compensation package. When the cost of medical services and prescription drugs increases, it’s reflected in your health plan and less money is available for other compensation, including salary. So it pays to be involved.

Here are a couple of steps you can take:

Make informed decisions
Patients who make informed decisions about their health are more likely to get quality care. In fact, the single most important way you can prevent medical errors is to play an active role on your health care team.

To be more involved, you can:

• Use a reliable self-care book to help determine whether you should treat a medical condition at home or visit a health care professional.
  
  
• Take advantage of nurse-line services. Many health plans, including the Trust’s, offer round-the-clock telephone access to registered nurses who can answer questions about a medical condition and help assess what care would be appropriate.
  
  
• Talk with your doctor (see adjacent story). It’s important for you and your doctor to work as a team. The more you know about your condition, treatment options, and overall health, the more likely you are to get quality and cost-effective care.
  

Ask about generic drugs
Using generic prescription drugs represents an easy way to slow rising prescription drug costs without sacrificing quality. Generic equivalents generally cost 30% to 60% less than their brand-name counterparts.

By asking your doctor if there’s a generic drug that’s suitable for your condition, you not only save money on copayments, but you also can help cut costs for your health plan without compromising quality.

Generic drug manufacturers must get approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for their medications. The FDA requires generics to contain the same active ingredients as the brand-name forms and meet the same strict standards of quality, strength, and purity.

You can make a difference
Research shows that patients who are involved in their health care decisions get better care and make better use of their health care dollar because they get the right care, at the right time, and in the right place.

Posted May 14, 2003