A lot of people on this site are concerned about affordable health care. Some have very real, very terrifying needs concerning their health care. I have watched as we have debated in public whether or not to have a one party pay system for health care. And of course, Louise and Harry, brought to you by the courtesy of insurance companies fanned the fear of having impersonal health care. And those ads killed the efforts by the Clinton administration to address health care. Somewhat akin to the unisex bathroom idea killing equal rights for women.
So what will be our design of choice for health care?
More on the flip.
Since then we have watched the pharm industry grip this nation’s purse strings with an iron grip! Abramoff and his indian tribes are a joke compared to the pharm lobbying. I live in fear of going to the doctor on some health issue and finding myself captive to some drug of this week’s choice. Doctors are inundated with propaganda from pharma and gifts as well. Somehow or other there is also a way for pharma to track prescriptions from docs, I think, and probably some minor kick back scheme. If nothing else, everyone knows that docs get all kinds of samples to let their patients try out. And we all have heard the argument that the high prices for drugs are the price we pay for R&D within that industry.
So how can we have reform without attending to those issues?
I propose that we drain the money making out of health care. We allow insurance companies to become the niche marketer. There are all kinds of areas for this to happen – cosmetic surgery, experimental techniques for various ailments, etc. While we let basic health care stand on its own as a single payer through the government. All drugs through that system are negotiated down to the rock bottom price. Drugs for the other areas can float to whatever the people (and insurance companies) can bear. Along with the single payer system we also support things like YMCA where exercise is a firm part of creating a healthy nation along with meditation, yoga and other forms of integrating body and mind and emotions and spirit. Within the basic system, I believe that acupuncture should be a basic part. It is better than surgery for a lot of ailments and can work with pain management better than some drugs. However it works we need to have real R&D and not just window dressing for health care needs. No R&D for basic health care should be funded by any medical or pharma group or affiliate or insurance group. This should be viewed as strictly consumer and health alone.
How do we define “basic health care”? I submit to you that it means life saving measures, check ups and some quality of life measures. The latter we would have to negotiate over time. Prosthetics, for example, are part of the latter and we would expect to get those, but motorized and computerized stuff might be part of the niche market. Fertility issues would be split as well – day to day care such as birth control, abortion and pregnancies would be part of basic (yes abortion as it is part of the management of health). While IVF and other extraordinary efforts would be part of the niche.
I submit to you that if we have true research into causes of disease free from corporate meddling, we might find some surprising answers to health care issues.
