Illinois is currently facing a health crisis that necessitates immediate attention from us all. Many residents may already be familiar with the most important issues at hand: Too many areas of our state are lacking qualified doctors to care for the sick and too many doctors are threatening to quit their practices because of skyrocketing malpractice insurance costs.

Among Illinois residents, approximately 1.7 million people do not have health insurance. Nationwide, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 43.5 million people are currently lacking coverage. These numbers represent not only the homeless or those without jobs, but also many members of the working classes that simply do not earn enough money to afford insurance. To these Americans, health insurance is a luxury they cannot obtain. As a result, these people stand a greater chance of an early death due to numerous factors. Several potential solutions to this problem exist and, in the future, will hopefully allow the best possible care to be delivered to the largest number of people.

To begin, we must first raise money to provide Americans with universal health care. A likely method of collecting necessary funds is to raise taxes on products that contribute to poor health, such as tobacco. By raising these taxes, needed funds can be generated while consumers will be discouraged from purchasing harmful products.

At the same time, employers should begin to allocate more fair payments among their various workers. Thus, a company that has hired hundreds of workers will no longer be able to pay the complete hospital bill of a wealthier employee at the expense of not paying a hospital bill for a worker who cannot afford insurance. Additionally, health professionals should receive increased training that emphasizes preventative care. Diagnostic exams and prevention services must be made available to all state residents. By stopping health problems before they increase in severity, our state will save millions of dollars, not to mention saving many lives.

Unfortunately, low-income families will still remain once some changes have taken place. For such people, additional solutions may exist. For example, uninsured adults with earnings below the poverty level could automatically be enrolled in programs such as Medicaid. Uninsured adults earning only slightly above the poverty level could be granted tax subsidies by the government. By putting any of these suggestions into effect, health insurance would be available to everyone in Illinois-not just the "privileged" people.

Health insurance is not the only problem we face in our state. In many rural areas in Illinois, small communities lack adequate accessibility to healthcare. There are simply not enough doctors in these areas to treat patients. The reasons for this disparity vary. However, the results are disastrous. We must ask ourselves: How can we encourage doctors to practice in underserved areas?

The first solution to this problem is the simplest: Make the underserved area more attractive to a potential doctor. In exchange for working in such districts, physicians should receive scholarships and/or have medical school loans repaid by their respective universities or the state. If this proves too costly, doctors could instead be provided with environments that allow them to develop unique skills and accept greater job responsibility. The next strategy to combat this problem involves targeting students when they are in medical school. More residency positions could be offered to students in underserved areas. Similarly, if more popular residency programs give their students training in the care of patients in poorer areas, the programs would be rewarded. At the same time, medical education should begin to incorporate a comprehensive classroom atmosphere where students can learn about underserved areas and the special care required by their residents.

Finally, we must move even further back chronologically. Many medical students choose to pursue a career as a physician for several reasons, such as where they were raised and their ethnicity. Since many underserved regions are home to minority communities, why not admit more medical students from these underserved regions? Why not admit more of these minorities?

Without having quotas, medical schools should encourage applications from a more diverse group of people. If they do this, emphasis in their applications should not be placed solely on MCAT scores or other numerical ranks, but instead on personal statements and student potential. The State of Illinois can also contribute positively by creating programs in colleges for minority students who were not accepted into medical school. These programs would help them gain additional post-graduate degrees and make the applicants more qualified and promising individuals.

The third main healthcare problem we face today is that of malpractice insurance. It is increasing without limit and causing greater numbers of doctors to go out of business. Others are moving to states with lower insurance costs or choosing to retire early. Many doctors are not willing to risk their own credibility on a potentially risky operation that a patient may need. How can we control rising malpractice insurance costs so that patients may receive the care they require and deserve?

The first method I propose is for doctors to form their own insurance groups. This will cost physicians more money at first, but eventually will prove worthwhile. If a doctor is sued and other coverage is not an option, the doctors will have their own insurance pool to provide coverage. One example of this is a Risk Retention Group. A Risk Retention Group is an insurance company licensed in only one state , but with the ability to sell insurance to other states as long as contracts and providers are the same. This idea is very similar to basic insurance, except with a lower rate.

The State of Illinois must also enforce a cap on damages for the victim. If this occurred, a possible limit (e.g. $250,000) would be the most a patient could win in a court. Many states, including California, already have this cap. Likewise, we must limit the amount of money a lawyer could collect from such cases. This is a chain reaction solution. If lawyers could only collect X amount of money, they wouldn't be so prone to taking on any and all lawsuits, especially frivolous ones.

Finally, we propose that it must be made more difficult to follow through with a lawsuit. By this, I mean that those who were obviously disadvantaged because of a doctor's errors will be screened and allowed to continue with their lawsuit. However, a person with a non-serious injury, or a person just trying to take advantage of the system, would be stopped from going to court earlier in the process. This would occur by either obtaining the signatures of several doctors (not simply the one signature needed to go to court currently) in order to take a case to court, or by gaining approval from a state-appointed panel which reviews all cases before they go to court.

In retrospect, health care in Illinois is currently inadequate. Many Illinois residents do not have health insurance, many regions of the state are underserved by doctors, and many doctors are not working because of skyrocketing liability insurance costs. If the state would like to see its problems diminished, it must take solutions such as these to heart and act on them. The result will inevitably be a healthier, happier populace.