Sorry to keep blogging today, but it's cold and snowy out and the girls are napping and DH is down at the hospital. I could spend this time scaling Mt. Laundry, but wasting time online is so much more fun.
A few weeks ago I gave certain of my family members an incredibly incoherent recommendation of a PBS documentary I had seen last summer:
"It's about health care in other first world countries," I told them. "Five or six.... I don't remember which ones. The UK for sure, and maybe Germany. And one other -- maybe Austria? Switzerland? No, Sweden. Maybe? I don't know. Plus some in Asia. I don't really remember any of the details. Some weren't socialist at all. Probably some were. One of them had lots of naysayers because they'd been so capitalist about medicine for so long, but now everybody loves it. I don't know which country that was, though, or exactly how they do it now. It's been a long time. But it was super interesting, so there you go. You should watch it. I think I still have it DVRed at my house. Maybe it's been deleted by now. Hmmmm."
Yes, I'm helpful. I know.
Anyway, if anybody is interested in watching it after my rousing review (apparently I should watch it again, and pay attention this time!), the program is Frontline: Sick Around the World. If you don't want to spend an hour watching the documentary, the website has a basic overview of how each country operates and the pros and cons of each system. None is perfect, but there are certainly some ideas the US could take in the reform of our own system.
Obviously I'm not educated enough about this topic to spout off any proposals, but I do have some very generalized thoughts:
Back in the day, the idea that the government might control any aspect of health care scared me to death; I didn't want the same people who ran the DMV (no offense, DMV employees) making decisions about which doctor I could see or what medicine I should take. That's not a realistic or fair characterization, obviously, but it was that gut-level distaste for government bureaucracy that colored my position.
Apparently I've grown more liberal in my old age.
These days -- and perhaps my being married to a doctor has led me here, or perhaps I would have come to these conclusions either way -- I think it's disgusting that a country so rich in resources and trained medical personnel, a country founded on such beautiful ideals, leaves so many of its citizens un / under cared for. What good does it do to declare that all human beings have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness if the life part means nothing more than breathing in and out?
I believe that in 100 years or so, when universal health coverage is a long concluded fact, we'll look back and wonder why we didn't do it sooner. Universal health care will seem as obvious a civic obligation as, say, the universal right to public education. And, as with public education, though it probably won't be administered perfectly in every city or every region, it will certainly be better than the nothing that so many people have right now.
I am not a policy wonk (though I really like the word!); I have no idea what would be the best way to implement a new system of health care in our country. But I do believe that serious reform -- including some level of government oversight, if only to ensure that everyone has insurance coverage and access to care -- is necessary.
I guess we'll see what happens.
~RCH~
6 years ago
12 comments:
I totally agree with the hold hands and pretend economy plan. That says something about my views doesn't it. On the universal healthcare, I live with military healthcare and I can tell you for a fact that the government does a much better job of distroying things than making them work. As time goes on things have changed, but nothing seems to improve and does continue to get worse month after month, year after year.
But isn't that true of a lot of people's health care? I know our coverage was best 7 or 8 years ago when I was a secretary; the plan we have now that DH is an employed physician (shouldn't it be better with a more "prestigious" job?) is CRAP. I think it's all tied into the tanking economy, so it must be getting worse for a lot of people no matter who their provider....
Blarg. I don't know. :-P
I like your little profile pic, btw! You're looking sassy! :-)
Sassy, I like that.
I don't think government is the answer. Not sure what is, but the government seems to do a better job of messing things up instead of fixing them.
Besides I believe there would be too many special interest groups who would somehow get their hands in the pot and it wouldn't be purely about healthcare anymore.
Not sure how to explain it because I suck at debates and things of this nature.
We do not necessarily need government run health care, we need a change in policy so insurance companies, hospitals and doctors play fairly.
In the documentary, the Swiss had a system closely resembling ours. Their citizens and insurance companies feared the change in policy. Years following the overhaul in policy which changed things up to cover every citizen, nobody is looking back.
I believe health care should be a right, not a privilege or a 'responsibility'. I don't understand why people argue against that. Setting political views aside, is there a real reason why people believe otherwise?
No plan is perfect, but what we have now is awfully skewed. It allows too many people to slip through the cracks.
Many powerful corporations are making so much money under the current system. I believe they are fighting hard to keep the status quo or bend the rules in their favor. I mean, why is it legal for insurance companies to deny sick people coverage? Why do your premiums sky rocket if you get cancer? Isn't that the whole point of insurance? Who's making the rules here?
Listen to what the current presidential candidates are proposing - The Diane Rehm Show - McCain and Obama on Healthcare Reform.
I know what you mean...how would you make it work? Healthcare in the UK was free, but it was for the most part you get what you pay for. It was horrible.
You'd go in for a health problem and instead of taking vitals and looking at the problem so you wouldn't keep coming back with new or worse symptoms, they'd sit across from you at their desk, ask you what you thought was wrong and write you a prescription. It was RIDICULOUS. I went in one time with a severely sore throat and they didn't even look at my throat! I ended up with an antibiotic that just made things worse. And don't even get me started on the jerk of a doctor that did my first ultrasound when I was pregnant.
However, I do know that healthcare in Canada is quite good and it's free there, too. I guess it all depends on who they've got in office. They must be electing the right people up there.
So what do you do? Do you let healthcare get more and more expensive to the point where people have to choose between not getting help or losing everything they own? Or not let sick people have it at all, which I find despicable and pointless.
I do think that our medical care is the best in the world~especially after living with it in the UK. But only if you can afford it. That's the thing we need to fix.
ARRGH! It all makes me so angry!
On a nicer note, I'm so excited that you wrote tons of blogs! I was beginning to wonder what was going on up in your neck of the woods.
Yay for lively discussion!
I'm with you, Pete: I believe health care should be a right. Is my comparison to public education a reasonable one? Wouldn't we be appalled at a first world country who refused to at least minimally educate ALL of its citizens?
"Nope, sorry, your kids can't learn to read because you're self employed / a farmer / you work hard at three jobs to make ends meet but none of them has benefits / whatever."
While not originally provided for by the founding fathers, we've recognized public education as a basic and unquestioned right since the mid 19th century. I think it's time that health care gained that same status.
The how of it still stumps me. I don't think government involvement is the inevitable boogeyman that many people do -- though obviously it has to be the right kind of involvement. Maybe that's taking over the system (heresy! communism!) or maybe it's simply overseeing and ensuring industry reforms. I don't have a concrete opinion on that.
I just know that we need to do something.
Beckle, I'm glad you chimed in! You're one of the few people I know with a lot of experience in another system so I hoped you'd share. And now we need to hear from K2, who has lots of experience in our system! I'm sure she has a some valuable insight, too. :-)
I also look forward to a point / counter-point from Michael and Jen. :-D
I'm no policy wonk either, but I agree with your comparison to public education...it won't be perfect, and maybe even a little bit of the quality will be sacrificed (but not necessarily), but something has got to give. Really, can we even call ourselves a free democracy when we deny a large (and growing ever larger) portion of our citizens the basic right of health care?
I think Obama's proposal is a reasonable transition from our current totally messed up system to one that will hopefully become a successful universal system. I didn't even hate Romney's proposal and the system he set up in Mass. He was at least working towards fixing some of the problems of our current system. Even getting rid of the myriad of administrative inefficiencies of our current system experts say would save millions upon millions of dollars which could potentially provide health care to the uninsured.
Let me tell you, dealing with my insurance company since my son Noe's autism diagnosis....it's been a real treat. We supposedly have one of the better plans around. They (like most every other plan) won't pay for any claims for his autism. We have only gotten them to pay for part of his speech therapy by removing the autism codes from his invoices. Even therapies that have been proven over and over as effective using scientific methods, if they are directly used to combat his autism, they will be denied.
I literally spend hours each month on the phone, faxing claims that I know will get lost in the system (that's their game...they try and wear you down until you just give up), etc. etc. If we lived in Canada, all of his services would be paid for. Don't think I haven't thought of moving there. What would we do for Noe if we lost our job? I can't even go there.
So that's my health care rant...
I did mean to say in mine that there was one good thing about free health care...you never had to worry about how you were going to pay for it once you got the problem solved. And that there was the odd doctor or nurse that was willing to go the extra mile on occasion and do a great job. The maternity nurses were fabulous.
My FIL has suffered with complications from a stroke he had about 20 years ago and, while he's probably not had the 5 billion tests they'd likely run here, they're not losing their house because of an unfortunate health complication. I can't imagine what a great comfort that would be to millions of people if something like that happened here.
And Jen, I know what you mean! I just ended 5 months of phone tag with the medicaid folks who just couldn't seem to get any information from my pediatrician even though they'd sent it at least 7 times. It's so frustrating. I can't even begin to imagine what you're going through.
RCH, I think the school analogy hit it right on the head.
Let's all move to Canada! ;)
To me this is a touchy subject. I would agree that something has to be done but like RCH the how is what stumps me. I am not very good at debating either but I do know what I don't like.
I currently have Kaiser Permanente and this is what I imagine government health care to be like. Case in point: Two years ago I went in with pain in my side which turned out to be gall bladder disease requiring surgical removal. Instead of just going straight to a test to find out if my gall bladder was working or not I got to suffer for four months while we did blood work and ultrasounds. It was ridiculous. In my opinon, my primary physician is Ok but not great. They are more interseted in making or saving a buck for Kaiser than taking care of their patients. On the upside my medication doesn't cost that much but I wish I could go to Wal-mart and get generics for $4 but I can't..because its Kaiser. I also never see a bill which is nice.
No one should have to choose between their medicine and their food so I agree that something needs to be done. But if we look at the government's track record on Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare I am frightened by their wanting to tell me what to do in terms of my healt care. Its a very emotional issue but I hope that whatever happens the best will be decided for all groups invovled. Even though I am not currently "sick" I could be and thank goodness for insurance or I wouldn't be here.
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