There are just too many distractions in the news these days but we must get back to the healthcare debate because it could affect all our lives and therefore we may as well learn all we can about what is good and what is bad about the proposed healthcare reform options.
I have been making suggestions about how to improve our healthcare system for years now but come September, Congress will actually start voting on a plan so we don’t have much time to discuss the options.
I will be talking about just one healthcare topic per blog since there is no unified plan on the table yet.
I have seen “attack ads” on TV suggesting that Democrats are trying to propose a plan where our government will be able to tell YOUR doctor what he MUST do about your health and therefore taking the treatment decisions out of the hands of your doctor and you – WRONG! The ad is disingenuous and misleading.
Not all doctors are like Dr. Kildare, Dr. Marcus Welby or Ben Casey; the smart, caring doctors portrayed on TV episodes in our past. Some are actually not so smart and don’t really care that much about our health although most do.
I was at a medical convention in Chicago a few weeks back and met up with some old friends who I discovered had suffered heart attacks since I last saw them. Since we are all in the medical field, I wondered why they didn’t take steps that tend to prevent heart attacks or at least give ample warning of the possibility of an imminent heart attack.
Well, they trusted in their doctors to take all the medical steps (procedures) necessary to keep them healthy and out of harms way and that was their NEARLY FATAL mistake. I have a fine personal doctor that knows his stuff but I come prepared for my exams with intelligent, informed questions and with knowledge of where my test results should be and what to do if they are not in the normal range. I admit, my situation is rare because I have been in the medical field for over 30 years but I feel the average person can and should be more aware about their health.
So I realize that even smart, informed people can drop their guard as to their own health when they feel a professional is in charge of their health but that attitude IS THE PROBLEM!
What Congress is proposing is to create a “FEDERAL COUNCIL ON COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH” which will gather years of medical data to show what works and what does not work in specific medical situations / conditions and make RECOMMENDATIONS to the medical community based on results of the research study.
This is not a threatening proposal, mandating what a doctor should or should not do but basically an informed and documented recommendation as to what will work and what probably will not in a given situation. This has been tried before but obviously to no avail. I suggest the council make MINIMUM RECOMMENDATIONS on how to handle specific conditions MANDATORY. I am talking about MINIMUM; the least a doctor SHOULD do – not limiting to what a doctor wants to do.
The problem I see in this country is that doctors are not doing what needs to be done to keep this nation healthy. The fact that my friends suffered heart attacks brought this to light. None of them had “stress tests” and they were over 60 years old; that is just negligence on their doctor’s parts. A stress test would have revealed a potential blockage forming leading to preventive procedures that could have prevented a potentially lethal heart attack. This is only the tip of the iceberg; there are many procedures / actions that taken early on would prevent serious illness BUT they are NOT being done – at least uniformly throughout the nation.
YES, setting up and following mandated minimum procedures would cost a lot but in the near future, billions would be saved by delivering a healthier nation.
Don’t let anybody fool you; doctors need guidelines just like anybody else and the public needs to be educated about their own health and what needs to be done by them and their doctors to keep them healthy. Thinking a doctor is a god is just plain stupid and dangerous and thinking that mandating a minimum standard in healthcare is unnecessary government interference is also stupid and dangerous. This is not the same as your insurance company denying payment for a procedure you or your doctor feel is necessary; this is establishing what MUST be done minimally by your doctor in specific medical situations – kapish?
I have been making suggestions about how to improve our healthcare system for years now but come September, Congress will actually start voting on a plan so we don’t have much time to discuss the options.
I will be talking about just one healthcare topic per blog since there is no unified plan on the table yet.
I have seen “attack ads” on TV suggesting that Democrats are trying to propose a plan where our government will be able to tell YOUR doctor what he MUST do about your health and therefore taking the treatment decisions out of the hands of your doctor and you – WRONG! The ad is disingenuous and misleading.
Not all doctors are like Dr. Kildare, Dr. Marcus Welby or Ben Casey; the smart, caring doctors portrayed on TV episodes in our past. Some are actually not so smart and don’t really care that much about our health although most do.
I was at a medical convention in Chicago a few weeks back and met up with some old friends who I discovered had suffered heart attacks since I last saw them. Since we are all in the medical field, I wondered why they didn’t take steps that tend to prevent heart attacks or at least give ample warning of the possibility of an imminent heart attack.
Well, they trusted in their doctors to take all the medical steps (procedures) necessary to keep them healthy and out of harms way and that was their NEARLY FATAL mistake. I have a fine personal doctor that knows his stuff but I come prepared for my exams with intelligent, informed questions and with knowledge of where my test results should be and what to do if they are not in the normal range. I admit, my situation is rare because I have been in the medical field for over 30 years but I feel the average person can and should be more aware about their health.
So I realize that even smart, informed people can drop their guard as to their own health when they feel a professional is in charge of their health but that attitude IS THE PROBLEM!
What Congress is proposing is to create a “FEDERAL COUNCIL ON COMPARATIVE EFFECTIVENESS RESEARCH” which will gather years of medical data to show what works and what does not work in specific medical situations / conditions and make RECOMMENDATIONS to the medical community based on results of the research study.
This is not a threatening proposal, mandating what a doctor should or should not do but basically an informed and documented recommendation as to what will work and what probably will not in a given situation. This has been tried before but obviously to no avail. I suggest the council make MINIMUM RECOMMENDATIONS on how to handle specific conditions MANDATORY. I am talking about MINIMUM; the least a doctor SHOULD do – not limiting to what a doctor wants to do.
The problem I see in this country is that doctors are not doing what needs to be done to keep this nation healthy. The fact that my friends suffered heart attacks brought this to light. None of them had “stress tests” and they were over 60 years old; that is just negligence on their doctor’s parts. A stress test would have revealed a potential blockage forming leading to preventive procedures that could have prevented a potentially lethal heart attack. This is only the tip of the iceberg; there are many procedures / actions that taken early on would prevent serious illness BUT they are NOT being done – at least uniformly throughout the nation.
YES, setting up and following mandated minimum procedures would cost a lot but in the near future, billions would be saved by delivering a healthier nation.
Don’t let anybody fool you; doctors need guidelines just like anybody else and the public needs to be educated about their own health and what needs to be done by them and their doctors to keep them healthy. Thinking a doctor is a god is just plain stupid and dangerous and thinking that mandating a minimum standard in healthcare is unnecessary government interference is also stupid and dangerous. This is not the same as your insurance company denying payment for a procedure you or your doctor feel is necessary; this is establishing what MUST be done minimally by your doctor in specific medical situations – kapish?
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