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Doctor's Orders: Health Coverage for Everyone
An agenda that puts people first: Health Care
You wouldn't know it from the candidates' debates or reports on the major television networks, but a majority of Americans favor a government-run health insurance system similar to Canada's.
Those lining up to support single-payer health care include medical professionals, business people, and many Republicans. Dr. Rocky White has been all of those things.
White is a former Republican, from a conservative, evangelical background, who got interested in health care reform nine years ago when his own medical practice slipped into the red. His research into the health care system led him to conclude that the problem wasn't just in his practice- the health care system itself is broken, and a single-payer program is the most efficient way to fix it.
Under the single-payer system, doctors' offices and hospitals remain private for-profit or non-profit institutions. But the federal government covers the bills for patient services, with funds coming from taxes. The patient gets the health care they need. Paperwork and billing are kept to a minimum. Employers no longer have the difficult task of choosing, administering, and paying for health insurance for employees. Everyone is covered.
The current setup is as complicated as single-payer is simple. Today, the discerning consumer must wade through a complex system of pre-existing condition exemptions, co-pays, and deductibles-if they have coverage at all. Arguments over billing among doctors' offices, insurance companies, patients, and their lawyers eat up millions of dollars. An estimated $25 out of each $100 spent goes to paperwork, profits, and executive pay and bonuses. And disagreement over medical coverage is one of the most common sources of labor disputes for employers who have seen insurance premiums double since 2000.
With these inflated costs, it's little wonder that in 2006, the last year for which government figures are available, 47 million Americans had no insurance at all, including 8.7 million children, or that 68 percent of bankruptcies in the U.S. come as a direct result of medical expenses among people who do have insurance.
When White learned about Physicians for a National Health Program and their plan for a single-payer health care system, he saw it was similar to his own idea and he joined their effort.Other medical professionals have had a similar reaction. The American College of Physicians-the largest organization of medical specialists in the country-endorses single-payer health care as does the California Nurses Association, the largest organization of registered nurses.
And so do 55 percent of Americans, according to a CBS News poll conducted in September. In another poll, 64 percent said they would be willing to pay higher taxes for a national health care insurance program.
In Congress, HR 676, the "Medicare for All" bill introduced by Representative John Conyers, Jr. of Michigan, currently has 90 co-sponsors-more than any other health care reform proposal-and the endorsement of the U.S. Conference of Mayors.
Republicans for Single-Payer Support for single-payer health care is not just strong among progressives. George Swan, for instance, is a health care administrator, self-described "Purple Republican," and a founder of Republicans for Single Payer.
"It's about being American and doing what's right," Swan says. "What's right is not paying a 30 percent premium to the insurance system and receiving sub-standard health care."
Business owners are also supporting single-payer health care. For 25 years, Jack Lohman owned a company that provided cardiac monitoring services to hospitals. Today, he's a co-founder of the Business Coalition for Single Payer. A "lifelong Republican," Lohman argues that conservatives should support single-payer because it's pro-business.
"For the same 16 percent of GDP that we are spending on health care in the U.S.," he says, "we could provide first-class health care to 100 percent of the people." And single-payer would "get health care off the backs of corporations so they can be more competitive with products made overseas."
John Arensmeyer spent 12 years running an e-commerce company with 35 employees. Then he founded the Small Business Majority to advocate for the interests of small businesses, particularly on health care issues. Sharp rises in health care costs for small businesses are hurting their ability to survive, Arensmeyer says. "It's antithetical to what we're all about as a country, which is to allow people the freedom to go out and start new enterprises."
Small business has often been portrayed as opposing health care reform, but SBM's research shows that small businesses are interested in being part of the solution-even if it means paying higher taxes.
Walter Maher, former vice-president of public policy at the DaimlerChrysler Corporation, sees the problems in similar ways, although he looks at health care costs through the lens of large corporate employers.
General Motors, he says, is paying people to leave their jobs so they can hire replacements at 50 cents on the dollar with reduced health benefits. "It's sad," he says. "You have a giant albatross around your neck because you choose to provide a good standard of living for your employees."
Money in Politics If the current system is so unpopular among medical professional, patients, and business owners, what's keeping it in place? Most advocates for single-payer agree that money in politics is the greatest obstacle to change. During the 2006 election cycle, the health care industry spent $99.7 million on campaign contributions. Lobbying on health care issues topped $446 million in 2007.
For Jack Lohman, that's the crux of the problem. "Both McCain's and Obama's plans for health care are lousy," he says. "Although both claim they're not taking lobbyist money, somehow this money is getting through. They are each supporting health care that keeps the insurance industry involved."
And all that money can buy a lot of misinformation and scaremongering. Rocky White says he finds that people get interested in the single-payer approach if they understand what's actually being proposed: "When people realize that all that it is," he says, "is a publicly owned insurance company, all of a sudden business people start to lose that fear that ‘Oh my God, we're going to become the Soviet Union.' Even Republicans say, ‘This really makes a lot of sense.'"
While White would like to see reform happen on a national level, he believes it's more realistic to work at the state level for now. And for him, that means Colorado. White sits on the board of Health Care for All Colorado, a nonprofit, volunteer-run group with 250 members that includes Democrats, Republicans, physicians, business people, college professors, and economists. And he is running for a Democratic seat in the state legislature to add "the voice of medicine" to the debate.
"Any time a state has studied it, they find that single-payer is the most cost-effective and covers everyone," White says. His proposal for a single-payer system in Colorado is being studied by a blue ribbon commission created by the Colorado Legislature.
In May, the 6,000 delegates to the Colorado Democratic Party Convention endorsed a pro-single-payer resolution that will be forwarded to the national convention in Denver in August.
If one state can make a single-payer plan work, White believes, it could start a cascading effect similar to what took place in Canada during the 1940s and ‘50s.
"People are discouraged, they're angry, they're upset," White says. "But politics is the process that drives policy, and if we don't get involved in the political process we'll never make a difference."
Daina Saib wrote this article as part of Purple America, the Fall 2008 issue of YES! Magazine. Daina is a former YES! editorial assistant.
153 Comments so far
Show AllMcKinney and Nader support single payer plan, and McCain and Obama do not - corporate money bribes make it nearly impossible to get the things we need; we have to wrest control from corporations by NOT voting for those politicians who are complicit in their crimes against humanity.
No health care--no vote. NO health care--no vote. Want Ohio and the Rust Belt , Obama? Want to stop the draining of the equity from mmiddle class homes?? NO health care--no vote!
If McCain becomes president the Supreme Court will wind up under the thumb of corporate America just like the executive and the legislative branches.
Vote Obama. We can't afford not to.
The Constitution and bill of rights have in fact been trashed already. We will, in four more years of Republican rule, see the official demise of democracy.
Read some of the other articles on CD, TD, AlterNet concerning Obama's "sorta plan"--it leaves 15 million oncovered. People that think that they dont need insurance, may get hit by a bus tomorrow, then everyone has to pay. I'm not trying to be cold about this--I have just lived it for decades! In Europe 25 yrs ago--I was treated several times over the year--(Denmark, Norway, Italy). They acted like I was an American idiot for not understanding why I didnt have to pay! I decided that the uS nmeeded that--I got my graduate degree in Social Work , and worked for years, watching people "spend down" ridiculously small incomes to get their Rx paid ofr.I saw Viet vets, left onthe VA lawns to die because their "disability wasnt service-related". (!!!!!)I got hit by a drunk driver. He was rich, but I got alot of the settlement "subroggated" by BC/BS. I knew I was going to be disabled for awhile ( I needed more than 50 surgeries).so, when my COBRA ran out ( I was 6 nos short of getting my pension--PERS), I bought a $50,000 house with what was left so I could qualify for Medicaid. It wasnt horrible then--it is now!! The HMO businese has made crappy Medicaid worse than nothing! I'd do better on charity care, or drs doin it free--they cant! Its illegal! Not even a friend or family meember can help me or--I lose the coverage, AND the $560 a mo. I "live" on and $150 a mo. food stamps. I did nothing to desrve this. Along with my father's brain cancer (RIP--love you 8 daddy)(hard to watch a dedicated professor of Human Factors deteriorate as his small insurance dropped him , he had a farm in Ohio--we've recently sold for not shit--and he dies in a hospice in the Bronx, where my sister is a prof. at SUNY/Purchase); my baby sister's breast cancer ($12,500 a yr. plus $8000 to cover chemo and mammograms--they wont even pay for that!!) and then MY bils--and voila--despite my and my dad';s hard work, you can forget middle clas and live a life of misery! No health care--no vote! NO health care--no vote! AND CAN SOMEONE PLEASE explain to one trained on an ol typewriter--how in hell do you get this thing to do paragrapghs??!! LOL!! Pretty ridiculous, right? Cant seem to get it right--help??(I'm NOT kidding!Wish I was--I know its some dumb as nails answer)
"how in hell do you get this thing to do paragrapghs??!!"
Just hit ENTER a couple of times, KD. You're doing fine as it is. Your story reminds all of us how close to the precipice we actually live. Regards.
The worst thing about your story is that it is a common one among so very many of our fellow citizens. Statistics note that approx.50% of all bankruptcies today are health care related and millions of our children, here in the wealthiest nation on the face of the planet, live without any care outside of emergency room treatments, by far the most expensive type of such care.
For a nation born of violent revolution it is rather sad to see such passive acquiescence to the rip off that is American health care. Senator Obama's proposals still leave about 25 million of us uncovered, still allows a rapacious for-profit system to charge exhorbitant prices for services and medications, and fails utterly to learn from the Canadian, German, Italian or British systems which work fine for the vast majority. We allow ourselves to be persuaded by the lies of a billion dollar system that such care means long lines, inadequate service and forces folks into that system, none of which is the truth. My own experience with the German model, and twice in Canada showed plainly that I can see a doctor far sooner than I can my Kaiser physician, and while Kaiser does charge only $10 for prescriptions that is the exception rather than the rule among our providers.
Any unbiased comparison between our own health care mess and that of most of the industruialised world should be an embarrassment to us all...
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Just hit the enter/return key and it skips a line. No one bothers to indent for paragraphs anymore.
This sounds like the Democrat version of the Republican chant "A vote for Obama is a vote for Osama" - thought the Dems decried the use of scare tactics. But at this point, perhaps that's the best you can do.
Sorry, my enter key stutters occasionally.
sorry, my enter key stutters occasionally, as you can see.
In western so called democracies 55% can be easily ignored by politicians. Campaign contributions (bribes) easily trump the will of the citizens. The only issue I have with this piece is hospitals remaining for profit. In many ways they've become scary death traps because of cost cutting.
"In many ways they've become scary death traps because of cost cutting."
The small city I live in had a city owned and controlled hospital until a year ago. It was ranked as one of the best hospitals in the state and the cost was far lower than privately own hospitals.
Not any more, a year ago the city managed to lease it out to a privately owned company and the hospital has gone down hill. They used to be able to get you healed up and back home as fast as possible now they seem to hold on to you as long as possible and the cost has just gone through the roof.
A friend of mines last visit to the emergency room cost him more than $2500.00 and he wasn't even in there for five hours. Most of that time was spent sitting around waiting for test results. Based on what I seen the doctors spent less than thirty minutes in examinations and performing test. How do I know? I was the one who took him to the hospital? Except for the few minutes they closed the curtains I was with him the whole time.
A little over a year ago that same visit would have cost about $500.00. How do I know? I went basically through the same thing a little over a year earlier then my friend.
Rickster
If insurance companies play any role whatever in health care we will eventually have no health care for anyone but the super rich. As claims get passed from one bureau to another, every insurance company will deny every claim once any oversight we still have is abolished.
McCain will completely abandon the poor and middle class to the willingness of insurance companies to honor their contracts.
If you believe in honor in the insurance industry by all means vote McCain or third party.
it may be cynical to think the supreme court is already under the corporate thumb, but its wrong to think Obama would prevent this if its not. if you're voting for a candidate you do not believe in but feel you have no choice, the demise of democracy is here. Obama will not take insurance corporations out of the health system though he has had many chances to make that stand. though I believe Nader has a better platform, I would consider a vote for Obama if he endorsed single-payer, take on this one issue and there would be reason to hope.
"McCain will completely abandon the poor and middle class to the willingness of insurance companies to honor their contracts."
You forgot to add Obama to that statement it should have been written "McCain/Obama will completely abandon the poor and middle class to the willingness of insurance companies to honor their contracts."
"If you believe in honor in the insurance industry by all means vote McCain or third party."
McKinney and Nader support the single payer plan. Is there some other third party I'm not aware of?
Rickster
Brian Moore, the Socialist candidate, supports single payer.
I hope it does get passed as the Canadian sysyem maybe not 100% perfect it sure is a nice feeling knowing you don't have to pay a penny out of pocket for treatment from a broken toe to brain surgery and you can never be kicked out.
One thing I don't understand is why can't voters ask these people running for president why they are against a system that would save thousands of lives?
When you look at it by bush's rules if you are against America you must be a terrorist, well saving American lives is American isn't it?
The candidates wont do it, because they collect huge monies for their campaign funds (and conventions, etc.) from the insurance industry. Obama's wife, Michelle, stopped working when Sen.Obama decided to run for pres.She was working at the Univ of Chicago Hos Assn. (she is an atty., you know) making about (I've sen diff. figures)$400-950.000 a year. I believe this is where Ibama get the idea that , getting rid of HMOs would "cost too many jobs" . Its BS, from , guess who?(When is the last time you called your HMO and got someone that could speak English or Spanish??)They advertise (expensive color brochures with models), so I can decide, at taxpayer expense, which of the 2 crappy HMOs for Med. to choose from. (I sent the 15 lbs of brochurs, postage due, to my GOP Senator who is "against single payer".) Would you guys like to continue paying for that crap?? They wont pay for durable med. supplies--so I get infections and have to go to the dr. ($50, plus antibiotic $150)or I wait and go to the ER ($350 right there)I suffer, you pay , and WHY?? Please try to think for yourselves on this one! I have been treated in DEenmark Norway Italy and Canada. Its just a bunch of Wall St. Bullshit! Amd that's all ther is to it.
In the unlikely event that the corporate powers ever grant universal health care to the masses, we can move along to the next problem - that there aren't any doctors left who are willing to practice medicine. The past year (during which my phrenic nerve suffered some kind of as-yet-undiagnosed impingement, paralyzing (now irreversibly) my left diaphragm and permanently immobilizing my left lung) has been an education in what passes for health care in America. I have Medicare, which has shelled out many thousands of dollars to a long string of bewildered, robotic pulmonologists and neurologists and neurosurgeons whose dog and pony show I can now lip synch as I sit there - without having received to date a single attempt at a diagnosis or, needless to say, one minute of treatment. Health care is a Rube Goldberg device in which the patient fills out a clipboard form and sits down, activating a discharge of money from his Medicare "advantage plan" down a chute and into the pocket of some pompous charlatan who has dressed up like a doctor. Those notes he is taking while you recite your (not more than three!) major symptoms are billing codes. Specialists are paid between three and seven hundred dollars for the allotted seventeen minutes of failing to solve your medical problem. They see three patients an hour (plus a short coffee break) and take in more money in a day than some people make in a year - all while on autopilot.
I believe in doctors. Call me an idiot, but I think they exist. My father was a doctor. Somebody taught him that he had a responsibility to his patients, and he believed it. He was not, I think, a very capable doctor, and I'm not sure he cared about his patients on a personal level. But he was an ethical doctor, who understood what his job was and undertook to do it. He held a free clinic for poor families on Saturday mornings. He sat up with patients at the hospital, sometimes all night. When he couldn't fix them, he sent them to someone who could.
Somewhere, over the rainbow or up at the Mayo Clinic, lives my Wizard of Oz, and come November when I can change to an insurance plan they accept, I'm off to see him. If he isn't there, if he is just another simulacrum, then at least I'll know. I hate fakery above most other things for some reason. If the medical industry has lost its job description sometime since my father retired, if it is, or has always been, a comforting illusion of safety, then best to be shed of it. Best to quit feeding it money that would be better earmarked for cat rescue societies and Nigerian orphanages.
I am sorry for your pain.I have a pretty horrendous story. But, its long. What plan will let you be covered at Mayo's in November? The Medicare Advantage is a rip-opf for everyone involved. MOST good drs. back single-payer, and the good ones that take Medicaid are overrun! They dont want to turn people away. If drs are paid the same amount,so that they have to run unneccesary test to avoid being sued, very sick pts. wouldnt be stuck with "the only dr that wil take them", and they might get better and go back to work!@ Mayo is great--I had some surgery there. But some things cant be fixed --they need to be constanly "maintained"--and Medicaid wont pay for that.Now, its an HMO, that can ONLY be used in Ohio, and, Cleveland Clinic has had to institute indigent drs. for Med. since HMOs pay so little.Its time to fix this, folks. Details can be decided by those in the medicine.-not the health insurance industry!! They have killed enough people!
Mayo takes straight Medicare. That is one belated lesson from last year: avoid advantage plans that restrict you to plan providers, both mds and hospitals. In my case, the team approach they take at Mayo would have prevented the time wasting process of getting tossed back and forth between pulmonary and neurologic specialists, and could have resulted in intervention to save half of my respiratory system. Some very pretigious providers are included in my plan - Barrow Neurological Institute for example - but the same assembly line health care exists there.
I'm not in any physical pain, incidentally. Just short of breath, and getting tired of boring people with my health issues. Mainly I am angry about the system, and feel that I am learning hard truths that everybody over 65 will have to face sooner or later. The only person who cares about your health and longevity is you. The health care safety net is mostly not there at all. Your PCP is a gatekeeper for specialists, and is not going to give you medical care. Specialists are on autopilot. You are a commodity to them. If you come down with something serious, go online and learn all you can about it. Demand the appropriate lab work and take charge of your own diagnostics. Buy extra insurance if you have to, and don't waste valuable time with fake doctors. Get to Mayo. They might not just be the best mds. They might be the only ones left.
Medicaid is state based, and "needs based"--(you have to be--or get--very poor.) I care about other peoples' health care. I dont want ANYONE left out! NONE! ZIP! NADA! It is just a sign of a primitivistic nation if we decide to leave some people out. And it is not cost effective , in the long term. I made my living , some of the time, fighting to get people health care. That was BEFORE I knew I would end up in the sand pit myself! I only reiterrate my story because it is instructive as to hwo the system does NOT work, and there a alot of people to whom the same thing happens. And it can ruin and waste, your life. It is doing it right now to someone in the uS's life. Right now, someone is giving up on the dream they had to do something good and constructive with their life. Right now, some guy is handing his social worker money ($50 it breaks the law), because he needs his meds RIGHT NOW and Medicadi wont pay for it , until he has income low enough (I think its $1100 a mo. now?) to have it paid for. Elderly people and people with incurable disaese are "taking all their morphine at once" because they cant get into a hospice. A friend of a friend did it just last week--at her grave, I renewed my resolve that if a politician , who is asking for an enormous promotion, and raise, cannot help the Am. people get single-payer healthcare --all of them--he will not get my vote
Good point on what many Dr.s have become, in particular specialists. But I believe single payer would solve that problem.
I hope and pray you find what you need. It's pathetic that you have to wait to change policies. Medecine is going to have to revert to being a profession, niot a business.
Too bad you ain't gonna get single payer in your state of TX for a long time. Move to Europe if you want it. Otherwise, put your foot where your mouth is and push for it in TX. Geesh !
Let's don't forget that the number of doctors is highly controlled through the artificial shortage of medical schools in the USA. Rapidly expanding the number of medical schools would go a long way toward lowering the cost of becoming a doctor as well as increasing the chances that more caring people would enter the medical profession instead of mostly those wanting a way to get rich.
There are many threads that need to be loosened if we truly want to change our current system. I can't even call it "health care".
At this point, knowing that if I come down with a serious illness I will most likely die with the wholehearted blessing of the "Christian" Duhmerican people, I can say unabashedly that even a communistic health care plan would be better than what we've got here. I'm not a communist, nor believe that human beings can put away their need for control enough to make such a concept work, but I sure would accept some assistance if given to me. Instead, I get "freedom" and "being in control of my own health care decisions." I guess that means I can shoot myself when the time comes. Thanks, Duhmerica! p.s. had thyroid cancer a few years back and no insurance company will touch me.
'Instead, I get "freedom" and "being in control of my own health care decisions."'
In a single payer system you would be more freer and in control of your health care decisions.
The health system we have now is a fascist system in my opinion.
Rickster
What in the world is a "communistic health care system"? Can you give an example? Socialized medicine frees you from the slam dancing of the Hedge Fund mkt. when you are at your most vulnerable --sick! When you need the help of your fellow citizens, it is in their best interest (if they wont do it for other reasons)to help you out. After you are back on your feet--you can do the same for them . This recopricity is called CIVILIZATION.I'd really like to see it come to the US in my lifetime. Now--would be good.
why is it that the word communist is still such a dirty word? Isn't the core and key of communist doctrine/ philosophy:
From each according to their abilities; to each, according to their needs.
That doesn't seem such a bad guideline to me.... or am I missing something here..?
As a strong supporter of single payer, my pet peeve is the American Medical Association. This organization, whose members have taken the Hippocratic Oath, has derailed national health care in the US for 100 years and, not coincidentally, made themselves among the highest paid professionals in the world.
If the AMA supported single payer, I believe that would tip the scales in its favor.
We should all bug our own doctors about the AMA's policy and how important it is that they change it.
VOX: Thank you for sharing your tale of terror. My heart goes out to you. I remember when I was about to have my first child. My friends were having home births (I did that on baby # 2) but I felt I should go the conventional route the first time, just in case. My body-like any healthy female body--knew what to do, and went into labor pains at 5 minute intervals. I called the gynecologist who said, "When is your delivery date?" It was about a month later, so he INSISTED I was not in labor. I was, and the baby came that night.
My best friend has gained some weight and has had some major stomach problems. She went for a check-up and it was just as you describe, like Alice down the rabbit hole of numerous tests. She called me so frustrated, "They're just like us!" She related, half-hysterical. I asked what she meant. She explained the doctors know nothing, they just do all these tests.
I remember how I felt when I was the caretaker to my 86 year old father. That the final weeks of his life consisted of NOTHING but going from medical appointment to medical appointment, sometimes 4 a day with different specialists, all because he had good insurance. South Florida, mecca for medical vultures, is where lots of comfortable ($) people retire. An entire CULTURE of medical specialists has cropped up, and it's been said that about 25% of health care costs go to the final days of life. Part of the reason is that since Westerners think death is the end, they will do almost anything to forstall it, and the medical personnel frequently give the impression that the right cost or test or procedure will provide the payer with life into perpetuity.
VOX, the Western medical model is NOT necessarily the best. Have you considered Chinese medicine? Acupuncture? Working with herbs, massage therapy? Hands on Reiki? I flipped a car going 75 MPH and twisted my ankle. It froze up and I walked with a limp. Acupuncture opened the joint and I've been fine, and thus able to bike and practice yoga.
In Asia, PRANIC healing has become popular, it's the transference of very high level LIGHT energy. The thinking is that a cocoon of light surrounds our bodies just as earth holds layers of atmosphere. This LIGHT structure has an influence on how the organ systems function. Nutrition, stretching, meditation (to alleviate stress, always a health reducer) are complementary procedures.
If you are totally convinced your condition cannot be helped by any of the above, good luck with the MDeity. (Have you read Dr. Robert Mendelson's "Confessions of a Medical Heretic?" or the sequel Mal(e) Practice"?
All of this sounds very good, and alot of it helps (I was particularly helped by accupuncture and biofeedback--a huge complicated muscl re-taining prog. , not just "thinking" youre better) I totally thought accepuncture was BS. I did not expect it to do anything. It did. But, the Med HMO, of course, will not cover anything like that. They will cover very expensive pain meds. but I wont take them anymore. They make your life a fog!Doctors deserve to make a good living.But some of the fees have gotten ridiculous. Drs. in EU live middle class lives, and dont expect to have 3 summer homes. They are, however, assured of a slightly above avg. salary, usually a second summer home,independence and enjoy dedicating their lives to easg the pain of others.(That is what it is supposed to be about, right??) In EU and Canada, 80% of drs. say they would never want to go back to fee for service. 82% pf citizens do not want to go back,. despite a tax rate for the rich of about (really rounding here) 35%. There are many things that you do not have to worry about, if disaster befalls you.How can you be "free" , if you have to constantly worry that, if you have an accident, or you genes catch up with yu--you may end up on the street, using the equity in your house to pay med,. bils?Thats not freedom! Its servitude to the capitalist state!
Hi Siouxrose - nice to chat with you again. Admittedly I have not investigated alternative or Eastern therapies, although they are available here. Western medicine uses a mechanical model which has some history of success as an approach to the diagnosis and repair of the human body. MRIs are really miraculous things. My complaint is that mds are too overburdened or stressed or apathetic to ply their craft or make it available to the overwhelming number of people who need it. I think they are burned out, or maybe jaded is a better term - burned out without loss of revenue. The mechanical approach would have worked fine for me. Diaphragmatic paralysis is probably caused by an impinged phrenic nerve (by cervical arthritis, a tumor, whatever) unless there is an underlying neuropathy. My doctor should have been up and down that nerve looking for the impingement. Why didn't he? Last week a new, more astute neurologist scheduled a phrenic EMG that does just that job - locates the blockage, like looking for a short circuit in a wire. Why didn't my PCP know about that eight months ago when there was time to intervene? Why didn't these hotshot spinal surgeons know about that? The overpaid clowns I've visited couldn't diagnose their way out of a paper sack. I fall outside their specialty, and they don't know who to refer me to. Most people in doctor costumes don't have a medical calling. The only way to get what you need from them is to become an expert on your own condition (takes about an hour) and proactively demand your own tests. Keep copies of all your own medical records. Bully your PCP. It's your health and your life. Don't waste time looking for help where none exists.
( don't take this personally, I am using this as an illustration for others).
why did you not question your doctors? find out all you needed to know about your situation? hit the medical A-P text.. seek out other doctors? take initiative and bring it into your own hands, deciding for yourself what you needed and wanted?
We have been pre-conditioned to give away all our power to the medical establishment. We are taught that they are all knowing, wise and have our best interest at heart. WRONG! Energetically, their vested interest ( conscious or not) is in illness, not in wellness.. and it is in treating, not healing. The native americans ( both north and south) understand this intrinsically. You cannot heal the physcial body alone. This is very hard to explain and convey to those who work with the western model of medicine. Think of " healing" this way. The cells in your body hold " memory" or " information ( read candace pert, molecules of emotion- bench chemist for the NIH.. no lightweight fringe person) but anyway.. let me use chiropractic for an example. the muscles hold the body in it's arrangement, structurally aligned ( or mis-aligned).. if a muscle has been traumatized or conditioned over time to be too short or too long.. you can go to a chiropractor, get " fixed".. and yet within days have the same recurring difficulty. The muscle is holding the " memory" of incorrect length. This needs to be addressed ( there are many ways to do this, too long to go into here, if anyone is curious I can expand on this, on or off-thread). I am mostly digressing with this to illustrate how the body can hold, or retain, an un-healthy pattern. When something happens.. the body has a stress reaction.. when it is in stress mode, the body will not heal properly. this is a basic biological survival trait. If the body is staying prepared for fight or flight.. the meal you just ate, or the project that needs doing.. are not the body's prime concern- all resources are being stored and saved in reserve. When the ankle was injured.. the body went into a holding pattern, both around the ankle itself.. but also a stress-reaction.. When the body is taking out of stress-mode.. it will most often tend to its own needs. The body wants to be whole and healthy and mobile- that is a basic biological imperative for survival.
anyway- western medicine has amputated itself from the concept of the whole. And western medicine, like western culture- likes to hold power over others. Medical, political, social, religious etc. Reality is the illusion we have not seen through. Many of us, who like to be and think of themselves as progressive and pro-active.. still fall into that trap-dream-illusion when it comes to health.
You have an inherent right to question your doctors, be a full partner in your care and treatment.. ask questions.. suggest ideas.. make sure you understand what is going on.. and bring your ideas to the table and request/ insist that your perspectives be honoured. If you had an idea in designing a home.. and the contractor had no knowledge of what you wanted.. it would either be his responsibility to research what you asked him.. or in his inability to do that.. your right to fire/ replace him. why would or should we treat our bodies and our lives any differently?
"... why did you not question your doctors? find out all you needed to know about your situation? hit the medical A-P text.. seek out other doctors? take initiative and bring it into your own hands, deciding for yourself what you needed and wanted?"
I did all of that. Two neurologists, four neurosurgeons. Constant clamoring. Constant online research. Have you ever tried arguing with a brain surgeon? Every imaging diagnostic performed was done at my own insistence. What I can not do is perform spinal surgery on myself - I would get it wrong in the bathroom mirror, like when I try to cut my own hair. At some point you need a little help.
I agree that a holistic approach to the human body is something western medicine could use. Some things, however, require a mechanical, matter of fact fix. If you break your leg, you get the bones back together and apply a splint. If you have a malignant tumor, you get it removed. If you are overrun with infection, you take antibiotics. Other issues of bodily interconnectedness should be addressed, but are secondary in these cases. I'm not ready to concede that herbal, chiropractic, holistic, chakra-balancing procedures are yet ready to replace conventional medical science. Unfortunately, most doctors are hostile to investigating such ideas, as they are resistant to being upstaged by their patients in deciding diagnosis and treatment. They are not as knowledgeable as they would like us to believe, but consider from their point of view what their practice would look like if their patients (a lot of them very dumb people with very crackpot notions) were in charge of their own treatment.
easy, I said not to take it personally that I wanted to use an example. I'm glad you took all the initiative, rather than accepting whole what the medical establishment presented.
and yes- allopathic definitely has its role and place.. some of my teachers get very irate with the " spiritual americans" who end up dying because they don't believe in going to a medical doctor. heelllooooo.... ? it isn't all or nothing.. all one or all the other.. and that is what the western model needs to grasp.. all these ideas have validity.. should at least be open for consideration etc..
but- as you noted ( many don't realize this).. most docs are NOT as smart as they'd like us to believe.. and hence become/ feel very threatened when not secure in their comfort zone..
but.. what would it look like if doctors had to collaborate with their patients.. partnership for health? hey.. we're paying THEM.. and a lot of money, I might add.. sorry.. but in no other service would someone expect to pay a lot of money and have no participation in the experience/ event. How a doctor wants to address that is up to them.. they will either get savvy or remain rigid.. just like every teacher or other profession.
and there are many valid alternative solid traditions. example- in china they very routinely do surgery using acupuncture instead of ANY anesthesia.. they must know something that we don't.. and do it better than we do. Ayurveda, india's ancient healing/ medical model.. etc etc, and so it goes. the western model of * anything* won't expand spontaneously.. we infuse change into the system ...
I agree with you that too many people are fixated on conventional medicine/health insurance as the ONLY possible solution. There are many solutions, including alternative medicine and PREVENTION.
Why must we all be forced to approach our health care the same way? I have utterly no desire to be party to any sort of nationalized health care system, nor to pay for it. Should that not be my choice in a supposedly FREE society? If I croak, that's my problem.
Dave
http://daveeriqat.wordpress.com/
agreed dave. holistic medicine ( more appropriate term than alternative for this discussion?).. looks at keeping the body healthy. most alternative modalities, and naturopathy are also founded under this paradigm. btw- vt law requires an ND be covered by insurance, and they receive the same medical training as an MD.. which neatly blend a lot of the two paradigms. Maybe one goal which is achievable in more states is to encourage similar legislature? A start, but in a better direction.
here's irony for you. unfortunately, I think I lost the data in a HDD crash a while back, but a net search should turn it up.. or if anyone else has the info, please?
anyway- a couple of years ago, a group of people ( business/ holistic health? not sure).. approached blue cross/ blue shield ( think it was bc bs).. and made an offer to them. I think this was chicago area/ midwest based (?). If they offered/ allowed preventative care as part of their insurance coverage, bc bs would save money. if at the end of the year, it has cost them more.. then the group would pay any/ all additional expense. Guess what! The insurance company saved a bunch of cash by allowing ( which encourages.. no idea where it is lodged in the psyche, but if insurance covers it.. then it must be bona fide, if not- then its quackery.. regardless of any data a person has).. but by allowing preventative and alternative care, chiropractic etc.. there were less major medical expenses to cover..
the example I often use with people in terms of holistic/ alternative is automotive:
You have a car.. you like it and drive it a lot. Do you drive it around and around until the engine blows.. or do you take it in for oil changes and tune ups?
It's funny you employ the car analogy. I've used it as an analogy for freedom of choice. We don't all drive the same car or even all have a car, so why should health care be different?
Dave
http://daveeriqat.wordpress.com/
Hey Dave, just out of curiosity, if you do own a car, do you think you should be required to have car insurance? If you don't have a car, do you think you should have to pay the portion of your taxes that goes to road maintenance? If you have kids, do you think that I, who does not, should pay taxes for public education to help educate yours?
Once when I worked as a clerk weekends in a pediatrics ward, there was a very weak preemie baby attached to all kinds of devices. He had been abandoned by his drug addict parents.
One nurse would bring him to me to hold. When the baby was touched, his tense body relaxed, his skin pinked up like ET and his eyes got deep with communication, looking into my eyes. But the hospital admin put an end to the holding citing liability of some kind. Next week when I came into work I found he had died, alone in a plastic bassinet.
Touching does not have a billing code.
Joe
Could CD get this article over to truth dig, where people are making up all kinds of statistics to excuse why a supposed "progressive" like Obama is not backing sinlge-[ayer? I tried to explain stuff like above for about a year now. Most people DO get it. I rest my case (havent read the posts yet--have to take care of someon) No healthcare--no vote. No health care--no vote.
"Physician heal thy self"
I am old enough to remember the visiting doctors who plied the roads on several Reservations in Okla. One was one of my Great Uncle. He drove a pickup with what in those days was an "improvised camper". This was so that he could spend the night if he needed, or take home his livestock that he often received in pay for his services. I came home on leave to be a pall bearer in his funeral, where they were required to hold THREE separate services because of the number of people who were there to pay last respects. So now all of these years later, it would be interesting to know just how many people are alive NOW, who's Gparents, were saved by him so that they could be parents, and so forth. He had lived a comfortable life, raised and paid for the education of his children as well as several others who he "mentored" and "scholarshiped"......
One of his nephews died a few years ago, a very wealthy "doctor", and his service lasted all of forty-five minutes, and just a handful of people were sad to see him go. The difference? The level of conscientiousness that both men lived by, and for. The elder touched untold lives in a positive manner and still died wealthy by the community standards. The younger just died wealthy.
The reason the health care system in this nation is such a mess has many sources, but the main source is the Doctors who, without their skills there would be no health care----except of course for the "faith healers" on TV who make more than the Doctors, and live tax free.
If more Doctors had the integrity and or the courage to speak out the system would heal itself over night, they could still be wealthy, and highly respected citizens; they would no longer be the "delivery personnel for a faulty system".
"Physician heal thy self"
I would have been honored to have known your Great Uncle. I ubnderstand exactly what you are saying and I agree with you.
Be Well
Pay no atten. too the posts that "It cant work here"--it is propaganda and anyone who believes it, either has a financial stake in th4e giant insurance industry or is brainwashed by harry and louise type measure. Or is so into Obama that they cant see the forest for the trees.'Working our way towards it" will only waste money and lives. 20,000 a year.If we could get it passed, even with just 55%, can you really live with the fact that many of your fellow citizens are dying needlessly? Everyone is concerned abou the troops dying, as am I. But we lose ALOT more people to a lack of good health care every year.Lets get REAL and pull together on this--it would gain Obama alot of votes. Alot of medically bankrupt people in OHio.
okay- very silly question...
the government says it can't afford to pay for universal health coverage..? correct?
if that is the case, then why aren't all the HMO's going bankrupt? Rather.. they are making lots and lots of profit. SO.... wouldn't it be better if all that profit, was able to be circulating in the economy, or at least ( and I am not advocating for more/ bigger government).. in the hands of the government who can disburse it for the public good..?
aside- the same with the oil companies. if we, the government, are willing to go to war for it.. then maybe the the government should own it. that way at least all those billions of dollars of oil profit.. go back into the tax fun, meaning it goes to public programs and our economy....
The "size" of govt is not really the prob. It's the efficiency that matters. And, what we have now, is as inefficient as it comes!A "bigger Bush govt"?? NO! A better, more efficient , well-funded govt, supplied with revenue from those that can afford to pay taxes is what we should strive for.
the point here was.. if its ( disgustingly so)profitable for the insurance companies.. then the government has no argument that they can't do it!
btw- native son, nice post and a good story to share. I am an herbalist and have studied/ practiced the teachings of the SA indigenous cultures for many years. We have so much that we could ( and need) to learn from the traditions of cultures that have not " modernised."
and one of the things I always convey when I am working with clients or teaching.. The indigenous people might not have had the vocabulary to convey in terms, many of their concepts, into something comprehensible to the judeo-christian psyche.. but quantum physics has finally allowed us to catch up the the incredible insight and wisdom of these people. example.. they always teach- everything is energy.. and what does modern science tell us now.. oh.. everything is energy.
hopefully we will come full circle and rediscover the wisdom of where we came from.
For those who think that government-run healthcare is "third world" ask them if they mean like Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, France, Britain, Canada, and Australia? The majority of the above named countries are not only first world, but have a higher economic standard of living than the US.
For those who think we "cannot afford it", remind them that somehow we have been able to "afford" a trillion dollars over the past 6 years for mid-east wars, tax reductions for the wealthiest 5 percent of the population, and tax reductions for all corporations (many of whom pay not one dime of tax on their profits).
We have also somehow been able to "afford" having over a thousand military installations scattered all over the world in countries needing protection from nothing or nobody. The US military budget is bigger than all the rest of the world combined and is nothing more than a jobs program and open ATM borrowing privilige for war-profiteers.
You want more sources of tax revenue? How about taxing the capital gains on all non-residential property and on all stock market transactions (with a double premium being charged on all commodity futures transactions)? when we have politicians who hate Wall Street as much as they hate Washington DC then we will have legislators capable of doing what is necessary to reform healthcare.
Poet