by Hendrik Stegall, MD
Utahns can’t find a doctor. That was the highlight of a recent Salt Lake Tribune article, which suggested that many parts of Utah have fewer than one MD per 1,000 residents. For folks in rural Utah, it can take hours to get to and from the nearest doctor’s office, making even a simple visit for a medication check or a physical a whole-day event. That means that, for many Utahns, routine visits to the doctor aren’t a priority. They can’t be. And as a consequence, people who already have poor healthcare access and risk factors for chronic disease are even less likely to have adequate treatment for these conditions.
But this isn’t just a problem for rural Utahns. As a Family Medicine resident, I routinely see people in my clinic, in the hospital, or in the emergency department, that are either uninsured or underinsured. When this happens, the patient and I begin the delicate dance of figuring out which health problems are dangerous or bothersome enough to need more workup and treatment right now, and which can wait a little bit longer. We push out the next appointment as far as we safely can, to the point where I get a little squeamish about what their condition will be the next time I see them. I scrape together as many free and low-cost resources for therapy, prescriptions, and other resources as I can think of to help these patients pinch their pennies to avoid excessive costs and medical debt, which continues to be the number one cause of personal bankruptcy in this country.
Our healthcare system and insurance structure are complicated and are predicated largely on employment. This means that people with good jobs have good insurance, and people with jobs that pay poorly, or who are unable to work, end up with plans that cannot adequately provide for their needs. Ironically, it is usually these people who have the highest burden of chronic or disabling conditions, who would benefit the most from access to care. In my view, it is in the interest of both doctors and patients to seek a healthcare system that can provide adequate, equitable care for everyone in our country.
It is my belief that healthcare must be accessible, and that accessibility is contingent on three key qualities; that it must be Universal, Simple, and Affordable. This ideal is the fundamental belief of the group USA Healthcare, an organization I belong to that aims to understand the desires of Americans regarding healthcare and to create a framework for discussing healthcare reform. Healthcare reform continues to be a very polarizing issue, but concerns about healthcare are not; based on surveys of hundreds of Americans from across the political spectrum, the majority of Americans desire healthcare that meets all three of the above ideals—even being universal.
Few of us can be considered policy experts on healthcare reform, but every one of us is an expert in our own healthcare experience. We have all had difficulties getting care, paying for care, or neglecting our health out of concern for accessibility. And in my experience, most people agree: our healthcare system needs to change. I encourage every person who reads this to talk with your friends, your family, your doctor, and your legislators about your own healthcare difficulties, and to push for that change. We must all fight to make American healthcare Universal, Simple, and Affordable—to make a system worthy of the ideals on which our country was founded.
Hendrik is from Salt Lake City, UT. He completed his undergraduate degree in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Utah and his medical degree at The Ohio State University. His medical interests include Lifestyle and Preventive medicine, Integrative Health, Population and Community Health, Point-of-Care Ultrasound, Quality Improvement, and Healthcare Advocacy. His personal interests include physical wellness, spending time in nature, gardening, cooking, music, reading, and video games. He chose the University of Utah because of the strong and supportive medical community, the broad and robust training opportunities, and to be closer to his family and to nature.
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