Challenging The Dark Secret Of Healthcare

It is long overdue to challenge the dark secretcomputerized.
about our healthcare system: We are not gettingThen there are the doctors who become red
quality healthcare services, and more than 47flags. Some dance with the dark secret of
million Americans can't afford any health insuranceunlimited wealth, rather than embracing their oath
coverage.to do no harm to others in desperate need of
Poor Americans receive Medicaid, but too manytreatment.
experience inferior medical care. Also, lots ofOur government is a red flag because for too
health care providers and doctors don't want tolong it has submitted to the will of medical
accept Medicaid payments, which attempts tolobbyists, insurance corporations, and
place limits on medical charges.pharmaceutical companies.
Retired Americans depend upon Medicare to meetWhy can't government be more sensitive to the
medical needs, but there are serious gaps andneeds of a majority of Americans buckling under
limitations in the coverage. Retired citizens whothe strain of our health care crisis?
are middle class can not afford to pay for longFace Feelings:
term care services available in nursing care homesPossibly, the healthcare industry and our own
or residential care facilities.federal government are simply too fearful to try
Many of our hospitals are managed poorly, havenew approaches to reform and change.
unacceptable mortality and infection rates, and areI assume they don't want to lose money, power,
depressing places to die in. The quality of ouror influence. It makes me angry to sense they
health care in this nation seems to be totallyrefuse to face their own dark secrets.
dependent on one's ability to pay.They claim a national health care system would
But doctor visits, prescription costs, and high techdecrease the quality of health care by taking
surgical care are placing huge financial stressors onaway the profit motive. Of course, they avoid
everybody.facing the fact that the profit motive is precisely
The rich can afford to pay for high medical costs,the cause of our health care crisis.
the middle class is experiencing inconsistent care,It is sad to think that CEO's of these corporations
and the poor depend on what they get in ourare making six figure incomes off the suffering of
emergency rooms.more than 47 million Americans who don't have
Unfortunately, too many doctors and hospitalsany health care coverage. How do you really feel
have become so busy that human emotions,about that?
compassion, and sensitivity have become lost inAnd why do our political and business leaders
the shuffle.seem so reluctant to look at the pros and cons
Too often, pills, computers, and specializedof national health systems in Canada, the
machines have become substitutes for the healthNetherlands, England, Germany and other
care professional's time and attitude of tenderEuropean nations?
loving care. It is time that we do somethingCan we forgive ourselves for thinking, believing,
positive to reform are whole health care system.and pretending that our health care system based
Now that we have been honest and open abouton profit is better than theirs?
the problem, let's go to the next steps on TheAdmit Powerlessness:
Emotional Recovery Card. (EMC is my unique lifeWe do have a sense of being powerless to
coaching approach to personal and social change.)change the system. We remain at the mercy of
Stop and Think:the insurance companies who cancel our coverage
Let's stop approaching health care from the pointbecause we have AIDS, Cancer, or some other
of view of one's ability to pay or as some simpleexpensive and catastrophic illness.
commodity at the whims of our marketWe can't seem to budge certain hospitals that
economy. Health care should become a basichave turned medical care into assembly lines for
human right. So, let's stop and think more aboutbeds, and patient charts, rather than a haven for
that.love, compassion, and healing.
Face Triggers:Many of us are powerless to change the medical
We need to face our red flags, and see theprofession and pharmaceutical industry, which say
private health insurance industry for what it reallythe market economy must determine the price
is: a business that seeks to make a profit fromfor all health care costs.
healthy people who don't need it very often.At times, we can become hopeless or apathetic
These corporations just keep striving to reduceabout professional politicians who are dependent
coverage for "pre-conditions", and they lobbyon political contributions from the health care
against legislation to extend national coverage toindustry to get the money they need to stay in
the sick, poor, and elderly.office.
Some hospitals are red flags, because they areI will complete our discussion of healthcare reform
corporations who profit from becoming morein my next article: Challenging the Dark Secret
specialized, bureaucratized, mechanized, andAbout Healthcare.