As I have indicated in earlier posts, my brother in law is a general practitioner here in Warren, so I have both 'inside' and 'outside' information regarding the American healthcare system...I Do Not have answers, only observations on the way things work. I am Not lacking in compassion for the truly needy, but become frustrated about waste and abuses in the way care is or is not provided by both corporations and by individuals who take advantage of the system. What follows is my rant against some of the patients I have witnessed....... What do 5' 1'' and 204 pounds with a body mass index of 38.54 and 5'5", 208 pounds with a BMI of 34.8 and 6'4" with a BMI of 46 have in common? They are representative of the majority of people being referred for "sleep studies" to determine why they have sleep apnea and other problems that interfere with their getting a good night sleep. And such patients are often those developing type 2 diabetes and other lifestyle caused conditions. In fairness to the doctors who authorize a sleep study, their recommendations always include 'exercise and weight loss'...often ignored by the patients. One doctor in Chicago named Monica Peek has started prescribing lifestyle changes before medications, and her overweight patients who ate less fat and calories and exercised 20 minutes a day reduced their risk for developing Type 2 diabetes by 58% ( 71% for those over 60 years old) Those put on the traditional treatment of metformin, a glucose lowering drug, reduced their risk by only 31%. So shouldn't the first course of action be lifestyle changes Before wasting a couple thousand dollars on a sleep study or other costly but less effective remedies? Meanwhile there are programs in Pennsylvania and other states by which a man with "back pain" can obtain financial "disability" assistance that allows his girlfriend to be paid to help him out the chair etc. Those commercials on TV for 'knee braces' or 'mobility scooters' ( "at No cost to you!" ) of course are paid for by someone-the taxpayers and everyone who pays inflated health insurance premiums. The point is that in addition to the out of control charges by hospitals and drug and insurance companies, many patients are irresponsible regarding their own health. Only the future will determine whether the healthcare system bankrupts
the country or if additional cost controls and personal accountability
will be implemented. Now that Obamacare has forced everyone- rich, poor, sick and healthy -to become part of the system, Beth and I are taking advantage of the subsidies to purchase health insurance. (..and for all of you screaming at the White
House about "socialized medicine", don't forget that the trillion
dollar expansion of Medicare for senior drug coverage (part D) happened
in 2003 under the watch of George Bush.)
POSTSCRIPT: I forgot to mention the $30 billion per year that the healthcare system enjoys in charitable contributions, and the 8
billion hours of volunteer labor that the system enjoyed in 2009...probably more nowadays...What legitimate,
well managed business could not do a better job with those kind of benefits? Most retail managers for instance would love to have even 10 free hours of labor a year!
