MOORE — The state’s — and the nation’s — health care system needs a serious tune-up, a panel of Cleveland County leaders said July 1.

Speaking at a forum sponsored by the Oklahoma branch of the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), six area business and community leaders said gridlock and partisan politics was causing major problems for the nation’s health care system.

The event was part of the AARP’s Divided We Fail campaign — a grassroots campaign, AARP officials said, which is designed “to break political gridlock so that all Americans have affordable, quality health care.”

“Many of these questions are very difficult,” said Shari Kinney, administrator of the Cleveland County Health Department, “and there are many different answers, but we must decrease our costs and focus on preventative health care.”

Changing people’s behavior, she said, would have many positive benefits on the state’s health care system and improving residents’ health.

Bill Pierce, president of Baptist Retirement Village Retirement Communities, agreed.

“We need to look at increasing wellness efforts and developing new incentives,” he said. “Things like that go a long way toward improving health care.”

Pierce said officials also need to increase their efforts in controlling costs.

“There is a great deal of waste in the system,” he said.

Kinney said the state’s poverty level also is part of the problem.

Half of the residents in Oklahoma who are 65 or older would be living below the poverty line if they didn’t have Social Security, she said.

“Poverty is increasing and many county families are in ‘crisis mode.’ They are not thinking about the future. They are just looking at ‘what can I do today to get by.’”

She cited rising gas prices as an example.

“More and more, we have people walking to our clinic, because they can’t afford to drive.”

But while poverty may be increasing, public concern about the state’s health care crisis hasn’t been.

“Many people don’t see it as an issue yet,” Pierce said. “Folks say, ‘It’s always someone else and not us.’”

For Moore City Councilman Dave Roberts, the forum also provided a chance to discuss more cost effective ways to provide health care.

“Health care hasn’t been strangled,” he said. “Sure, there are problems; but there are also solutions — for example, Insure Oklahoma is a great program designed to help small businesses.”

The program, Roberts said, helps provide insurance for many state businesses. “It’s a very cost effective way to provide insurance.”

AARP officials said they hoped the event would encourage people to pressure lawmakers to focus on the country’s health care problems.

Craig Davis, Oklahoma AARP’s associate director, said the goal of the event was to “build awareness about problems with the country’s health care system.”

“A big part of the issue is gridlock,” he said. “We hope that forums like these will help encourage people to take action and help break that partisanship. It’s a great opportunity to position the issue in front of the public.”

Davis said nearly 10,000 Oklahomans have already signed a Divided We Fail card, pledging “to vote for candidates of both parties who will work to end gridlock in Washington and come up with solutions to American’s health care crisis.”

At present, he said, only one Oklahoma Congressman — U.S. Rep. Dan Boren — has signed the group’s congressional pledge card, which asks members of Congress and the Senate “to commit to working in a bipartisan way to provide Americans with actions and answers on health and long-term financial security.”

According to the association’s Web site, 311 members of Congress have either signed the Divided We Fail congressional pledge or written a letter of approval supporting the Divided We Fail platform.