Can we talk?

Health Care Ranting Continues

      Health care reform, health reform, health insurance reform. All separate ideas, but the terms are intermingled daily in the media.

      Most people know the health care system in America is broken. Maybe it never really worked right for everyone, but it felt like it got worse for a lot of people. Now changes are being made, but a lot of us don't feel like the key issues are being addressed!

      We want the quality of health care to be the best--the best doctors, the best medicines, the best possible hospitals,etc.We don't want to have to travel to Canada for a treatment drug. We don't want to settle for second best, or sloppy work. We hate seeing hospital staffs cut back, so that we don't get what we need, or see our nurse friends worked to a frazzle because of reduced staffing. None of us want to see budgets cut so tight that hospitals and clinics have to suffer lack of cleanliness or amenities.

      We want to see quality health care available to everyone. People of lesser income have a right to heal as quickly as those of greater income. They need to see good doctors, too. They need medicine and various treatments, too. The retail clerk, who makes $8.00 an hour should have access to the same quality care as the person who makes $20 an hour or more. (By health care, I'm not including tummy tucks, breast implants, or eyelifts, although I have known an elderly woman who had to have an eyelift when the sagging limited her eyesight.)

      We do want doctors to be able to pay their insurance fees, their office rent, pay off student loans, and support their families. We don't necessarily want to buy them luxury vehicles or cruises every year. We want them to feel rewarded enough to keep trying to do a good job, year after year. We trust that most doctors are in the work because they genuinely want to alleviate human suffering, but regret there are so many willing to commit fraud to make a profit.

        We'd like to think that in times of epidemic or disaster that relief would be there for everyone. We are torn about some issues, like smoking, drugs, alcoholism. Yet, we cannot say to withhold treatment for the elderly or indigent with COPD, who smoked for 30 years! We can't deny medical help for the prisoner, the retarded or those in comas.

      We want to be sure that if something happens to us that we won't be denied help because we don't have enough insurance or the right kind of insurance. Take care of us first, then worry about getting paid.We don't want to be sent home early, or pass up necessary tests or procedures because our insurance dictates otherwise.

    It's very complicated. Our congressmen are no more educated or aware of the issues than the man on the street. Medical people don't have the answer either. Can we find assurance of medical care, or must we accept the idea that maybe we won't have it when we need it?