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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:
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