Americans are afraid both that they won't be covered by private medical insurance, and they are also scared that others won't be able to afford medical care. That would be laudable if only the current quality of care were more successful. But there are a great many inefficiencies in the system. It's far from perfect.
For the AMA status quo to be against a public plan (in HuffPost) without caring about all those millions of uninsured smacks of elitism. Doctors are paid to care, but they officially don't have to care for the uninsured. How contradictory is that? They certainly appear to be advocating a class of "untouchable" uninsured!
If you don't trust what I am saying, read this article by uninsured writer, Bob Cesca, and how he got there. Compare that to the wages of the medical "insurance company" CEOs. Have to keep those CEOs paid, huh, or else they might not "work"...
Speaking of "work", there is an article from CNN today that details a student's ability to diagnose her own disease. As it happens, it was part of a high school biology class. She learned how to appreciate her abnormal slide of her own self as her pathologist had failed to notice. How revealing is that? Of course, doctors fudged it, saying it's just a normal mistake. Happens all the time, or so doctors would have us think. Exactly!
How many other times has misdiagnosis happened, or that pills have been incorrectly dispensed with fatal results in America? How many patients die as "unknown consequences" of physician mistakes? If doctors are human, and make mistakes, then why aren't methods and controls and accountability important, as part of the larger medical system? Then again, who says doctors and the AMA even care for the sick and uninsured, or have good between-doctor communication and oversight? It's just a rosy domestic mainstream fantasy. American doctors and insurance companies have the power; the uninsured and the sick have clarity and bear all the pain. Tell me that's fair. Tell me that's "caring for the sick." Just don't even think it's the best medical system in the world!
2 comments:
Kristof of the NYTimes had a nice OpEd about Health insurance and how teh Canadian system 'victmizes' its insured, see http://tinyurl.com/ThisTimeWeWontScare
I believe that article mentions that an American health care CEO "victimizes" American consumers, which he used to make the point that Canada doesn't do so. Not that it's perfect. Senior care can get expensive!
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