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What Happened to Healthcare Problems?
It seems that we have quite a lot of problems in this country. We also have no memory for these problems. In the wake of a very exciting Olympics we need to get back to the table on the health debate. I can assure you that while we were busy watching Michael Phelps win eight gold medals and the US Men's and Women's B-Ball teams go for glory, the insurance executives had scores of underlings working feverishly to deny claims, delay treatment, and collect more of our hard earned money.
Here is a brief summary of the issues that we have made absolutely no progress on in 2008:
If you comb the national papers you will see little or nothing of this important debate.
What happened?
Dr. K.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: health care, health insurance
Here is a brief summary of the issues that we have made absolutely no progress on in 2008:
- There are still tens of millions of Americans with no health insurance.
- Insurance companies can continue to deny payment for claims even after they pre-certified the claim prior to treatment.
- Insurance companies still have the power to deny a service that a doctor prescribes using non-doctors and using arbitrary questionnaires.
- Pharmaceutical companies continue to pound the public with advertisements of useless medications.
- Despite data showing a shortage of general medical doctors there is no plan in place to address this.
- There are real differences in the treatment of the rich and the poor, and further in the way certain ethnic groups get treated.
If you comb the national papers you will see little or nothing of this important debate.
What happened?
Dr. K.
Related Topics: Technorati Tags: health care, health insurance
12 Comments:
I don’t see the problem being a lack of insurance, bad insurance, or a lack of doctors. I see the problem being the wrong focus of health care (allopathic care - the treating of symptoms, rather than naturopathic care - the treating of causes).
One of the problems is that the average person doesn’t do any real thinking - they do just what they are told (herd instinct). Another problem is that the average person doesn’t want to do anything that is inconvenient or would require him to make any changes to his diet or lifestyle. Because of these facts of human nature (weaknesses), massive advertising by the drug companies and the mainstream medical industry have convinced most everyone that drugs are the answer to every medical problem.
Drugs help acute care (trauma, emergencies, ...), but they don’t help in degenerative diseases like cancer, diabetes, heart diseases which is 95% of the business. Drugs help minimize the symptoms, but they don’t address the cause of disease. Billions of dollars in campaign contributions from drug companies to lawmakers over the last decade doesn’t help either. Newspapers and magazines are reluctant to print articles that upset major advertisers (drug companies and hospitals).
I can’t see how the situation can be fixed, really. Some people are figuring the truth out slowly and being healed naturally, but others aren’t open enough to the facts in order to make a big enough movement to be noticeable.
You are right and you are wrong. You are correct in that we need a greater focus on naturopathic care in addition to conventional medicine. Both have important roles. You are simply wrong that lack of insurance, bad insurance, and lack of quality control in medicine are not problems. Over 40 milliopn Americans lack adequate access to any form of healthcare.
If I can modify your post and say "In addition to lack of insurance, bad insurance, and lack of doctors, tere is a problem with the focus of healthcare." No one would disagree with you on that.
Doctor K
Good to see you back in the blogosphere Dr. K-- For awhile there I thought you'd thrown in the towel. I don't have an answer to this blogpost. I wish there WAS an answer to our healthcare mess. I'm sure we can all come up with suggestions but what about actual solutions. Do the 'powers that be' actually give a rat's ass?
Swank:
The politicians hae too many people to answer too and have too little courage to do what it takes.
Somehow the peope need to get it done.
Doctor K.
I have depression, migraines and ADHD and I'm tired of not being treated. I also have no insurance and have to go to community clinics. My doctor that I see for mental health thinks she knows better and the clinic I go to for my migraines won't do anything because I'm seeing her. I'm trying to get the care I need and can't. I know that if I get the depression under control which it is and the ADHD controlled my migraines should be less. When I had insurance I had all the help I needed and now I'm lucky if I can get someone to care.
Huh?
I haven't even posted yet Dr. K. ;-)
Swank:
Just clairvoyant I guess :)
Ummm...I think you were replying to my post, Dr. K?
Ok, C'mon now Swank, it's your turn
to post a comment.....
The health cre we are receving is getting worse and the providers dont seem to be accoutable foe their actions.
My daughter was 21 years old and had been feeling ill for a few days.but on nov.17th 2006 she had a seziure which she never had before and taken by ambulance to the er. She alsp had symtoms of confussion lower level of consiousness vomitting nubness in leggs and arms fever and eyes sensitive to light. The er dr. did blood work a x-ray and ct scan.He then told us he was quite sure it was not meningitis but seziure disorder I told him I was very concerned about this. he said that seziures just happen sometimes and there was really nothing to worry about so he said there was no need to call a nerologist but to follow up with one in a few months for a eeg and there was no reason to keep her for further observation and released her. The next day I took her to the nearest clinic as she was still quite ill. The dr. there looked at her hospital chart did blood work said her white count was still high but he felt it was not meningitis but a flu and nothing to worry about. He gave her a shot for her headache and a shot for the pain and released her. That night my daughter was taken to another er where a lumbar puncture was performed. It was possitive for viral meningitis as well as herpes simplex enephalitis. The medication seemed to work at first but on Nov 22 she went into cardiac arrest and life support was withdrawn the next day. How sa it is that we intrust these docyors to provide proper medical and do every thing possibe for recovery And they do not we are left with devastating results. These drs. were investagated by Wash. State Dept. of Health. The er doctor was not disiplined I appealed but denied. The DR. at the clinic was found that he DID NOT provide my daughter proper health care and because he agreed to the stipulations he has to pay 1000 fine take a education class and write a assay on what he learned. Until they are held accoutable for their actions and these boards that investigate their own peers we are all at risk. After talking to other health care providers they can not understand with the symyoms my daughter had why the first er doctor did not do a lumbar puncture. As after educating myself on this disease I would of insisted on it.This disease is critacul and requires promt treatment for recovery and they denied my daughter that.
MISSING MY DAUGHTER
Cheri Morey
Tacoma Wash
There are many layers to this problem.
On one hand you have personal responsibility. If a person really wants to improve their health... that person will begin looking for alternatives. And to the degree that their life and happiness is tied into finding answers, they will not stop looking until they have found IT.
When a person begins searching and trying to heal, they may well find that allopathic medicine can't do IT for them. So they begin knocking on other doors and finding their own answers. Sometimes these answers can be very inexpensive, non-invasive and actually BUILD UP health and wellness.
But until the person is ready for change, good information about alternatives, even FREE or inexpensive alternatives will be ignored.
So I hope they do fix insurance. Not everyone is ready to look for alternatives. And it is a crime that the US has people that don't have health insurance with the amount of money the country spends on "other" things.
Until the awareness of everyone... from medical students to the average citizen is raised about alternatives to our current... EXPENSIVE medical care model... not much will change.
I am not condeming going to the doctor to get pills or surgery to fix a problem. But when there do exist alternatives to surgery or medication therapy (in some cases)... and no one is sharing these alternatives with the patients... it will be a costly system to operate and sustain.
The focus will remain on fixing problems... And fixing problems is where special interest and a lot of research money is involved. It is not profitable to alter someones diet and teach them ancient techniques for example to heal a mental illness... It is far more profitable (and easier for the patient to do many times) to simply take medication.
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