Will Health Care Reform create more integrity?

Recently I found myself trying to escape from reality by watching a marathon session of Grey’s Anatomy reruns. One episode was so shocking in it’s depiction of our health care system it’s worth mentioning.

A seemingly prosperous man in his late 50s or early 60s is raced to the emergency room after being in a car crash. Unbeknownst to his wife, he lost his job some months back and their health insurance is due to expire at midnight that very day. It turns out the man needs very expensive surgery to save his life. A resident uncovers the health insurance issue and pleads with the chief of surgeons to undertake this mans surgery before the stroke of midnight otherwise the costs could bankrupt the couple. After refusing to put the man ahead of her other patients who were more in need of help, the chief of surgeons turns to operate on him at a few minutes past midnight. But before she starts she asks the resident, who will record the time of operation for official records, to change the clock in the operating room to one minute before midnight.

The audience has a feel good moment and is relived that the Chief of Surgeons turns out to be on the side of the public against health insurers. While I also found myself being sympathetic I wondered what my reaction would be if I worked for a health insurance firm. How would I feel to see doctors cheating health insurers and that practice being legitimized on mainstream TV? What does it tell us when our health care system is portrayed, in a matter of fact way, as so broken that the only humane response is to cheat?

It made me wonder whether health reform enacted by the Obama Administration will do anything to change that. I’m skeptical. But then with so much of the reform set to be decided in the future, the only fair answer to that question is that no one really knows yet.
Up next: a few things we do know about Obama’s health care reform.