This link was forwarded to me today from the Texas Medical Association - they want to hear from patients about how we feel about reforming our so-called health care system:
Me & My Doctor, We Know Best
Doctors Want To Hear From You
Please take a few minutes to fill out the form below. Your comments are important and will help to improve the health care system.
Below the fold is the video of TMA's 'House Call' in Austin last night and the questions posed and how I answered them.
What is the one thing you like most about our health care system?
I have outstanding doctors and I have good relationships with them - I credit THEM and not the so-called 'system' for that excellence.
'The system' unfortunately, is designed to benefit insurance executives for rationing care rather than compensating physicians for their training and expertise and for the health they maintain or restore for their patients.
What one thing concerns you most about today’s health care system?
The insurance system we have in this country is motivated by Wall Street which responds to the direction of the percentage of 'medical loss' incurred by each insurance company... that rate goes up a fraction of a percent and stock prices plummet. Therefore, insurance executives are motivated by declining care to keep the medical loss ratios low. The concept of recissions is quite disgusting - cancer patients being kicked out of their plans because they did not disclose acne treatment when they were teens, for instance... it's inhumane. The system is motivated by greed as opposed to individuals getting the care they need to lead productive lives, if possible.
I want access to HEALTH CARE. Health INSURANCE DOES NOT ADD ANYTHING TO OUR 'SYSTEM' OF CARE - it only creates dollars wasted in advertising and bureacracy to deny care. Other first world nations provide far better health outcomes for their citizens with far less expense. Give the money to the health care PROVIDERS, not insurance companies.
In my own case with my Medicare Advantage insurance, there is no check or balance with what my insurance company can do to deny me care - they deny me care, and they flaunt the grievance process by refusing to send my file on for an independent review required by their contract with CMS. My only alternative is to get an attorney - without monetary damages established in the contract for their not upholding it, I am unlikely to get the help I need to cover the healthcare for which I am supposed to be covered.
What do you want most from health system reform?
Fairness and access to necessary healthcare for everyone. some of the European systems of universal coverage produce outstanding results where doctors are compensated well and patients get the care they need without fear it will bankrupt them.
I'm so tired of the argument that anyone can get care at an emergency room. Sure, if someone is about to die, they can - and they'll come out of there with a bill they may not be able to afford for the rest of their lifetime.
Emergency rooms are not places to get treated for chronic life conditions like diabetes or to be monitored for bloodthinners (INR) if one has an artificial heart valve, or God forbid one has cancer. For those patients who are uninsured, there is no safety net - those patients die a slow death in fear of losing everything before they die.
The money CURRENTLY paid into the health care system could go toward providing care for the 48 million Americans who are uninsured and correct the unfortunate underinsurance many Americans only discover they have when a catastropic situation arises.
Money should go toward health CARE not insurance.
Right now, health care is rationed by ability to pay. Many Americans are self-righteous about this: I've got mine, screw you - if you can't afford health care, there must be something wrong with you.
Well, yes, something IS wrong with a great number of people - many people who can't afford health care are too sick to work. Health issues are the cause of over 50% of all bankruptcies in the United States.
What do you not want to see happen with health system reform?
For things to stay the way they are.
The only group that universally does well under the current system is insurance executives and shareholders.
Many others get the care they need as long as that care isn't too expensive. If it's really expensive care someone needs, then individuals and businesses can lose their access to insurance and affordable care in the current system through recissions and wild increases in premiums.
Twenty-two thousand people die annually in the richest country in the world because they cannot afford access to health care. Seems pretty shameful. I hope that we as a nation correct this travesty since we claim ourselves to be a moral people.
Care to provide your own answers? Here's the link.