Health Care, the Doctor—Patient Relationship, and the Dollar Bill
Subjecting health care to the greed-driven whims of an health care marketplace is the root cause of much of our health care misery. That our system cannot achieve true success with the current economics is manifestly clear. Of course, the definition of success becomes the point to argue about.
If success is defined as dollar profit for the myriad of businesses (hospitals, drug companies, technology companies, home care businesses, nursing homes, insurance companies, doctors’ practices and others) that operate within our health care marketplace, then I stand corrected. Our system is the most successful in the entire world and will remain so. After all, it is currently a greater than 2 trillion dollar annual spending enterprise with bottm line dollar profit being the driving force.
If success is defined as clear and equal access to vital, comprehensive health care for everyone living in America in an affordable manner, then our health care system falls far short of success. To be sure, there is more than one reason for this, but a major fundamental flaw is that the dollar bill is the bottom line for health care, i.e., health care is viewed as and treated as a business commodity. Effective solutions for our health care miseries will evolve when we change the bottom line from the dollar bill to the occurrence of health care. Health care is the doctor—patient relationship. When the driving force becomes the occurrence of doctor—patient relationships in every community, when we become greedy about this reality and place the dollar bill in a subordinate, supportive position, we will achieve a profound success that no other country will ever achieve until the people in those countries follow our example.
Why is it that politicians remain blind and deaf toward these concepts and continue their largely-successful attempts to trap us in their rhetoric?
R. Garth Kirkwood MD
http://www.equalhealthcareforall.com
doctork@equalhealthcareforall.com
Red Alert, Red Alert
Be very careful when you consider what Doctor K writes (I haven’t read his posting). He advocates the American citizen help pay for health care for the Millions and Millions of ILLEGAL ALIENS on American Soil. Thus I just don’t even bother reading his points as I know from the start that they are tainted!
Red Alert, Red Alert
It is true he isn’t the brightest bulb in the pack Hugh, but, he is pointing out a serious problem. Unfortunately, his solution is worse than the problem and we could end up with systems like those in the U.K. that are looking for who to exclude from treatment to cut costs. We could end up with a System like that in Canada where you have to fly to India or come to the United States for treatment in a timely manner or we could end up with more deaths due to overcrowded operating rooms like some have where the lack of deep cleaning is causing staff infections to rise.
He is treating a symptom instead of the real problem, socialism. Unless we return to a Republic and founding principles all of our people will suffer not just lower health care but, lower standards of living in all aspects of their lives.
We have a very serious problem with health care because of socialism and federal government intrusion for decades into it and many other elements of our daily lives. Like all socialist nations, the more the federal government gets involved the worse it will be. Soon we will all have to fly to hospitals for profit in India for good care. They will be the only ones that can afford new equipment, deep cleaning, good follow up care, etc.
Without places to go to in the world where profits drive providers to buy the best equipment and provide the most talented doctors and best services we will all end up in the miserable systems socialist nation have that are all in decline.
Were they ever good? Of course. Like most social programs they are fully funded when they begin. People are paying all that is need to provide the best service. Then, as inflation eats at their buying power, paychecks, standards of living, cost of equipment, etc. they start looking for places to cut taxes. They “budget” the health care providers. The providers in turn cut spending on new equipment like the “Da Vinci robot” used for surgeries like the heart bypass I had.
That robot costs $1 million but, I didn’t have to have my chest split open and was ready to go home in two days after a heart bypass with so little discomfort I didn’t even need major pain medication. I was back to full power in few weeks by not having to have my chest split open.
I had the operation 2 days after a problem was detected in a stress test. No heart attack, no real visible symptoms, just a “preventive” operation to avoid a future problem and it was done in immediately. I went into the hospital from the testing facility, spent a day being prepped and programming the robot, and had surgery the next day.
Try getting that in Canada or the U.K. or France or other nationalized health care nations. But, we will become like them because we “have to.” You can’t keep a nation moving into socialism as we are without providing more and more government programs to cover what people can no longer provide for themselves.
As long as we are going to be a socialist nation, it is vital we have national health care. Each year as we move in this direction of socialism, we will have less and less buying power and each year more and more people will not be able to afford not only health care, but many other things as well.
We are about to elect either Hillary or Barack and it will be important to have national health care as socialism moves to center stage undermining all this nation used to stand for. Those who say that is why we should elect McCain are only opting for a slower death. As long as they elect Congressmen who support socialism, the nation will continue its slide into more and more dependence on government for everything.
Welcome to socialism, Hugh. Get used to it. It is unstoppable now.
I’m sick and tired of Doc Kirkwood and his incessant moaning and groaning. I’m not sure how he even types the articles with all the hand wringing.
Bill,
It is common for people with good intentions to seek ways to carry out those intentions. Think of all the politicians that are lawyers. They, in many cases became lawyers to help people and to fight crime and abuse and corruption.
Then they see that government has even more power than they do and can force entire states and nations to do things. They believe that if they can just get enough power through government, all the wrongs in the world will be corrected.
The problem is that they are basing utopia on what they believe is best and that may not be what all people believe. The elite also often focus on one problem and never see that all the problems everyone else is fight are intermingled with their problem they are focused on.
Then they battle for priorities. Each believe his battle should receive the highest priority. Finally, they compromise and say, “I’ll support your fight if you support mine.” Then they find there isn’t enough money in the entire world to cover all the problems and soon they are fighting over which budget to cut the most.
Good intentions are hard to argue with. If you point out a lack of money then you are cruel and oppressive because you want to spend money on roads and sewers and water systems and education instead of a national health care. Yet, if you do, then the people who say those other things should have a higher priority call you names too. That is why “more government” is not the solution. There is never going to be enough money to bail out irresponsible behavior of societies. The more you bail them out, the more irresponsible they become. The more you provide, the more they demand you provide.
Soon you see productive citizens who pay the bills, joining the ranks of those who take from them. Currently 52% of the people get some kind of funding from Government. What happens when it is 70% demanding the remaining 30% pay the bill? Do they really think that 30% will stay here or keep paying?
Bill
If you didn’t see the charts on where we have gone over the last several decades, here is a link to them
A Picture is worth a thousand words?
Check out the incarceration chart and how it compares to the other charts on inflation. Then notice how once we became a welfare society and had a “war on poverty” and inflation took off with all the government spending, what happened to our buying power. That is what government “help” does to a nation.
Can we all agree the heath care system is broken?
Not really.
It isn’t broken. It has flaws. Almost all systems in the world have flaws. There is not one nation in the world that is fair to all people in it. There will always be people left out. If you fix “one thing,” and make it “fair,” for all people you make something else more unfair.
That is why it is important to have strong family units, good charitable organizations that can help the truly needy.
Do you think an able body person who can work but chooses to “work the system,” deserves health care? Should people who contribute to society pay for people who can, but don’t contribute?
In one of Obama’s recent speeches he spoke of providing funds for all who wanted a college education but, added, you may have to work for it. You may have to join the peace corp or do community service.
While I would prefer all education be dealt with by state and local government, he is right to ask for something in return if society is going to provide you with something. No free lunch. Work for what you get.
The reason we do have some serious problems with health care is because of Federal government involvement for decades. It is a state and local issue and as long as we try to fix the real problems with the Federal government the system will never get fixed. It will only get worse.
Why would anyone want worse service than we already have is beyond me. Of course they say they want better service but they know that is impossible with our system of government or with a socialist system of government in the long run.
All we will have is a short term benefit and a long term decline. Fortunately, people who can afford to, will move to other countries with private health care or fly there for treatment, and so not everyone will suffer from what we will end up with.
And, once those who can afford to leave, do leave, that means those left will be the ones that can least afford to pay for the system.
It is like “tax the wealthy” and so they do. Then the wealthy aren’t wealthy anymore or they leave and then guess who is left to pay the bills. Run those “unfair” corporations off. Get rid of profits and end the accumulation of wealth by taxing it. Make everyone equal. Then who will pay the bills?
At that point health care will be back to those who can afford to hire a private doctor or go to another country for good service. The rest will wait and have to use overused operating rooms and risk infections and using old equipment because they can’t afford new equipment.
Going from bad to worse has become a very common trend in this nation.
Here’s the captain_menace health care plan.
1) Stop smoking
2) Stop eating processed foods
3) Walk around the block a couple of times a day
4) Abandon prescription medication.
5) Prepare an extra room or two so that you can put your parents up as they transition to their golden years.
— or the alternate point 5 for those without children —
5) Join a church or other community support structure, maybe they’ll help you as you become a burden to society.
6) Teach your children that they will be responsible for caring for you when you get old.
That’s it. Cost to taxpayer? $0.00
It’s coming anyway, might as well prepare for it ahead of time.
captain_menace,
Re your post #9:
Not bad, not bad at all!
Captain_Menace
This might apply to what you listed, which would actually require people to be personally responsible for their actions.
quote:
“The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.”
– Herbert Sebastien Agar
(1897-1980)
Source: The Time for Greatness, 1942
Liberty Quotes
There is a price for freedom. In a “free society,” fairness comes from individual efforts and from net working and from education and from helping each other and strong families and strong communities.
Jan Paul,
Is the Tree of Liberty Forum yours? I just went over there to send you an email, but didn’t see a way to do that? I have something I want to send you.
Hey Doc….
When will you give it up? Your socialist solutions have been rebuked over and over yet you persist. Hugh and Bill have it right. Give it a rest and stay truthful to the oath YOU took when you became a doctor….you remember that oath don’t you? I’m talking about the part that says you’ll treat people IRRESPECTIVE of their ability to pay.
Live up to your oath Doc and don’t ask the rest of us to live up to it for you.
Yes, Hugh, The Tree of Liberty Forum is mine. I am “Old Man,” on it.
“and don’t ask the rest of us to live up to it for you.”
SgtMac, that’s pure genius.
I think this would make a great Republican bumpersticker. It really sums up quite nicely the Republican ideal of individualism. You can make it alone, you don’t need community. Community is for chumps who don’t have cable TV.