As part of the Forward Thinking Speaker Series at the University of Wisconsin, a panel of Madison health professionals gathered, advocating prompt health care reform while highlighting obstacles hindering its institution.

The panel — sponsored and hosted by Dave Anderson, CEO of American Family Insurance, and Mike Knetter, dean of the University of Wisconsin School of Business — was held to allow members of the Madison community to hear from hospital and medical professionals on the local effects of the current health care system’s problems.

In the Madison community, as well as at the national level, health care reform is necessary, and it will require the government and the medical community to wrestle with many tough issues, President and CEO of Meriter Hospital Jim Woodward said.

“Health care reform is an undertaking that we will inevitably screw up before we get it right,” Woodward said. “It will probably be 20 years before we see concrete, consistent results.”

Woodward added the health care issue is multifaceted because health care is a complex business with many factors contributing to the increasingly high costs.

President and CEO of Dean Health Insurance Lon Sprecher said one of the main issues in the current health care system is the fact doctors are paid for the number of people they cure, rather than for the hundreds of diseases they prevent. He added doctors’ incentives should be realigned.

The system must transform into one of accountable care in which doctors educate their patients on how to live a healthy lifestyle and in which patients help make decisions on how to improve their overall wellness, President and CEO of UW Hospital Donna Katen-Bahensky said.

Woodward said 75 percent of total health care costs go to chronic disease management, but if more money were contributed to wellness and prevention, the number of diseases needing to be treated would drastically drop.

Woodward added since 45 million people in the United States are currently uninsured, those who do have insurance must pay more to compensate for the free medical care received by the uninsured.

Currently, neither the U.S. House of Representatives nor the U.S. Senate has proposed a bill that will establish universal health care coverage.

Even though the U.S. spends twice as much on health care as other countries, infant death rates are higher and the longevity of life is shorter, said Geoffrey Priest, chief medical officer of Meriter Hospital.

The main challenge is providing everyone with equal access to health care insurance and to treatment from primary care physicians.

While everyone is guaranteed access to emergency treatment at hospitals, Priest said those without insurance many times cannot receive the primary care that could prevent the onset of more serious diseases.

Unfortunately, when all people receive access to primary care, the issue of the shortage of physicians arises, Sprecher said.

He added the government must look into issuing practice grants to hire more primary care physicians to compensate for the greater demand from patients.