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Health Care Means More than a Private Doctor

By Kim Mance, Huffington Post. Posted December 3, 2007.


Our health care system is a global laughingstock. It's like other developed nations are using a cable modem, and we're still stuck with dial-up.

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A medical student wrote an op-ed in the New York Times on Sunday making a few good points, but mostly just revealing her naiveté about what Americans really need. She complains that a policy of New York's Governor Spitzer gives "requirements that all individual and small-group plans cover services that are useless to many people, like hormone replacement therapy and midwifery services, and up to 15 chiropractic visits per year." To her I'd say: give it time dear, just give it time. Some day after paying off the backache of all those med school bills through bilking your (insured) patients for every penny possible, you just might have a baby or go through menopause. Not to mention the fact that midwives not only cost less than doctor's visits, but their methods often prevent unnecessary -- and expensive -- procedures like cesarean sections.

Most of her comments center around the horrible idea of government having "control" over patients' health care and well-being. I presume this is as opposed to insurance conglomerates controlling our care. Because surely we all know how much those large for-profit corporations help and care for the needs of the American public.

Instead of fearing government control, we should fear what will happen to the invisible people who care for those with incurable illness in the coming years. Alzheimer's rates may quadruple by 2050, and autism and childhood cancer continue to increase. Yet professional caregivers are still among the lowest paid professionals in the U.S., and informal caregivers aren't even considered to be part of our market economy. This is despite the fact that caregiving provided by family and loved ones of the infirmed would constitute 20 percent of our national health care spending (or $196 billion) -- if it were officially counted. Beyond being over-charged and denied needed procedures for the profit of insurance companies, this is the hidden double-whammy behind the way our nation deals with health care.

I never thought anything would be worse than the devastating news several years ago that my young son had autism. Luckily I was living in Norway at the time and had a chance to see what socialized medicine could do for families dealing with the tragedy of a childhood developmental disorder. But unfortunately, this wasn't the last heart-sinking news I would receive.

After moving back to the U.S., my second child was diagnosed with a tumor inside his spinal cord at the age of two. After a few surgeries to try and remove it, he became a paraplegic and now uses a wheelchair for mobility. Four years later, he still suffers from the cancer and continues chemotherapy today. We have been immersed in the health care system, and it has been a bumpy ride.

Undoubtedly one of the biggest stressors is that my caregiving for these two boys is invisible to the U.S. economic system. Like me, millions of Americans will at some point in their lifetime care for a sick loved one. We will all lose wages, experience fatigue and numerous other challenges. Yet there's nothing special about me or any other person caring for a sick child, spouse or parent that prepares us to cope with the stress and scheduling nightmare that comes with the job. I happen to work for an amazingly supportive organization and my children are insured. But there is rarely a day that goes by I don't think of those in less fortunate circumstances. Especially women.


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Kim Mance is the Director of External Relations for the Council of Women World Leaders.

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The Incompetent Government
Posted by: DrColes on Dec 4, 2007 10:42 AM   
Current rating: 1    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
The only thing that is broken in health care is the cost of health care and no one is addressing this problem. The government caused the problem with health care cost crises in America by over socializing (with mandates) medicine to the extent it is not completive.
http://www.InteliOrg.com/

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Life saving surgery at no cost
Posted by: frank69 on Dec 4, 2007 3:35 PM   
Current rating: 5    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
My eldest sister and her husband, went on vacation to Ireland. While in Northern Ireland, my sister suffered an aneurism in one of the two arteries connected to her liver. Barely detectible pulse, rushed by ambulance to to the Royal Victorian Hospital in Belfast. A team of surgeons standing by on a Sunday. Four hours of life saving surgery, then four days in the ICU. Ten more days in the general ward. Total cost: $0.00. My sister told the hospital that she is a member of Kaiser. The comment was, "That's nice." Cost to Kaiser: $o.oo. Socialized medicine? Saved my sister's life.
I AM ALL FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE! It's long past time that the US, the "richest" country in the world, catch up to the rest of the industrialized world!

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National healthcare
Posted by: donl51 on Dec 6, 2007 5:56 PM   
Current rating: Not yet rated    [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
,medicare from birth to death,all based on the tax system,there are many ways it could be funded w/o it being a huge out of pocket expense,thing is people all over the world that have it ,pay for it one way or other out of the tax structure and yet still manage to have a life w/ a lot less stress than we,think about it 300mil .people is one big group ins .plan sounds great I'm for it and I can handle the scary stuff too....'its socialized med.'that of course sends Americans scrambling yelling ''not me'' ''I'm no commie'' ...what are we then when we collect ''social security''?

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