Yes, mr. Obama, let us fix the Health Care System
President Obama in his weekly speech addressed the crisis in Healthcare
He said: ""Fixing what’s wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve - it’s a necessity we cannot postpone any longer".
He is right, it is a necessity. So, let's stop with the half-ass measures. Let's go all-out and do what most industrialized nations already do - offer some sort of public health system, which covers everyone and anyone in our country.
Let's stop offering the for-profit health care. Because as soon as a person, from who the current system can not squeeze out any profit, attempts to enter it for service he/she will get none. That's how it is right now. You either can afford it (personally or through the employer) or are left without it. And what do you think millions of people should do who are left without work and/or COBRA coverage? Where do they go? What do they do?
A few things we need to think about right now, in regards to our for-profit health care system:
1. The Jobless Rate has reached the highest level since September 1983. Even though it is not an all-encompassing measure, which does not report ALL the jobless or underemployed people, it is still very indicative that more and more people are losing their employer-provided health care benefits and/or COBRA. People, however, do not get any healthier. They just can't afford to see their doctors.
2. The number of people without any access to Medical Care was 47 Million prior to the Crisis. In conjunction with the unemployment rising and employers starting to drop their health benefits, this number is surely to rise. And I am not even talking about those "undercovered", meaning that they have no access to the particular doctors or services addressing their more pressing needs. I am sure, those terminally ill with cancer will extract no benefit from Podiatrist or Orthopedic access they do have.
3. The Health-Care costs in United States have risen dramatically over the last few years. Our health care costs were already the highest in the world. They have been getting bigger, slowly becoming inaccessible to millions upon millions of previously well covered people. "Americans paid $6,719 a person for doctors, medicines and hospital visits in 2006, up from $4,570 in 2000, according to a report released today by the World Health Organization in Geneva."
The U.S. has “the least efficient health care system in the world,” said Kevin Schulman, director of the health management program at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. “These costs keep growing despite the recession, and health care is going to shoot up as a percentage of our GDP even more. It’s just spooky.”
In closing, it is my personal opinion that health care providers' first and foremost responsibility must be the health of their patients, not profit. It is very sad that our health providers must spend energy, time, and resources ascertaining whether a patient can pay for the services, has coverage, and what services that coverage offers. They need to provide the health care service, instead. And the only way we can make sure of that is if every patients health care is paid for by the government. Countries accross the globe have realized it. Hopefully, so will we. Even if it takes a Crisis.
He said: ""Fixing what’s wrong with our health care system is no longer a luxury we hope to achieve - it’s a necessity we cannot postpone any longer".
He is right, it is a necessity. So, let's stop with the half-ass measures. Let's go all-out and do what most industrialized nations already do - offer some sort of public health system, which covers everyone and anyone in our country.
Let's stop offering the for-profit health care. Because as soon as a person, from who the current system can not squeeze out any profit, attempts to enter it for service he/she will get none. That's how it is right now. You either can afford it (personally or through the employer) or are left without it. And what do you think millions of people should do who are left without work and/or COBRA coverage? Where do they go? What do they do?
A few things we need to think about right now, in regards to our for-profit health care system:
1. The Jobless Rate has reached the highest level since September 1983. Even though it is not an all-encompassing measure, which does not report ALL the jobless or underemployed people, it is still very indicative that more and more people are losing their employer-provided health care benefits and/or COBRA. People, however, do not get any healthier. They just can't afford to see their doctors.
2. The number of people without any access to Medical Care was 47 Million prior to the Crisis. In conjunction with the unemployment rising and employers starting to drop their health benefits, this number is surely to rise. And I am not even talking about those "undercovered", meaning that they have no access to the particular doctors or services addressing their more pressing needs. I am sure, those terminally ill with cancer will extract no benefit from Podiatrist or Orthopedic access they do have.
3. The Health-Care costs in United States have risen dramatically over the last few years. Our health care costs were already the highest in the world. They have been getting bigger, slowly becoming inaccessible to millions upon millions of previously well covered people. "Americans paid $6,719 a person for doctors, medicines and hospital visits in 2006, up from $4,570 in 2000, according to a report released today by the World Health Organization in Geneva."
The U.S. has “the least efficient health care system in the world,” said Kevin Schulman, director of the health management program at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. “These costs keep growing despite the recession, and health care is going to shoot up as a percentage of our GDP even more. It’s just spooky.”
In closing, it is my personal opinion that health care providers' first and foremost responsibility must be the health of their patients, not profit. It is very sad that our health providers must spend energy, time, and resources ascertaining whether a patient can pay for the services, has coverage, and what services that coverage offers. They need to provide the health care service, instead. And the only way we can make sure of that is if every patients health care is paid for by the government. Countries accross the globe have realized it. Hopefully, so will we. Even if it takes a Crisis.