You have shown me how little you know about how medical professional, also not mono-lithic, but the pressures we have from the public, and how little they know about medicine as well, often taking youtube crap and bringing it into our office like it’s gospel.
We’re addressing this in The Insurance Accountability and Transparency Act (IATA)
LOL, I am a healthcare provider. I experience everything you noted daily. But you don’t just make the system worse by “going with it.” You either do the right thing and educate your patients to make informed decisions within the broken system or you get out because you are part of the problem. We all have days when we roll our eyes because a patient comes in having Google doctored their symptoms, but that is way different than giving vaccines that are truly untested and potentially dangerous. Since when do we just take the CDC or FDA at their word? For me never because they weren’t the prescriber. And if the research isn’t correct or reads as fishy when you actually read it, then it doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s called common sense.
Agreed! What I am seeing, from my perspective, is that MDs are not only not allowed to think for themselves, but are instructed not to or lose their jobs and money. Look at the incentives for giving vax’s. And look at the lack of data, the hiding of data, regarding vax injuries. I have had MDs quote Statin drug research to me- and they clearly did not look past the abstract of their argument. After opening up the actual document, and showing them the methods, a light bulb would come on- it is like the entire current crop of MDs don’t ever look past the abstracts!
It will be difficult to get the (Federal) healthcare system to pay attention to small independent clinics or expand coverage/reimbursement. Expanding coverage/reimbursement, in aggregate, drives increases in healthcare costs, and actually is part of the problem. I will explain why here, and in other healthcare Policy proposals asking for expanded coverage/reimbursement. At the end of this post, I offer what I believe are better ways to start addressing the problems within healthcare.
In the last decade, the majority of doctors (now over 50%) have become employees of huge healthcare systems (i.e. a group of hospitals and other healthcare facilities). This obviously was not the case throughout the last half of the 20th century (1950-1999), but reimbursements mechanism (driven primarily by Medicaid/Medicare) favored facilities over physicians. So, not only are doctors decisions influence by insurance reimbursement, but their decisions are also directed by their employers – massive healthcare systems.
The biggest problem in healthcare today in the U.S. is skyrocketing costs. Lack of coverage/reimbursement is also a problem, but the lack of coverage is being caused by skyrocketing costs. The Government and Health insurance companies try to control cost by limiting coverage/reimbursement. Until you solve the cost problem, you will always have coverage/reimbursement problems. And with every type of heath care provider complaining about coverage/reimbursements, or the lack thereof, the line to request more money out of the health care system just keeps getting longer and longer.
What drives costs? A lot of people think it is pharma. And while this is true to a point, it misses the bigger point, and confuses the symptom with the cause. Drugs have been pushed as a cure, and as an alternative to hospitalization, with the idea that this would reduce healthcare costs. This is because drugs have been theorized to save so much money, save lives, and make people healthy. Well, if that is the case, then what ought we pay for these so-called miracles? Well, the sky can be the limit.
I don’t think the vast majority of folks understand that the biggest drivers of healthcare costs are lifestyle choices, not Pharma. While alcohol and substance abuse are factors, the biggest cost driver by far (up to 80% according to some studies) is obesity – overweight by eating too much, eating the wrong types of processed foods, and lack of exercise. And while some types of obesity are genetic, the vast majority is self-inflected. Mental health services and therapy can help, but a significant amount of people do not take responsibility for their own health, do not follow doctor’s advice, and want an easier and less discipline, but costlier, solutions. Yes, the aging of the baby boomer population is also a cost driver, but if we break that down, we again find that obesity in old age causes the lion’s share of Medicare expenses.
The lack of personal control over healthcare payment decisions is the second biggest driver of cost and creates frustration with the healthcare system, which has embraced the concept of managed, preventative, and integrated healthcare Again, this is sold to the public as a way to reduce and control cost, and practice preventive medicine. But if this is so effective, why are too many and so many people in poor health while healthcare costs are soaring through the roof? Too many people want too many healthcare visits paid for by insurance or the government. Take for example car insurance. While its costs are already increasing quickly, what do you think would happen if folks started demanding that Oil Changes be covered by car insurance? But we don’t make such requests because we pay for car insurance directly out of our own pockets. But Health care systems like third-party reimbursements because it is very profitable for them. And as long as Government and Big companies keep on paying for our healthcare (of lack thereof), we will be helpless to change this because the system follows the Golden Rule – “(s)he who has the gold makes the rules”
Now I don’t tout a radical overhaul of the system, or government cutting Medicare or Medicaid benefits. It has taken decades to get into this mess, and it would take decades to fix it. But there are steps we could take to move things in a better direction:
First, stop the Federal government from supporting unhealthy food production. There are a number of policy posts/proposals already on this site that address this issue, so I will not elaborate.
Second, change the IRS code so that individuals are allowed to deduct healthcare expenses to the same extent already allowed for by corporate-provided healthcare benefits. This is a complex tax code issue and I will not dive into all of the complications in this post. But I will point out that this change would begin to level the playing field and help empower “We the People” – not the government or corporations in the area of healthcare. For example, this author’s wishes to expand reimbursements for office visits. The IRS code change wouldn’t increase reimbursement, but it would make Patient’s payments/co-payments tax deductible. The IRS code change would also expand HSAs coverage limits and make them more useful in paying for more types of healthcare visits.
I can remember when there was not such a need for specialists because physicians saw their mission as helping sustain good health and assisting when there was a ‘bug’ or mishap. They kept simple medicines in their office for those who came down with an infection, etc. They had preventive measures on the ready through common sense and first aid. Costs were way down, health was way up.
One of these days we should discuss the role that Government plays in setting the stage for what ails medical practice today. Had it not been for the government doing the bidding of big pharma we wouldn’t have the mess we have today.