Mechanisms of American Medicine

In his book The Year of the Intern, Dr. Robin Cook (author of medical thrillers such as Fever, Coma, and Godplayer) wrote in the introduction:

Americans cling to their myths. Nowhere is this more evident than the emotion-charged realm of medicine and medical care. People believe what they want to believe, what they have always believed, and either ignore or dismiss as false anything that threatens their comforting confidence in their own doctors or the kind of medical treatment they may be receiving.

Only recently, and with reluctance, has the public at large begun to stir out of its smug assumption that medical personnel and care in the United States are the best in the world. And even this unwelcome awakening has been accomplished more by economics than reason, more by the rising costs for medical care than by the quality of that care.

This was written in 1972. Before Roe v. Wade. Before the economic Billy-club known as managed care. Back when doctors were able to make decisions and recommendations when it comes to patient care and not have to have an HMO rubber stamp approval.

Make no mistake about it: We do NOT have the best health care system in the world. Canada and various European nations have proven otherwise. The problem is though, it is socialized medicine.

In this nation in this day and age, ‘socialized medicine’ is the worst profanity ever to be spoken. Insurance companies have been squeezing every last cent out of the system, doctors in particular. I’m no great fan of physicians, but the days of the Wednesday afternoon golf games are over; they have been for a long time. These days, the only stable employment in the health care industry is nursing and administration.

How it generally works is that if you break your right fibula, the HMO will place you in a DRG (abbreviation for Diagnostic Related Grouping) for that condition and estimate an average it will pay, outside a PPO. You cover the rest.

“Hey, be grateful you live in America...more accessibility to healthcare than in the Third World.”

Hey, news flash: We are well on our way towards Third-world substandard healthcare not to mention housing, employment, and educational opportunities. Wake up America, you have been lied to. You are continuously lied to. And you continue to bend over for it. Again and again. Reagan’s “Trickle- down Economics” is the biggest myth since Creationism. It didn’t work then, it’s a total failure now.

Folks, there are plenty of pros and cons to socialized medicine. The profits won’t be as high, but it is a lot better than people dropping dead in the streets. Don’t think for one second that your current socioeconomic status will save you and you family: at this rate, healthcare will be “cash-up-front, or piss off.”

Yes, managed care has cut costs. It has done so by cutting quality of care, and availability of care.

The Bush administration has paved the way towards this. Pharmaceutical companies are getting kickbacks, tax-breaks and in return, this Neanderthal mafia known as the GOP are allowing companies to set prices, strong-arming drug companies outside their contributors and making “tort reform” an arbitrary weapon for the benefit of the top 1%. Angry physicians will not benefit from civil litigation caps: reforming the corporate structure will. The same clowns that cried about anti-monopoly regulation are now controlling the free market with a Goebbels-style boot.

As much as the Rightards would like to believe otherwise, the United States isn’t a Darwinian nation in that only the strong shall survive. If that were the case, W would have dropped-dead over the thought of having to make an honest living. This pampered frat boy is making sure that the top 1% will get their butts wiped through their elderly years, as well as…since they were born.

Drug companies, Insurance companies, managed care organizations and their control and use of big-government are what will destroy our beloved system of health and well-being.

It's a brave new world, and the cowards are at the helm.