Ted Cruz is not the only guilty party. The likes of Ron Paul and Cruz are misrepresenting labor union leaders and declaring Obamacare a plot similar to Nazism. Though the democrats have some proof of early success regarding the latest reports on patient access and a leveling off of health care costs, they are as unethical and misleading as their republican colleagues whom they compare to bomb-strapped terrorists.
It appears that our politicians are not only making it more difficult to understand the need for broader and deeper health care coverage and a path to a healthier society, they now appear to be in a position to close down the government. Once again, the lives of thousands of Americans will be negatively affected. Closing the government will affect Wall Street, thus our pensions. Once again, their actions make us look weak, mean-spirited and indecisive to the rest of the world. And, in the rest of the world, especially in the more advanced industrialized countries, people are mostly happy with their health care systems. Or, at the very least, they are paying less with better results. For many countries, healthcare is a right, not an entitlement. Keep in mind, however, that it took generations; decades, to evolve and improve these international health care systems.
Therefore, to start this conversation, let us start with the comment by Senator Ted Cruz. He offered, in his 21-hour marathon monologue, the question of why should, we, Americans be in a position to lose our physicians. He is assuming that we now have control over what physician we can choose and maintain; the furthest thing from the truth. We do not have such control now, nor will we in the foreseeable future. For the vast majority of physicians, they, themselves, are controlled by the very expensive managed-care or health care systems that provide them a pay check every two weeks. And, for a growing number of physicians, their salary is ultimately adjusted no longer by being good and ethical and showing up for work every day, but by how many patients they see in a day, or how many tests they order or not order. Senator Cruz’s assumption is that said physicians will magically be available to us for decades. The system is the deciding factor, not the patient nor the physician. Thus, he is wrong. Senator Cruz is also assuming that a U.S. physician is maximally trained and in a position to assist us along the path to better health. By better health I do not mean what is the best drug for one’s high blood pressure or best technology to further diagnosis a chronic or mental illness. I mean, who is the best physician who has garnered an incredible education, not only in acute and chronic care medicine, but also in health promotion, wellness, disease prevention, and alternative medicine, which in many cases should no longer be “alternative”, but a mainstay of how we care for our children, adult and elderly populations. Such well-rounded care is not happening in our U.S. health care system. Yes, some changes have been made regarding how we train our clinicians, however, it is occurring at an incredibly slow pace, with no national mandate, until recently, with this version of a progressive health care policy we define as Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act.
We not only have a shortage of physicians, overall, but also disproportion. There are too many physicians in some locations and not nearly enough in other communities and regions of the country. Furthermore, a physician in the U.S can either be trained in allopathic medicine or osteopathic medicine. The thought, decades ago, when these two lines of training developed, was that one would be demonstrated to be more effective then the other or provide a better, more holistic level of care–this has not happened. Only in America… We now have nurses, nurse clinicians, and physician assistants doing the work of the physician, which may be fine, but as a nation we have not moved in declaring any major change in how we deliver health based on these new levels of heath care personnel. In fact, when you show up in a physician’s office thinking you are going to get “your physician,” there is a growing likelihood you will not, unless, of course, you are a prominent physician or wealthy or both.not happening in our U.S. health care system. Yes, some changes have been made regarding how we train our clinicians, however, it is occurring at an incredibly slow pace, with no national mandate, until recently, with this version of a progressive health care policy we define as Obamacare or the Affordable Care Act.
So, Senator Cruz and politicians on both sides of the fence really do not get “how to get to better health” and appear not to be making an honest and ethical effort to do so. We have much to do, requiring a significant amount of courage, honesty, integrity and intelligence. Redefining the role of the U.S. physician and providing better training to our medical students and residents to enhancing the mission of our hospitals will demand these characteristics.
What we need to do now is at least get those citizens who do not have insurance into a health care system, even though that health care system is broken. We cannot let the poor and other uninsured citizens wonder out there with nothing. We cannot allow our newborns to suffer a higher mortality rate than newborns in most other industrialized countries, simply because their mothers do not have access to some national health care system. We cannot keep abusing our emergency rooms with illnesses and health issues that can be dealt with in some national health system even though it is broken. This is what Senator Cruz and the great majority of our politicians, who very much have the best health care in the world available to them, simply do not get. So, let’s “correct and enhance”, as many other countries have done from generation to generation, rather than tear down and allow others to fall victim, once again, to our politicians uncaring, dishonest, unethical and indecisive behavior.
Matt Masiello, M.D., MPH 