Radioactive words: cost containment and rationing. The reality however is that we should all be embracing a strong counter force to the expanding menu of health care options and services that the medical industrial complex is trying to sell us.
A lot of what passes for health care in the United States is cosmetic and elective, not to mention unproven and actually guinea pig medicine. As a formerly well-insured American, my life is littered with examples. I will describe just one of each of the above as I am sure each and every well insured individual can, if honest or more importantly well informed and educated, find that they are also the beneficiaries of this largesse.
As a women with two children, I have undergone two births in the US. In both cases I wanted to have as natural a childbirth as possible. Even though a midwife was not covered by my comprehensive health insurance, I chose to pay from my pocket to have one. But even my midwife's standard prenatal care included having numerous ultrasounds, which were fully covered by my insurance.
In the last two years, researching health care, I have found out that in countries such as Canada, only women who have a complication during pregnancy get an ultrasound. The World Health Organization only recommends ultrasound to diagnose problems. Only about fifteen percent of pregnancies are considered problem pregnancies. The reason for this is we do not yet know enough concerning potential negative side effects to the fetus of all this radiation, yet, in this country, if you are insured, you get at least one ultrasound. The average is actually 2.1 ultrasounds per pregnancy. It is considered basic preventive medicine. The body has numerous natural "alerts" designed to let a women know that there may be an impending problem. However in the United States ultrasounds, instead of being used to diagnose problems as originally intended, are now being used to rule out problems. The bottom line financially is that eighty-five percent of ultrasounds in the US are not needed!
Article comments
1 - Maria Ferrer
In this country, we have been programmed to believe that doctors are always right. If they say, have this procedure, and the plan pays, then why not? It's scary how much power a doctor can yield. How much power we allow them. And you are right, IT IS TIME for individuals to take control of their health. We need to be informed about our doctors, the procedures and the medical plans. It's a daunting task to be sure, but necessary. I don't want to be a guinea pig.
2 - Tania Sole
Thank-you for reading my post. Sadly medicine today is big business. Unfortunately our cultural obsession with financial gain has now also permeated the medical industrial complex. Patients, really customers, need to understand this fundamental change.
3 - Heidi Stevenson
You may have been harmed far more than you realize. So much more harm is done than acknowledged. For example, steroids are routinely used in small children for eczema. Steroids cause all sorts of havoc, including asthma. Know what has recently been reported? Children with eczema are likely to get asthma later. I seriously doubt that asthma is the inevitable result of eczema. It's most likely the steroids.
Then, steroids are given for the asthma. Ultimately, the children who get steroids end up with worse asthma. They've paid for a period of time in which their symptoms are better with a worsening of their condition. Yet doctors continue to do it. They do so in spite of the massive increase in asthma in recent years, and in spite of the even greater risks of routine use of steroids, including diabetes and heart attacks.
There's so much more harm being done by routine treatments, it's an entirely reasonable statement to say that you aren't sure if you have or will be harmed.
I agree - why have an operation because your knee goes out every couple of years? That's crazy - and I can't imagine that anything but profit is the reason for such a suggestion from a doctor.
I agree with Tania - medicine most assuredly is Big Business.
Thank you for writing a thoughtful and important article.
4 - Tania Sole
Heidi, Thank-you for your comments. In most cultures doctors are held in such high regard that their word is gospel. The reality is that as I suggest in my booklet: Write-it-Right (link to it from my name) we need to start thinking about them as Human Repair Dealers and take the same attitude we take when visiting our local auto repair shop. Tania