Health Care
Health Care
Health Care is one of the most important issues facing our nation today.
According to a report by CNBC, 66.5% of Americans that file for Bankruptcy do so because of medical bills or expenses. We can’t keep up. Our people are going broke trying to stay alive, and getting sicker because they can’t afford to be well.
What can we do? The first step is electing people that will actually vote for our interests. One look at the current state of our political machine makes it glaringly obvious that these people do NOT understand the real struggles that actually affect us. Dion understands because he has been there, having been forced to declare Medical Bankruptcy himself in 2016 after an on-the-job injury propelled him into multiple back surgeries, procedures, and skyrocketing debt. He understands the flaws and limitations of our health care system, and will look out for the interests of his constituents, not big banks, not big pharma, and certainly not big government.
Dion has deep and personal experience with all of the topics here.
Dion Bergeron’s opponent has voted against health care transparency and against lowering the costs of health care for Hoosiers. (IN HB 1004)
Dion fully supports reducing the costs of health care for all Hoosiers and will be working hard from day one to accomplish this.
Some of the most pressing issues are
- Home health care shortages are reaching critical levels, the effects of which will be far-reaching
- Soaring prescription costs and high deductibles
- Growing influence of Big Pharma in government and our health care. Insurance companies determine treatment, not doctors
- Growing Aging population. With the average life expectancy at approximately 78 years old, we need better care for our elders
- Opioid Crisis – Lots of cries for action, but few actual solutions that do not punish the chronic pain sufferers that avoid prescription abuse
- Medical Marijuana – The VA cannot prescribe Medical Marijuana for the millions suffering from everything from PTSD to chronic pain, despite overwhelming evidence that it helps, until Marijuana is de-scheduled
The home health care industry is in a state of crisis. According to a report by Arc of Indiana (a Not-For-Profit Advocacy Group for Indiana’s 40,000 disabled residents), there is a massive turnover rate (as high as 45%), desperate need for additional pay, and a larger applicant pool. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that an additional 1.1 Million home health care staff will be needed by just 2024. An article by WTHR covers many of the problems facing the industry.
The amount we spent on prescriptions increased from $236 Billion in 2007 to $333 Billion in 2017. (NHE Report) This is just prescription medication. This doesn’t even factor in the massive amounts of money that are being spent on doctors, procedures, over-the-counter medications, insurance premiums, deductibles, co-pays, and other health-related items. Simple changes to our healthcare system can drastically reduce the amount consumers and taxpayers pay for the U.S. Cost of Being Well.
Dion Bergeron supports enacting legislation to help seniors and the disabled with the burden of health care. He supports help with Medicare premiums in the form of reductions, vouchers, or other programs that will help to offset the high costs of caring for our aging population. The average Medicare premium is $134 per month. Dion Bergeron knows that that amount can be the difference between being able to make ends meet and being forced to skip medication or eat unhealthy or unsafe meals.
Real changes are necessary to fix our ailing health-care system, but that doesn’t mean we have to completely destroy the good parts of our system in order to fix the flaws. There are other real-world solutions available, and Dion Bergeron will introduce legislation to make this a reality.