A better health care system now within reach | Physicians for a National Health Program

A better health care system now within reach | Physicians for a National Health Program

There has been a lot of debate about health care reform since the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act was passed in 2010, and the debate continues.

On the one hand, many people feel that the new law, and it is the law of the land, imposes too much of a burden on the corporations that make American business go. In short, they believe reform is too expensive.

On the other hand, many people, different people, believe the new law falls way short of its original intention, which was to reform the healthcare system to save money and improve services. In short, they believe failure to reform is too expensive.

To be sure, some reforms are underway, but they mostly involve relatively minor changes to the existing private insurance system compared to a true renovation of the health care system.

For nearly two decades, since about 1993 or 1994, some physicians have been calling for a single payer healthcare system that promises to eliminate the 30% overhead that we now spend on Administrative costs. The idea is we allow doctors to focus on medicine, and establish a fair payment system that is less expensive for the patient, while at the same time improving the quality of services.

As patients and caregivers, any person associated with vasculitis has a personal stake in healthcare reform. Without reforms, you can look forward to another generation of overly expensive and complicated healthcare with plenty of denied claims for medically necessary procedures.

At this point I do not advocate one proposal over another, but I am interested in learning about all of the options. The least we can do is to make ourselves aware of the facts of the issue so we can act in our own best interests as citizens. Do not rely on the mainstream media to give you the information you need to know.

If you have not yet learned about this proposal, I encourage you to start with a recent article that gives a bit of an overview. Then you can explore the rest of the PNHP site to learn more about this particular option.

A better health care system now within reach | Physicians for a National Health Program

Chapter Meeting Thursday, Nov 17th

I will be at Deli-Berry, 2520 Juan Tabo Blvd NE, at 6PM tomorrow. Anyone who wants to stop by and get caught up, you are welcome. Any new patients out there? We can get you connected to resources provided by the Vasculitis Foundation. Hope to see you all there! : Joseph Carpenter