Healthcare system?
We prescribe and we operate as much as we can. That is our healthcare “system.” The more diseases individual doctors can diagnose or invent, the more they make from the insurance companies that pay your bills. In reality, our system wasn’t designed to keep you well; it was designed to profit off your sickness.
The above quote is troubling on so many levels. The more I dig into how our system works, the more I truly believe that it is greed that is driving the rising costs. Doctors who see way too many patients and don’t spend nearly enough time with them to find out what is truly wrong and think through solutions. Provider groups who are continually haggling over their contracts with insurance companies, forcing the cost to go up because they insist on earning more each year, like 15% more, not just an inflationary raise. For profit insurance companies looking to make the most money they can each year. And it is because of this system that I have taken the reins of my health care, I see mostly alternative providers (they take time to talk and listen), I have a high deductible plan from my employer that enables me to use my HSA money (some of which they contribute, some I contribute) to see who I choose, to learn more about what is best for me. Above all, I educate myself and I choose.
People who can’t afford to choose as I do are left with the system discussed above. A system that does not always recognize that people are inside the system, suffering and longing for help. At times I get angry, at other times I am just saddened by what I see. And how do we fix such a system? I wish people would stop fighting and actually really look into that part of the problem. Because this isn’t about a political party, this is about people’s right to receive care, become healthy, and be treated with dignity in the process.