We all wonder how the health care system has reached what some refer to as a crisis stage. Let’s try to take some of the emotion out of the debate by briefly examining how health care in this country emerged and how that has formed our thinking and culture about health care.
The simple fact is that there was little for doctors to offer and therefore virtually nothing to drive health care spending. There was no such thing as health insurance and certainly not health insurance paid by an employer. Except for the very destitute who were lucky to find their way into a charity hospital, health care costs were the responsibility of the individual.
What does health care insurance have to do with health care costs? Its impact on health care costs has been, and remains to this day, absolutely enormous. Money, as a result of the availability of billions of dollars from health insurance pools, encouraged an innovative America to increase medical research efforts. In addition funding became available for expanded veterans health care benefits.
Doctor’s offer and most of us demand and get access to the latest available health care technology in the form of pharmaceuticals, medical devices, diagnostic tools and surgical procedures. We need to spend some effort in understanding health care and sorting out how we think about it. Properly armed we can more intelligently determine whether certain health care proposals might solve or worsen some of these problems.
There is great waste in health care today, estimated at perhaps a third of an over 2 trillion dollar health care spend annually. A brief review of how Republicans and more conservative individuals think about health care reform. I believe they would agree that costs must come under control and that more, not fewer Americans should have access to health care regardless of their ability to pay.
There are a number of ideas with regard to driving more competition among health insurance companies and health care providers (doctors and hospitals) so that the consumer would begin to drive cost down by the choices we make. Primarily the problem is that health care choices are difficult even for those who understand it and are connected.
Health care responsibility is the process is taking control of your health care. The health care system has many problems, but great health care can be obtained if you are a smart health care consumer. Having a system to organize and communicate your health information will significantly improve health care.
The World Health Organization reports that the United States has the 37th best health care system in the world. America’s health care system is fraught with problems and its patient satisfaction is rated among the worst in the world. Even though America’s health care system is envied by the world, it ranks at the bottom of many health care indicators.
You need to take responsibility for your health care. Health care responsibility includes understanding your health and disease states, organizing your health information and communicating it with the system.