Question

If you could suggest something to change/help healthcare in the U.S. what would it be?

Answer 1

Dear Angela, my whole career was a health care professional...cytology...trained 1965.

So your Q, first of all, to give them their due...the technological abilities are huge; if someone is injured through trauma, the restorative technology is like nothing ever before seen in the world.

Complaints:

1. No workable philosophy of healing; modern medicine just does not get it, you must work with the body's ability to heal itself; and NOT against it.

2. The overwhelming motive is NOT compassion, not healing, the motive is profit. 

* * *

These comments prolly not what you had in mind...but imo the changes need to penetrate down to the foundation...start over...dead end as things now stand, we cannot get there from here.

Comments

I agree Virginia. As a long time healthcare professional, I have seen things change drastically over my many years. Yes, it's always been about "profit" rather than the health of people...that being said, recently, it's downright ridiculous. We've gone from using our skills to assist people when they are ill or broken, to defensive healthcare for fear of being sued....I've never seen the "sense of entitlement" that I do now. Get me...I want...the foundation of healthcare and it's meaning needs to change....imo starting with the "patient is always right" philosophy. I do see some doctors who won't allow a patient (or family) dictate the care that he/she deems necessary. Thanks for your answer! :)

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Angela, yes now I recall from Blurt...you are an emergency medical person, was it EMT you are?

Too many dedicated health care workers, including physicians, themselves getting sick from the compromises they must make. One fine geriatric physician I knew, he virtually takes equal time off, just recovering from what he must endure in the office...

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Hats off, Virginia!

Also in Europe, the situation is not so positive:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/09/01/nhs-hospital-becomes-the-first-to-shut-down-specialist-maternity/

http://www.oecd.org/health/healthcarecostsunsustainableinadvancedeconomieswithoutreform.htm

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Actually I am a nurse....have also been an EMT though! :)

Answer 2

Up to now, the ideal, affordable and still performing health care system is still a matter of debates and conflicts between various interest groups.

The whole sector has been deteriorated by big and fast profit industries, unfair competition, lacking ethics and mass "processing".

True vocation has been drowned by overly ambitious purposes, greed, fashion trends and "glamour", instead of sustainability, mercy and respect. Additionally, lucrative healthcare industries are an open door to crime organisations ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_industry

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_ethics

https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2014/02/13/health-care-workers-may-be-the-nations-most-stressed-employees

Comparing two different systems:

USA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States

Denmark: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healthcare_in_Denmark

Comments

Dear Marianne I agree with what you yourself write. But for example in one of the Wiki links, the author is making suggestions like:

• Add staff members to more evenly distribute work among current employees
• Communicate with workers on scheduling issues to create a more manageable work environment   

These kinds of comment are superficial, and in my experience do not even address the most stressful situations. Health care professionals come into the field because they want to help others - and then they face industry demands to give substandard care, and even ignore the fact that people are dying unnecessarily for the sake of profits. THAT is stressful. 

(Haven't looked at the Denmark link yet...interested to see that now!)

* This from the USA link..."the US healthcare system to be the most expensive and worst-performing in terms of health access, efficiency, and equity."

* And, since becoming old myself I have been amazed at our national disregard for elders: "about 25% of all senior citizens declared bankruptcy due to medical expenses, and 43% were forced to mortgage or sell their primary residence."

* ...all while we are spending more per capita, and as % of our GDP, than any other nation.

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Sadly enough, they are systematically neglecting the questions of social, human, health, safety, conflictual and material conditions at work and in everyday life, which differ from one individual or group of individuals to the other. They fight rather the unemployed than unemployment, the poor instead of poverty, the endangered environments instead of polluting and depleting systems, the homeless instead of the unsustainable property and real estate markets, which look more like gambling than like honest business. There is also a serious problem with ethics, if looking into certain industries and practices, which are an open door to abuses, fraud and organised crime. And the health sector is particularly vulnerable, as multiple demands, performance pressures and ruthless business practices are demotivating the very spirit of medical and paramedical health care.

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Amazing!

Marianne, that is a remarkably assessment that I would say is remarkably accurate. I even find it difficult to see all these things happening, and not become discouraged. 

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Yes, I may sound a bit like a pessimist, as I had some insight into more or less known incidents, and in real life, you can't just save somebody by pulling him or her out of the water and then go about your own business; there are often unexpected complications, which might require several people and professionals. In socially problematic situations, you need often a second and third advice and/or a qualified mediator to deal with critical and conflictual situations. But that does not mean that you have to be passive; while "pulling", you can yell for help - lol.

Answer 3

For the US health care providers, primarily hospitals and doctors, to stop charging so Goddamn much!

World average expenditure on health, as a percentage of GDP:  10%

Canada:  10%

Germany:  11%

Japan:  10%

United Kingdom:  9%

United States: 17% 

http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SH.XPD.TOTL.ZS

Comments

@ O'Tink...looking for a way to keep giving you stars (or thumbsUP?)...this answer needs at least 29 of 'em...

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Thank you, Virginia.