Saturday, October 31, 2009
HEALTH CARE NEEDS FIXIN'
As longtime It Figures viewers already know, I’m not political by nature, and I’m certainly not partisan. I vote the candidate, the issues and the platform. A middle class kid born and raised in the south and now living in Canada and Hawaii with my first husband, of 37 years, I honor the wisdom of the old Ozark saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” If the issue on my mind were not critical to the future of my homeland, I would not use this forum to speak out. But, my fellow Americans, my dear smart, discriminating It Figures friends, I think the American health care system needs fixin’.
I’ve benefited from the Canadian health care system since 1975 when Jim and I moved back to North America from England where we first met. He was raised in Alberta and was head hunted by the University of Calgary. I “married” into Canada and am now a dual citizen.
Trust me, the Canadian system WORKS! It’s not perfect, but it works....quite well. Elective surgical procedures are wait listed but acute issues are dealt with in a time efficient manner. Sometimes the delay in elective procedures allows the problem to resolve on its own or with less invasive treatment. And if the patient announces flexibility and gets on the cancellation list, the wait may be very short. My friend Diane got arthroscopic surgery on her rotator cuff a week after seeing the specialist. My friend Linda, who you know from Crazy For Step, had the same experience when she suffered a shoulder injury in a fall on the winter ice. Last Christmas I saw a specialist right before the holidays, announced my willingness to take any cancellation and was in the hospital two days later for all the tests which, thankfully, were negative.
One huge comfort in this system is the continuing review of efficacy. Treatment protocols are studied to determine what is most effective so the system spends the taxpayers’ money in the wisest manner. If a treatment is shown to be ineffective or, God forbid, worse than the problem, it is not covered by the health care system. This weeds out the quacks who, even with good intentions, would prescribe wacky, obsolete or revenue producing procedures on naive patients.
I have a fabulous family doc who, in this system, serves as the quarterback and gate keeper to specialists. No one in our extended family has EVER had a serious complaint about health care in Canada. Do we live forever? No, Would we like to? Yes. Do we expect Howard Hughs-ish end of life heroics? No. Would we want that? Probably not.
The truth is...99% of Canadians whine about the Canadian health care system, but NO Canadians want a system like the American health system. When the risk of expensive, long hospital care is spread over an entire population, no one need worry about selling the farm to care for a family member who is critically ill or injured.
While I only have personal experience with the Canadian health care system , I know enough Europeans to understand that the EU countries enjoy a similar comfort level with their health care. Two of my German friends suffer serious chronic illness and are getting state of the art care in their homeland. Such care in the USA would require a very fine health insurance policy which currently would be out of reach for many Americans.
I’m not a policy maker. I’m not a politician. I don’t know what the American health care system should look like, but I know that medical systems in the rest of the western world spend less for more value than we enjoy in the United States. We Americans are a nation of bright, energetic, well educated, good hearted people. We deserve better than what we’ve got. Surely it’s wise to use common sense, to learn from others when there is better solution.
I’m just here to say that the Canadian health care system works....with no death squads, no denial of effective treatment, no threat of bankruptcy to pay medical bills.
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13 comments:
Amen!
Totally agree. Well put, Char!
I too agree our health care system needs fixed. But even more scary is a government run system. Look at the disaster they made of Medicare and Medicaid. Neither party has been able to fix those. I don't know about other countries but the outlandish lawsuits in this country has to be addressed along with health care reform or nothing will ever work.
Well put! Also, tort reform will reduce health care costs by a fraction of a percent. It is not the panacea that health care reform opponents claim that it is. And speaking of scary government run systems--actually look at them--look at their costs and benefits and compare them to those of the US. We need a government run option to compete with private insurers to bring down the costs and increase coverage. Nothing else will do it.
Maybe so, however what you are omitting is the cost of that proposed system to the United States. No one in the history of the U.S. has tallied up a bill of debt of such magnitude in such a short time. We might need fixing, but we certainly have the wrong people in charge to do so. Please take the time to look at Obama's associations. A large number of the figures with whom he aligns himself are of dubious association and character. I think that this does speak volumns for the man. It also does not bode well for our future (and our children's futures). We need to fix/adjust, not throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak. We also need people of good character running out country, not people who are pushing the United States to ruin, which I am sure many in the world would be happy to see happen.
I have watched your show for years in the 1990's and do agree with much of what you way. Nevertheless, live here under this man, who is still on the campaign trail, and not in his office hunkering down to work and you might have a different viewpoint.
As a final point, don't you think it is simply unconscionable to sign a bill into law when you haven't read every single work in it? Could you please tell me if you honestly believe that Obama and his party have read through every word of that almost 2000 page bill? They read some of it on the radio two days ago. Anything that convoluted should be immediately tossed out. I fear we are lost....
Having you been listening about the proposed cost of this new insurance for all of us? What is troubling is that so many expect that this new healthcare for all will be "free." It is going to cost us more than the majority of us put out now. Also, how will the people who can't afford healthcare now, afford it when they are going to be forced to pick it up? What a mess!
(Part 1 of a multi-part comment)
Here's a viewpoint from outside the US.
As a cancer patient who used to live in the US, who underwent a bone marrow transplant and is currently undergoing chemo, I could not afford the good care I have now if I still lived in the US. I would not be able to afford my health insurance premium, assuming someone would sell health insurance to me given the fact that I have a pre-existing condition. In fact, I had to leave the US in early 2004 and return to Germany because I simply could not afford to be sick in the US.
As a journalist and reporter who covers the US healthcare system for German and Austrian news outlets, I am watching what is going on in the US and also have my own opinions.
(see next comment)
(Part 2 of a multi-part comment)
Obama is to be commended for trying to reform healthcare. The Republicans had years to do this and did not. Their alternative "plan" for healthcare, issued two days ago, is too little, too late, and would be only a drop in the bucket comparatively speaking to what needs to be done.
Sorry, US citizens, you have to bite the bullet and fix your healthcare system, because if you do not, your industries will not be competitive on the global market (look at what the price of healthcare did to the American auto industry), your health costs will bankrupt your economy, and more people (47 million and growing) will be just one medical emergency away from personal bankruptcy because they have no insurance. Even people with good health insurance may not have it any longer if they change jobs or their employer decides not to offer coverage because it's too expensive. If the health crisis doesn't affect you personally now because you have good insurance, watch out. Your day is coming. It's a matter of WHEN, not if.
So,yes, it will cost money and raise taxes, but not fixing it is worse. Kicking the can down the road for another generation to fix this problem will just make the economic disaster of not fixing it sooner even worse.
(Part 3 of a multi-part comment)
At a minimum, US legislation needs to mandate that everyone carry insurance, no one should be denied affordable insurance for pre-existing conditions, no one should ever have insurance rescinded or dropped for frivolous reasons, insurance should be able to be sold across state lines, and preventive care should be emphasized.
Physicians need to be paid (as they are in Germany) for taking care of someone over time, not paid per procedure. Payment should be predicated upon evidence-based medicine as well as preventive care and end results.
Tort reform would also help lower costs by preventing the practice of defensive medicine and huge payouts that reward no one but attorneys.
Public option would help keep insurance companies honest, but there is an alternative, like what we have in Germany where nine or 10 insurance companies are given government contracts to provide care for people. The companies are given a certain amount of money, no more, and must compete against each other to provide care for anyone who wants it. Everyone here MUST have health insurance. If you can't afford your premiums, the government helps, but if you can afford it, you pay. BTW, we pay far less than most people in the US. It's not inexpensive, but it isn't hundreds of dollars per month, either.
Finally, the US system of educating and compensating doctors has to change. When people leave medical school owing close to a quarter of a million in loans, it is no wonder why they want to specialize and become dermatologists and radiologists, rather than primary-care physicians, so they can pay off their debts faster. Make medical school free for those who commit to becoming primary-care physicians. BTW, the US needs PCPs, not more specialists, if any healthcare system is to work.
The US is the richest country on earth. Why is its healthcare system the equal of that of South Africa? Yes, US healthcare is the best in the world -- for the lucky few who can afford it.
If you think rationing is horrible, just remember, you have it already. If you can't afford healthcare, you go without, and with deleterious results.
Well said, P-Loh. Where were these deficit hawks when President Bush committed the U.S. to an unnecessary $1 trillion war? It's funny what we Americans decide to spend our money on. Not to mention the savings that will be produced by insuring the uninsured who inundate emergency rooms and lowering costs for the average consumer.
Thank you Charlene and Paula for the thoughtful comments.
I agree completely with the need for reform but suspect that it will be some time before our leaders get it right and things are likely to get worse before they get better.
Ah well, the fact that the problem is enormous doesn't mean we shouldn't try to fix it!
I've been reading the comments with interest. I'm also a respiratory therapist in the US, an avid It Figures participator, and therefore, have invested in health by exercise and making good food choices.
I agree with you, Charlene. It ain't perfect, but the CA health care system is something that Medicare itself was based on. We all must agree that Medicare could be improved, but let's be honest, what Americans are dealing with now is a sick treatment system that only a good health care policy can buy. And when you see the jobs market decline, you see that benefit "go". Majorities of personal bankruptcy are caused by catastrophic health events, and that's a damn shame.
We need to fix it, and that means staying on top of our current administration and representatives in congress to do so. AND THAT'S THE CHALLENGE!
Yours in health,
Lois Drumheller,
Monroeville, PA
Rock on, Charlene! I wish your show were still on tv here.
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