An Introduction To Nationalized Healthcare (by Kristie Chapman, RN)
By Corey Thompson, filed in General, Healthcare, Kristie Chapman, RN on Jul.12, 2009
Kristie Chapman is a Registered Nurse, Healthcare Advocate, and gifted writer from Charlotte, North Carolina. She will serve as our “local expert” on all things related to Healthcare here at “The Thirsty Quill.” Kristie’s personal blog, “A Scarlet Stethoscope,” is loaded with additional information and resources, which you can find at http://rnadvocate.blogspot.com.
Most notably, Kristie was specifically recruited to speak on Healthcare at the recent Charlotte Independence Day Tea Party. Video/audio recordings of her speech will be posted later this week, so be sure to check back soon! We appreciate Kristie’s contributions, and we look forward to posting more of her work at ‘The Quill’ in the days ahead. You can contact her offline via email at kchapmanrn@gmail.com.
“An Introduction To Nationalized Healthcare”
By: Kristie Chapman, RN (Healthcare Writer for “The Thirsty Quill”)
To introduce the concept of healthcare that involves the government, I’ll be presenting examples…we’ll start with Europe, and then come all the way back to the United States, to where elements of socialized healthcare are already being implemented. Things like oxygen, pain medication, and basic, standard-of-care treatments are already being denied – by GOVERNMENT programs. Keeping those examples in mind, we’ll explore what Barack Obama is hinting at for healthcare reform (although you’ll be hard pressed to find a concrete ‘plan’ anywhere right now).
On June 24th, Barack Obama took over ABC and pitched his healthcare plan. He presented it in a ‘town hall’ platform where people were supposed to be able to ask critical questions about this proposal…was I the only one that noticed that very few questions were really answered? Was I the only one that noticed that the people really didn’t have much opportunity to talk? Did anyone else notice the ‘dance around the maypole’ answers being given to Americans that were asking crucial questions about their health, the health of their families, and their jobs?
President Obama says that there are 3 points to his healthcare plan: choice, effective treatment, and cost control. We’re going to explore what these three points really mean.
What “choice” will finally end up being for the American people, I fear, is the lack of choice. When I look at the broad picture of what is happening in the federal government and in the economy, it is frightening. If some of these proposals, including cap and trade, pass into law, the American people will be financially crippled. How will people be able to afford the healthcare they really need? What if this leads to the ONLY choice being a “public option”? I have called several offices at the Capitol to present the idea of a catastrophic healthcare coverage option so people could keep private insurance – and – it would take some of the financial burden off of private insurances so premiums could be lowered. I was inspired at the amount of support and appreciation I received when I called. But I was also saddened to learn that healthcare reform was turning into a playground brawl – if you’re not in the majority, you have little chance of being heard. If you’re a Republican in Congress and have a feasible idea for healthcare reform, your chances of having it be considered are slim to none. And this is the representative government that we’re all so proud of?
It’s time for America to send a loud and clear message to Washington: GROW UP. This isn’t a “neener neener neener” game of who has the crown and who doesn’t. This should be an educated debate about what is best for the American people, and ostracizing representatives from the debate just because they are not democrats is immature, rash, and dangerous.
Effective treatment…do you know what is being used to determine what is effective and what is not? Have you been to the doctor lately? Did you notice how your information is now on a computer instead of a paper chart? Ever wonder why? Yes, it’s new technology, and I think it is amazing – but the problem is, the government is trying to mandate what software is used in these healthcare facilities to manage medical records. The government has issued mandates to practices and hospitals that they get on electronic medical records – and not just ANY electronic medical record. The government has certified certain software programs and offered incentives to practices and hospitals for using them. For now. The idea is that in 2015, if you’re not using them, you’re penalized. Right now, the incentive for private practices and hospitals is HUGE because cuts in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement have put them in the red. They desperately need this extra funding to stay in business. In 2015, you can bet they’ll be with the program because the penalties, along with all of the other cuts in reimbursement they already have to deal with, will end up shutting them down. The information being entered is pooled into a huge data base to analyze patient outcomes, and a computer will then decide what is the “best practice” for patients according to certain factors like age, lifestyle choices, symptoms, etc. This computer can’t LOOK at the patient. The computer doesn’t have the insight and instincts of a good physician. In short, the government is trying to use these computers to take the place of physicians who have worked a lifetime to practice medicine, effectively standardizing the human body and making treatment decisions based on generalizations. This “reform” will leave physicians bound and gagged from practicing in a way that they feel is best. As if they weren’t already.
That leads me to cost-control.
Let me start this with a little bit of a bunny-trail: the whole “doctors are overpaid” thing that Obama loves to swing around. Excuse me, Mr. President, but if anyone understands the kind of responsibility that you have for so many human lives, it’s doctors. Doctors don’t have czars and advisors to help them with every decision – they’re on their own. If you devote your life, LITERALLY 24 hours a day, to caring for people, I’d think you’d deserve a darn good wage to do it. The doctors I work with come in completely exhausted some mornings because their pagers allowed them no rest. But they still have to be at 110%, ready to give all for patients that need their help. Their responsibility is mind-blowing – they hold the health of thousands of people on their shoulders, and their decisions can make the difference between life and death. If you don’t think they deserve a substantial amount of money for doing this, walk a mile in their shoes - until you do that, I’m sorry, but you have no right to pass judgment.
OK, so back to the healthcare plan.
Barack Obama is woefully misinformed about healthcare. He feels like physicians are ordering diagnostic testing because of getting “kickbacks”, and thereby driving up costs. Um…no. Ask any doctor. Every time you order a test, you are smacked down by an insurance company that doesn’t want to pay for it, and the doctors are on the phone for hours arguing to get these tests covered, taking time away from patient care, from being DOCTORS. Many tests are ordered because doctors fear that if they don’t, they will be sued. Have you looked at the cost for malpractice insurance lately? Did you ever wonder why in some states, there are so few obstetricians that will deliver babies that some women have to travel over 80 miles when they go into labor? Here’s your answer: these doctors stopped delivering babies because they couldn’t afford the liability insurance to protect them. They couldn’t risk losing their livelihood and their life’s work over one lawsuit. These are honest, hard working doctors that want the best for their patients, and America is losing that benefit because our society is so “sue-happy”. Wouldn’t you think that considering some reform on medical malpractice law might be in order?
Barack Obama doesn’t think so. He told the American Medical Association as much.
No, Obama thinks “prevention” is the key. But there’s no real definition of “prevention”. And no real consideration of personal responsibility in his “healthcare reform” pitch.
This information is the tip of a big nasty iceberg. The huge point I hope to get across is that healthcare reform is a HUGE undertaking – it is not something to be rushed and thrown together as much of the recent legislation has been. Barack Obama has gone from meddling with our wallets to meddling with our lives. We should have drawn the line a long time ago. If we don’t draw the line now, it will affect our very basic well being.
Be informed. Communicate with your elected officials with your views, ideas and suggestions. If you work in healthcare, it is your duty to be an active participant in healthcare reform – if you don’t stand up for your patients and your job, who will?
Kristie Chapman is a Registered Nurse, Healthcare Advocate, and gifted writer from Charlotte, North Carolina. She will serve as our “local expert” on all things related to Healthcare here at “The Thirsty Quill.” Kristie’s personal blog, “A Scarlet Stethoscope,” is loaded with additional information and resources, which you can find at http://rnadvocate.blogspot.com.
Most notably, Kristie was specifically recruited to speak on Healthcare at the recent Charlotte Independence Day Tea Party. Video/audio recordings of her speech will be posted later this week, so be sure to check back soon! We appreciate Kristie’s contributions, and we look forward to posting more of her work at ‘The Quill’ in the days ahead. You can contact her offline via email at kchapmanrn@gmail.com.
July 17th, 2009 on 1:22 pm
Kristie,
I appreciate the health care specific critique that you bring to the discussion. As a recipient of medical care only I have a very limited view. As a healthy 33 year old, I also receive care very infrequently, apart from physicals, eye exams and teeth cleanings, and yet my total employer paid health premiums for myself and family amount to nearly $8,000 per year. It seems, on the surface, that something is entirely out of control. The other side of that coin is that I choose to have health insurance. I have read that constitution a number of times and what really gets me in this whole discussion is that I can’t find where health care is a right. If healthcare is to be a right, specifically granted to the federal government in the Constitution, then it seems to me that to specifically grant such requires Amendment 28. Approved by both houses, and sent to the states for ratification. We’re not talking about a filibuster proof majority, we’re talking about ¾ of both houses, ¾ of the several states. If the People want this, then the People need to decide. Let’s roll up our sleeves and get after it; not have an over priced, under detailed, poorly understood, one thousand page bill change personal choices into guaranteed rights.
July 21st, 2009 on 5:16 am
Scott,
I agree wholeheartedly. I’m not sure how they are going to pass this without a constitutional amendment…they certainly are making a good try. But then again, the President doesn’t have the constitutional power to remove a CEO from a private business, either.
What is happening now is frightening on so many levels. At the CAUTION meeting last night, Corey said something that put my worst fear right on the table: if this passes, it’s DONE - this will become an entitlement, just like welfare benefits, and will be impossible to repeal. I can’t help but wonder if the people that are polled who support this healthcare reform realize this?
Thanks so much!!!
July 22nd, 2009 on 4:45 pm
In polling almost 20 years ago and in recent polling, about 80-85% respondents said there was a “healthcare crisis” in this country. But about 80-85% ALSO said that THEIR healthcare was pretty good. The two results are mutually exclusive until you realize that the so- called “crisis” is, in fact, nothing more than a PERCEPTION created by the incessant drumbeat by the Democrats and their shills in Big Media to justify the very socialist takeover legislation they are trying ramrod through right now.
Start reigning in the greedy trial lawyers and their endless malpractice suits, which also encourage doctors to order multiple tests to cover their butts, and watch prices drop. Same with medical costs. This also includes caps on punitive damages and also requiring plaintiffs to pick up all the costs for litigation that they lose.
Eliminate ILLEGAL aliens from receiving most medical care. (They are a THIRD of the “45 million uninsured” the Demoncrats keep reminding us about.)
Understand that Federal and state coverage mandates make it virtually impossible for people to have the choice of far cheaper catastrophic coverage only! That’s about 45% of the “uninsured!”
Make the Federal Government eliminate the in-excess of $100 BILLION in waste, fraud and abuse in Medicare and Medicaid that drives up healthcare costs
July 22nd, 2009 on 4:48 pm
I meant “Same with medicine (drug) costs” in Para 2, not “medical costs..” [sic]
July 23rd, 2009 on 5:29 am
Mel, I agree - the one thing that I feel like is purposefully forgotten in the ‘drumbeat’ is the huge amount of assistance programs out there for the uninsured/underinsured that are dealing with catastrophic illnesses. I met with some folks from the Buddy Kemp Caring House in Charlotte and was really inspired by all they do to help this group of people. But when a large number of uninsured are running to emergency rooms for mosquito bites (that really happened in Charlotte) and colds, it does end up being a crisis. I’m still steamed that the President refuses to consider any type of malpractice reform in this healthcare reform package he’s spinning. Sometimes I wonder if these people are more intent on creating a worse problem instead of trying to address the problems we already have.
Thanks for your comments!!!
August 9th, 2009 on 3:46 pm
“nothing more than a PERCEPTION created by the incessant drumbeat by the Democrats and their shills in Big Media to justify the very socialist takeover legislation they are trying ramrod through right now.”
The biggest problem with insurance companies is that they are a for profit business. If it is not within an insurance companies interest to cover your medical bills or they can find a loophole that will stop your coverage, they will do it.
Case and point, an acquaintance of mine at work’s daughter was in her upper 20’s living in Chicago for a Fortune 500 company. Great benefits, great salary, full coverage healthcare. That is, until she got a brain tumor and the insurance company refused to pay for a penny of it, making the parents and the daughter foot the entire bill which, consequently, left the daughter and her parents flat broke.
Another example, I was watching one of those trauma room TV shows on Discovery Channel the other day when I saw an ER doctor get off the phone and say “I just talked to [forgot the name of the insurance company] and they said to go ahead and do a CAT Scan.” Since when is it the insurance companies decision who should receive a CAT Scan?
I guess my point is that insurance companies are not benevolent entities, like the Right would have people to perceive, either.
Again, insurance companies are a for profit business and anytime that you mix weighing a person’s health with quarterly profits, the person will always lose.
I’m not saying that a government run healthcare system would be any better (replace the word “insurance company” with “government” in my stories and you’ve got another argument
), it’s just that the current system is borked as is. The current people in office see that and are trying to change that system, for better or for worse.
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