I often try to stay away from politics on my blog because I am not here to debate political with anyone. I am however, driven to find new ways to reach the medical community and the services around it. Quickly rising to the number one killer in the United States is obesity. I, for one, was almost a statistic myself. I believe we have a fundamental flaw in our thinking about health care. It is we are trying to say health care is only dependent on the availability rather than the quality. Somehow if everyone can get health care then all will be well. Having been part of that system and still having received no solution I have my doubts on current purposed solutions.
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Well I ran across this article this morning from the Huffington Post called “We Are Still Buying Snake Oil To “Fix” Healthcare”. I will include a trackback link so you can read the full article. It got me to thinking about the real fix to health care. How about we start with the idea of funding real programs to help people directly? And what if we started with the number one cause of death and worked our way down the list? On and one more thing, what if we started with preventative care instead of trying to fix what is already broken or not well taken care of?
Let me explain. What if for instance we picked obesity? Right now you can only get health care for obesity if you have a existing medical problem. In most cases insurance will not pay for any weight loss programs or for weight loss surgery. So what if we started there? Put into place a program that will fund (after all we are giving enough money away now anyway) weight loss programs depending on what you have available? If congress would tighten up the rate of insurance companies canceling insurance (on those that even pay for theirs) and insist that they pay for preventative care it will go a long ways towards solving directly our health care issues.
So depending on your income level, you could get assistance or repayment for commitment to weight loss. This could include paying for weight loss plans, gym membership and preventative medicine. The program could include measurements of progress and commitment. If you aren’t committed to following a plan then there is no reimbursement. But stay committed and you keep getting assistance until you reach a goal weight. This could include screening, education on behavior change, and even surgical options for those who really needed it.
What I guess I am really asking is when is all this money going to be applied directly to the problem and not just thrown at something like mud on a wall and hoping it will stick. If we are going to commit future generations to a debt load, why not put it towards a direct solution at least?
End rant, feel free to blast away! I just ask you to read the article before you respond.
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I agree with you completely. I think too much time and money is spent on fixing the problems when in reality the money should be spent on preventative measures.
For example, I am going to a Weight Loss Clinic in a local hospital. Much of what I am spending comes out of pocket. Yet the insurance company would pay completely for weight loss surgery. What I am doing is a lot less expensive and does not have the side effects that it is possible the surgery could have had…it does not make sense to me.