by Ken Dychtwald Ph.D
While most of the current healthcare debate has focused on how to cover the tens of millions of uninsured Americans and who should pay (granted, these are critically important issues), after thirty-five years working at the intersection of gerontology and healthcare, I'm convinced that we have the WRONG healthcare system for our aging nation.
If your train is headed in the wrong direction, it doesn't help to give everyone a seat. And, since the U.S. currently spends nearly twice as much per capita on healthcare as all the other modernized nations, while our national life expectancy ranks a humiliating 42nd worldwide, it's not that we throw too little money at the problem, but that we may not be spending it in the wisest ways. (link)
Comment
This is a thought-provoking article. The arthor argues that we are not prepared for the health care needs of the future and that Americans do not take enough responsbility for their own health.
He points out that Medicare spends approximately 28 percent of its total budget on patients in their last year of life and argues that prolonging the dying process may not be the best use of health care dollars. I do not want the government deciding when to pull the plug, however I agree that simply prolonging life with high-tech and expensive care may not be the best use of health care dollars. If we do not get Medicare spending under control, it can bankrupt our nation. How much to spend on Medicare is a public policy issue and there is a limit to how much the public can spend on prolonging life of those who are dying.
Many people end their life in poverty and impoverish their spouse and family due to extremely expensive care which extends the life of the patient by only months. Nursing home care can run to thousands of dollars a month. One does not get public-funded nursing home care until all of their own wealth is exhausted. Once the patient and his or her spouse have exhausted all of their wealth, the tax payers pick up the tab. Often the patient may have no hope of recovery and be in an almost vegetative state for months prior to dying. I know it is difficult to let a parent or spouse die, but I do not think simply prolonging life when their is no hope of recovery and the patient has no quality of life is preferable to letting the patient die with dignity. As health care advances, the ability to prolong the dying process continues to expand.
As a baby-boomer myself and someone who has a loved one afflicted with Alzheimer's, I think about these issues, as unpleasant as they are to contemplate.
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Please forgive me for sounding so obstinate, but the biggest problem we have with our healthcare system today is that it is only a job to far too many involved in it. Sadly, this is expecially true of doctors and nurses, and what ones who do still care about actually caring for their patients are often stifled by the system now in place.
ReplyDeleteThat is one of the biggest reasons why costs are so out of control, and until something can be done about it, it is a waste of time and money to seek for ways to provide health insurance to everyone. Yes, it sure sounds good to pursue such--especially in a political sense, but what does it matter if one does have health insurance when the healthcare that they are going to receive is becoming more and more likely to make them even worse?
In a comment to an earlier post, I mentioned that I have yet to find a doctor who was willing to get serious about finding out what is wrong with me, but it has been even worse on my sister-in-law. So far, her doctor has almost killed her twice. The last episode involved him diagnosing her with having pneumonia when she actually had a blood clot lodged in her lung. That was not discovered until 5 days later and only after she finally found another doctor who was willing to give her a second opinion.
Oh yeah, it worth mentioning that she has been dealing with one of the top 100 hospitals in the country, and all they want to do is CYA. Of course, since it was the care that she received there after a hernia operation that started this horror show, I suppose one can't blame them.
Yes, we are both fully insured. In fact, she is covered by Tri-Care, which covers dependents of military personnel.