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Some thoughts about Healthcare Issues
Feb. 12th, 2016 12:52 pmI just came back to from my podiatrist appointment and my podiatrist doctor was explaining to me the problems that healthcare (respectively medicine, hospitals, phamacies or big drug companies and government) policies that seem to not benefit the people. Of course, he did ask me to go consider the politicians that are currently running in the primaries and see the political issues that are big for everyone: healthcare.
The problems that seems to underlie in this is the issue of money. People who have medacaid cannot always get the best doctors because of how the insurance pays them. Example from my doctor: this one lady has a foot disease and the hospital didn't want the doctor to run a test to determine whether the lady has this foot disease or not. The doctor argued that if he didn't get to run this exam that the lady would die from the disease and the family could have had a $20 million dollar lawsuit. The hospital backed out and allowed the doctor to run the exam. He told me if this patient went to another doctor, she could have gotten her leg amputated. That's the last kind of thing anyone should do, but he explained that when it comes to foot diseases the patients end up paying the cost for the medication and for the care becuase most foot diseases are not life-threatening diseases. (And apprently infectious disease doctors tend to consult for diseases that are life-threatening). Another problem is of course, pharmaceuticals, like the case of Martin Shkreli, who raised the cost of AIDS medication by 5000%. He is currently arrested not for what he did in terms of raising the prices for medication but for other reasons.
All of these points drive to home what I learned in my current class, Introduction to Behavioral Economics. My professor was bringing to light that when it comes to policy making, that psychologists aren't even considered about what kind of policies that can benefit people.
I am not sure how to reform Medacaid or other issues that the medical field has, but I would love to think of ways that would be beneficial to people. This whole conversation left me pondering about what kind of policies that should be changed.
I was thinking about whether the US healthcare should be more like the Canadian healthcare model, however, the reality is that Canadian healthcare model is really expensive and would impose so many Americans to pay higher taxes just to cover this. (A great article that highlights this point is seen here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/06/13/if-universal-health-care-is-the-goal-dont-copy-canada/#3fa9e190290d)
The problems that seems to underlie in this is the issue of money. People who have medacaid cannot always get the best doctors because of how the insurance pays them. Example from my doctor: this one lady has a foot disease and the hospital didn't want the doctor to run a test to determine whether the lady has this foot disease or not. The doctor argued that if he didn't get to run this exam that the lady would die from the disease and the family could have had a $20 million dollar lawsuit. The hospital backed out and allowed the doctor to run the exam. He told me if this patient went to another doctor, she could have gotten her leg amputated. That's the last kind of thing anyone should do, but he explained that when it comes to foot diseases the patients end up paying the cost for the medication and for the care becuase most foot diseases are not life-threatening diseases. (And apprently infectious disease doctors tend to consult for diseases that are life-threatening). Another problem is of course, pharmaceuticals, like the case of Martin Shkreli, who raised the cost of AIDS medication by 5000%. He is currently arrested not for what he did in terms of raising the prices for medication but for other reasons.
All of these points drive to home what I learned in my current class, Introduction to Behavioral Economics. My professor was bringing to light that when it comes to policy making, that psychologists aren't even considered about what kind of policies that can benefit people.
I am not sure how to reform Medacaid or other issues that the medical field has, but I would love to think of ways that would be beneficial to people. This whole conversation left me pondering about what kind of policies that should be changed.
I was thinking about whether the US healthcare should be more like the Canadian healthcare model, however, the reality is that Canadian healthcare model is really expensive and would impose so many Americans to pay higher taxes just to cover this. (A great article that highlights this point is seen here: http://www.forbes.com/sites/theapothecary/2014/06/13/if-universal-health-care-is-the-goal-dont-copy-canada/#3fa9e190290d)
