Healthcare

Medicine had been a “Rescue and Repair” profession with a good track record in improved treatment outcomes from 1900 to the 1960s.  Antibiotics were finally perfected in the 1940s and that was huge. Polio vaccine was offered in the 1950s adding more credibility. DNA was discovered by the biochemists in the 1960s, but law enforcement has been its major beneficiary so far.

During the 1960s, lots of special interests took control of medicine and made costs skyrocket. The special interests include the government, for-profit hospitals, malpractice settlements, pharmaceuticals, unnecessary tests, innovations that don’t work, treatments that kill you, insurance companies and “not it’s all free”.

The government subsidies, regulations and laws have made it too expensive.  Unnecessary tests are ordered to satisfy malpractice defense attorneys. 

For-profit corporations took over most not-for-profit hospitals beginning in the 1960s. Costs went through the roof.

Pharmaceutical companies don’t look for cures, just more expensive treatments and snake oil.  Pills have replaced snake oil that was sold for “everything that ails you” including Viagra.

Before malpractice suits, doctors monitored each other and the cost of patient harm due to medical errors was suspension and loss of licenses. Malpractice suits have become a racket and need to be limited. It’s another part of the pile-on driving healthcare costs to unsustainable levels.

Unnecessary tests used for defensive medicine would be able to be avoided if malpractice was limited.

Innovations that don’t work like most lab-grown implants needed to be replaced by mesh. Breast implants were a disaster.

Cancer treatments will kill you before the cancer does. Chemotherapy and radiation are toxic. Hospitals can’t control infections from being passed from patient to patient. Home care is cheaper and better

The Insurance Industry is a single-cell animal with no brain and three working parts. It charges premiums, pays claims and increases premiums. They have had no stake in lobbying for the reductions of unnecessary costs. The price/demand curve continues to have its effect on non-participation.

The rule forcing hospitals to treat all comers regardless of their ability to pay is nuts. In the old days, patients who had high medical bills could pay them off with $50 per month payments until they were paid. Doctors had charity practices and poor farmers would pay them with bushels of food.

Never has so much money been spent on something so unreliable and inconsistent.  This is not like rebuilding a transmission.  All patients are different, symptoms can be the same for a variety of illnesses,

Prevention is an individual responsibility. The list of what is bad for you changes all the time. Patients must question any treatment plan that requires hospitalization and should find cheaper alternatives, even if they have health insurance. The best strategy is to use medical care sparingly.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader