The PR for this health care reform initiative has been a complete failure. The level of debate covered by the media over the last few months has been astoundingly unrelated to the real issues facing our country. The fact is that our current system of health care is inefficient, overly expensive, and unreliable. The flaws in the system are many. In my opinion, we, as Americans, should be embarrassed that we are not world leaders in terms of providing excellent care for our citizens. In general, this should not be a politically polarizing issue. Anyone who argues that the current system does not need improvement is either uninformed or uninterested in the well being of his/her fellow countrymen. Who pays for it is another issue. However, when put into perspective, 100 billion a year is not that much money. How much have the wars cost? (approx 900 billion) Not only in dollars, but lives. How much did the TARP cost? Or the Bush stimulus? (150 billion)
The Obama administration and dems backing reform should have approached this issue from a completely different angle. They should have started with a massive public awareness campaign highlighting why 45 million without insurance is such a huge problem. The number is so staggeringly high that just repeating it has completely lost effect. Real life examples are more effective than numbers. As a hospital based physician who cares for anyone who walks through the ER, I see the problems with the system everyday. I saw a patient recently who lost their insurance when they lost their job. She was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia and kidney failure. When it came time for discharge I was unable to arrange adequate follow up with outpatient doctors and outpatient tests because she could not afford it. Her only option was essentially to wait in line at the county hospital clinic. On top of the poorly arranged follow up, I'm guessing that the hospital bill was in the neighborhood of $30,000. I read in the American Journal of Medicine today that up to 1/3 of Americans filing for bankruptcy do so as a result of health care bills. Such examples are endless and many are far more dramatic. Uninsured people are literally choosing to stay home and die of treatable illnesses because they do not want to burden their families with the costs.
This article in the New England Journal of Medicine, is one of the better takes I've read regarding health care reform. It basically states that the current plan does not go nearly far enough to cut unnecessary costs and expand the primary care base that is lacking in today's system. The problem with the plan proposed in the article is that the political push back on such a plan would be insurmountable. Just look that chaos, lies, and anger that have been stirred up with a proposal that merely provides people with a public option for health insurance. The way people have reacted would make you think the government is creating death panels, scrapping medicare, and tightening restrictions on pharma companies. All of these accusations are clearly untrue. Palin invented death panels, medicare isn't going anywhere, and pharma companies are going to continue doing what they do best, making drugs and selling them for extraordinary profit.
In summary, my point is that this debate should not be about whether or not we need health care reform. It should be about how we can provide adequate health care to all American citizens. Single payer, multiple payers, whatever it may be, we should be the world leaders when it comes to providing health care.
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