A Teaspoon of Medicine, A Dose of Reality (and a Lollipop)
Every time I worry about things, or fret about the future, one thing I'm always thankful for (and need to remind myself!) is that I grew up with good health care. No matter how poor we were when I was little, or how hopscotch my benefits have been as an adult, I had a great dentist and a very good doctor. That's something not everyone has benefitted from.
I know in the near future I'll have to find a new dentist and a new doctor, and I do wonder if I can find good ones. But what really bothers me, when I sit and think about it, is how many people in this country do not have adequate access to medical services, how many people do not have medical insurance, and how many people do not have doctors or dentists at all.
One of the things many politicians don't talk about is reforming health care. By "reform," I'm not talking about cutting the public health rolls in regard to Medicare or other similar programs, but actually overhauling the system. HMOs are not the answer, and many people know it. Once upon a time, individual doctors ran their own practices, and could assume a great deal of latitude in terms of who they treated and for how much, the fee scales, and how to make allowances and still protect their bottom line.
Now, it's all done by faceless people in centralized offices who work according to pre-determined charts, formulas, and the like. Some procedures are approved; others are not. Premiums get higher by the year; co-pays go up in tandem.
While I'm not necessarily in favor of providing FREE health care for everyone (I think it should be a progressive system, akin to taxes-- the more money you have, the more you should chip in), I do think there needs to be a massive change; if not universal health care ( a single-payer system), then a new way of accessing medicine than the system that we currently have now. I also think our leaders and politicians not only need to be talking about this, but constantly coming up with ideas of their own.
That's why I'm disappointed in Herr Gropenfuhrer, who is currently the governor of my home state. He has in the last couple of weeks indicated he would veto health-related bills. The first was a bill championed by State Senator Sheila Kuehl that would have provided universal health care.
Today, he vetoed an employer health care bill, advocated by State Senator Carole Migden, that would have required companies to either provide health benefits for their employees or pay into a state health fund. Both times, he claimed it'd be too expensive, and wouldn't solve our problems.
Ok, fair enough. Let's hear YOUR proposals then, Governor. Because I can't really respect someone who talks a good game, but doesn't walk the walk. The problem as I see it isn't so much as one of who pays what, or who *should* pay what. The problem I see right now is two-fold.
1) the system we have isn't working. More and more people are underinsured or uninsured, including children. More people are using emergency rooms for non-emergencies, which in turn comes back to all of us, in higher bills, premiums, and taxes. People are paying through the nose because of high co-pays on pills, and sneaking over the borders to Canada and Mexico, either in person or on-line, to make sure they have their medications. When you have problems like these, that indicates that it's *not working.* That means you don't veto bills; it means you start talking about solutions, and crafting compromises.
2) disease doesn't affect one person; it affects many. When bird flu eventually strikes, or TB makes a resurgence (and in recent years, there have been troubling indications that TB cases are on the rise again), it's going to be difficult to localize and contain the spread of disease. In this era of globalization and rapid transportation, a disease that once took months, if not years, to spread from one corner of the globe to another will now take weeks, if not days. The increase in drug-resistant strains of bacteria and viruses means we are going to have to stay steps ahead if we want to manage disease. It certainly isn't going to help if people do not have access to doctors, to vaccines, to preventative health care.
When an epidemic hits, it isn't going to matter if you're rich or poor; it *will* matter if you have medical and dental care, and it will matter if you have access to medicines and vaccines. For some illnesses though, we have gone for so long without major epidemics that if one should arise, we're in big trouble. When your co-worker comes to work sick, she doesn't have a choice-- she can't take days off because she needs that paycheck. When your employee comes to work sick, he comes in that way because he doesn't have benefits, or the "benefits" he has aren't helping him to stay healthy. It not only costs your office/business in terms of productivity and profits, it also exposes you to whatever disease is being spread. A common cold today could very well be an outbreak of tuberculosis or something similar down the road.
This is why I'm not crazy about denying immigrants, both legal and illegal, health services. There may be legitimate reasons (or not) for barring them from a lot of services and benefits, but when it comes to health, I don't think any of us should be playing games with bacteria and viruses that could be simple- or not. This is also why I think we need to set our politicians straight-- not just Schwarzenegger, but everyone, from county officials up the ladder to Smirk himself. We need to have a national conversation about health care, and we need to come up with solutions sooner than later. No lollipops for our pols until they can stop just long enough from vetoing solutions that others come up with, and start coming up with solutions of their own.
I know in the near future I'll have to find a new dentist and a new doctor, and I do wonder if I can find good ones. But what really bothers me, when I sit and think about it, is how many people in this country do not have adequate access to medical services, how many people do not have medical insurance, and how many people do not have doctors or dentists at all.
One of the things many politicians don't talk about is reforming health care. By "reform," I'm not talking about cutting the public health rolls in regard to Medicare or other similar programs, but actually overhauling the system. HMOs are not the answer, and many people know it. Once upon a time, individual doctors ran their own practices, and could assume a great deal of latitude in terms of who they treated and for how much, the fee scales, and how to make allowances and still protect their bottom line.
Now, it's all done by faceless people in centralized offices who work according to pre-determined charts, formulas, and the like. Some procedures are approved; others are not. Premiums get higher by the year; co-pays go up in tandem.
While I'm not necessarily in favor of providing FREE health care for everyone (I think it should be a progressive system, akin to taxes-- the more money you have, the more you should chip in), I do think there needs to be a massive change; if not universal health care ( a single-payer system), then a new way of accessing medicine than the system that we currently have now. I also think our leaders and politicians not only need to be talking about this, but constantly coming up with ideas of their own.
That's why I'm disappointed in Herr Gropenfuhrer, who is currently the governor of my home state. He has in the last couple of weeks indicated he would veto health-related bills. The first was a bill championed by State Senator Sheila Kuehl that would have provided universal health care.
Today, he vetoed an employer health care bill, advocated by State Senator Carole Migden, that would have required companies to either provide health benefits for their employees or pay into a state health fund. Both times, he claimed it'd be too expensive, and wouldn't solve our problems.
Ok, fair enough. Let's hear YOUR proposals then, Governor. Because I can't really respect someone who talks a good game, but doesn't walk the walk. The problem as I see it isn't so much as one of who pays what, or who *should* pay what. The problem I see right now is two-fold.
1) the system we have isn't working. More and more people are underinsured or uninsured, including children. More people are using emergency rooms for non-emergencies, which in turn comes back to all of us, in higher bills, premiums, and taxes. People are paying through the nose because of high co-pays on pills, and sneaking over the borders to Canada and Mexico, either in person or on-line, to make sure they have their medications. When you have problems like these, that indicates that it's *not working.* That means you don't veto bills; it means you start talking about solutions, and crafting compromises.
2) disease doesn't affect one person; it affects many. When bird flu eventually strikes, or TB makes a resurgence (and in recent years, there have been troubling indications that TB cases are on the rise again), it's going to be difficult to localize and contain the spread of disease. In this era of globalization and rapid transportation, a disease that once took months, if not years, to spread from one corner of the globe to another will now take weeks, if not days. The increase in drug-resistant strains of bacteria and viruses means we are going to have to stay steps ahead if we want to manage disease. It certainly isn't going to help if people do not have access to doctors, to vaccines, to preventative health care.
When an epidemic hits, it isn't going to matter if you're rich or poor; it *will* matter if you have medical and dental care, and it will matter if you have access to medicines and vaccines. For some illnesses though, we have gone for so long without major epidemics that if one should arise, we're in big trouble. When your co-worker comes to work sick, she doesn't have a choice-- she can't take days off because she needs that paycheck. When your employee comes to work sick, he comes in that way because he doesn't have benefits, or the "benefits" he has aren't helping him to stay healthy. It not only costs your office/business in terms of productivity and profits, it also exposes you to whatever disease is being spread. A common cold today could very well be an outbreak of tuberculosis or something similar down the road.
This is why I'm not crazy about denying immigrants, both legal and illegal, health services. There may be legitimate reasons (or not) for barring them from a lot of services and benefits, but when it comes to health, I don't think any of us should be playing games with bacteria and viruses that could be simple- or not. This is also why I think we need to set our politicians straight-- not just Schwarzenegger, but everyone, from county officials up the ladder to Smirk himself. We need to have a national conversation about health care, and we need to come up with solutions sooner than later. No lollipops for our pols until they can stop just long enough from vetoing solutions that others come up with, and start coming up with solutions of their own.
posted by Mr. Sandman | 11:03 PM
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