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What can we do as citizens, not just consumers or patients, to improve quality, cost and access to healthcare services for all American?
The American healthcare system is sick, and is getting more and more critical by the day. The symptoms are severe. 1. unsustainable costs for individuals and families leading to personal bankruptcies and inability to get needed care 2. escalating expenditures by local and the federal government that deprive funding from other important priorities such as education and infrastructure 3. escalating federal expenditures for healthcare that increase the national debt to unacceptable levels 4. lack of insurance coverage for too many Americans leading to increased cost of healthcare services for all of us 5. poor safety and quality performance that leads to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths and injuries.
It is clear to most Americans that politicians, driven by their need to serve small ideological groups as well as well funded stakeholders and interest groups, will not help us achieve the needed solutions. The will do all they can to maintain the status quo.
What can we as citizens do to overcome the barriers to a more effective healthcare system?
Closing Statement from Shimon Waldfogel
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has. Margaret Mead
It is clear from the talk and comments that we are not satisfied leaving it to politicians to simply bandage our broken healthcare system.
Our political leaders, working within a toxic and highly polarized political system, are proving incapable of providing needed solutions.
It has become clear to me and many others that healing our healthcare system will be up to each one of us—not only by voting, but by getting involved to change the course of our nation.
That is why I created Citizens4Health, an organization motivated by the belief that citizen engagement will contribute to solutions to the big problems that confront our nation. Citizens4Health invites citizens to imagine and engage in a process that brings about a sustainable healthcare system that provides excellent, affordable and accessible services to all Americans.
On October 20th, 2102 we will formally launch Citizens4Health with an event called Health of the Nation. The inaugural Health of the Nation will highlight a treatment to help cure our sick healthcare system. Many of the ideas of the commentators will be used.
Learn about our organization and events at www.citizens4health.org/Health-of-the-Nation
Sander de Koning
Live a healthy life, try not to indulge too much in harmful habits and eat healthy food. Listen to your body, it gives off warning signals before it breaks down. Don't go to the doctor for every cough and sneeze but see if it goes away. Educate yourself on health, do a bit of literature research into health and some ailment you might have and try to apply it into your life, learn how to treat simple things. Use herbs, ideally plant a herb garden and look up what herbs can benefit you the most, they work better then you'd expect.
That way there is less resources wasted on things that could have been prevented or cured without healthcare. Ofcourse there is a lot wrong with healthcare and medicine, but that's not something a citizen can do much about. It takes people with knowledge on the subject to change that kind of things.
peter lindsay 30+
pat gilbert 100+
Robert Winner 50+
Orlando Hawkins 20+
What I mentioned has been expressed by tea party members and republicans multiple times in the media (if you know anything about conversations regarding death panels then you would have surly heard about everything I mentioned). When it comes to health care reform those two political factions are the biggest impediments..if you don't know this I'd have to kindly say I'm the one who is concerned. nonetheless that's not what's important and your more than entitled to your opinion.
..here is one example. You will find what I'm talking about within the first minute of reading the article.:
enjoy
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20105190-503544.html
Orlando Hawkins 20+
To get people to realize that universal health care does not equal socialism as well as the holocaust and the gulag.
After this I think a serious discourse can take place
R H 20+
pat gilbert 100+
This subject responds to supply and demand when the price becomes free the demand skyrockets. Part of this is the way that the individual has no idea what the cost is therefore wants the best of everything. The idea of HSA's were to help with this.
There is no interstate competition so the the insurance providers have no competition. This is crony capitalism.
There is a huge amount of corruption in medicare.
Because the medicare doesn't do anything to worry about costs the costs relating to medicare skyrocket.
Lawsuits are ubiquitous there needs to be tort reform.
The FDA needs to be done away with.
It is regulated to death.
Not to mention free ER service for anyone who shows up at hospital.
And more that I don't know about
Suffice to say get government the F out of healthcare and it will be healthy.
William Baldwin
The way I see it is the problem begins with the citizens and their fear. This makes us vulnerable and easily exploited.
Employer supplied health insurance is bad. The premium costs are split up between the employer and employee. The employee does not share enough of the cost to understand their impact of how they use the insurance. Therefore they end up over-using the insurance, when many of their ailements can be self-treated or left to run their course.
Pretty much anykind of free healthcare will make the situation worse. I am not saying that private charity hospitals are bad. This is much better, because people are gladly giving money to help their fellow man; but anytime people are getting a service for free they WILL abuse it.
Taxpayer funded healthcare will be no different, because many of those who use it will not be paying for it, and they will abuse it.
The solution is for citizens to have to be accountable for their own lifestyles and well-being (Though they make it difficult to do so right now), don't feed at the free trough if they can help it (I know they have us over a barrel on that one) and stop being scared of dying. Take away the demand and the prices will start to come down.
I know all of this seems extreme, but if the Citizens don't take charge of themselves then someone else will; because for everyone to have a right to healthcare is unsustainable or will remove too much money from the people's pocket for the economy to function properly.
Compassion is burdened with as much irresponsibility as it motivates good deeds.
W.P. Baldwin