My health care is making me sick

Getting sick is high on my list of life's biggest hassles these days! Excuse me if I am sounding like an "old fogie" when I reminisce about the "good old days;" but, I can't help thinking back on my childhood (in the 50's and the 60's) when my mom and dad would call our family doctor who lived in the neighborhood.

Dr. Greenfield would keep my dad calmed down who was such a worry-wart that he would get sick along with me and my two sisters. Sometimes the doctor would just send a prescription, which I know is considered a no-no these days, however, I must confess to still being alive at the ripe old age of 55 and 7 months young! Other times we would go to his office, or would you believe he would even make a "house call." For those of you who are too young to have experienced this extinct phenomena . this is when the doctor actually comes to see you at home. Yes, you get to lie in bed in your jammies, under the covers watching TV and eating popsicles where you belong when you are sick. Such a novel idea.

I fondly remember the time I was about 12, I had some kind of bug that had me blowing chunks (my son's 90's term) for several days. As usual my dad got sick along with me, so my mom would have two people to clean up after. In comes Dr. Greenfield, trying as always to relax my worried father. (I see the two of them playing ping-pong in the dining room. Unfortunately, Dr Greenfield died shortly thereafter of a massive heart attack in his forties. There may have been a line between his overzealous medical practice and his untimely death, or maybe it was in his "genes?" I don't know what he charged for all of this, but there was no such thing as insurance and my parents were not wealthy. We just paid the bills as your health and your family are your own responsibility. After all, is that not what life is all about?

Needless to say, it was good while it lasted. Contrast that to medical care in the present.

The first question I get asked when I pursue medical treatment is who is your insurance company and the responsible party. There is no one who is willing to give you any simple advice or reassurance for fear of being blamed for wrongdoing or sued for malpractice. The doctor that I had for 25 years, all my adult life, recently quit taking my insurance provider. Sure, I could pay out of pocket for office calls or non-catastrophic expenses in order to stay with him, but what if the "big one" does hit? Then what? No one else knows my history or me.

I am really upset over this, as just when I am getting old enough to need a doctor BOOM-he is gone! I felt comfortable with Dr. John. I trusted him personally and professionally. We had worked together at a local hospital where I was a dietitian. He knew my family and husband. He knew my quirks and neuroses. He had seen me "au natural." This is a big deal to me - changing doctors. This is like getting a divorce and having to date again. I want my doctor back! I'm a person who won't even change grocery stores because I know where the food is.

A few (10) years ago when my father died, my mother in her grief called her health plan only to find the last doctor who had seen her was no longer there. My mother, at age 71, could not get anyone to give her a Valium during her crisis! For this kind of care we pay BIG BUCKS. Hundreds and thousands of dollars? I think we were all better off before the big insurance companies and the government came to rescue us concerning our health care needs.

I have heard that you can get antibiotics at pet stores for fish, and they are the same thing people take. I recently bought a ten-pack of penicillin pills at the local pet supplier for $3.89 because I have been sick with "whatever" for nearly a month. I wimped out and did not take them due to all the warnings on the label discouraging what I was about to do! (Some people actually do read warning labels) I guess logic did dictate that I was different from my Cichlids. I have saved the pills for the next case of "ICK!" in our tank.

But, alas, I have survived despite any medical treatment at all other than some aspirin, a little wine, a few over the counter remedies, and advice from my handy home medical advisor. I've read they are about to come out with a do-it-yourself PAP smear. I wish they would hurry up, as I am already overdue on that one too.

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Australia: Physiotherapy students victimized by a near-bankrupt health system

Pressure on public hospitals has become so extreme that [Queensland] physiotherapy students are being forced to travel thousands of kilometres at their own expense to secure clinical training. Gold Coast students Lauren McLune and Emma Armfield have spent the past six weeks sharing a cramped room in a Hobart backpacker hostel because Queensland's public hospital system cannot afford to provide the practical training they need to graduate.

The pair had only four days' notice of their Hobart placement - the closest available to Griffith University's Gold Coast campus. They estimate they have each spent at least $2000 on accommodation, food and travel while also maintaining their homes on the Gold Coast. Ms Armfield, 28, had to quit two of her three part-time jobs to take the Hobart placement. "We didn't know whether to laugh or cry," Ms McLune, 25, said. "We entered into this degree knowing that this could happen. However, four days' notice is a bit different to the month that people usually get given."

The students' plight reflects the growing pains afflicting the nation's medical workforce. And it is not just physiotherapy students. Australian Medical Association national president Mukesh Haikerwal said medicine and all allied health professions suffered similar problems because poorly funded public hospital resources were straining to provide patient care, leaving no money for training. "The universities are cash-strapped, the hospitals are cash-strapped and the quality of education is at risk," Dr Haikerwal said. "If you are looking at having 10 students standing around a bed, it's more difficult than having two students. And it wears out the goodwill of both the educators and the patients."

The commonwealth and states agreed to boost medical students numbers this year. Within a few years, the number of graduates will climb from about 1500 to 3200. "But where will they train?" Dr Haikerwal said. He said the inter-governmental agreement was "a furphy" because no consideration had been given to boosting the capacity of hospitals to provide hands-on training and internships.

While politicians had claimed credit for funding more university places, universities were stumped over how to turn out doctors and other professionals with adequate practical experience. Australian Physiotherapy Association president Cathy Nall blamed the commonwealth for under-funding university courses. "There's no subsidy provided for accommodation for physiotherapy students in the way that there is for medical students and no assistance with travel costs," Ms Nall said. She agreed it was common for students to take practical placements in Tasmania because it had no university physiotherapy course. But they usually came from South Australia or Victoria and were given months of notice.

Source

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For greatest efficiency, lowest cost and maximum choice, ALL hospitals and health insurance schemes should be privately owned and run -- with government-paid vouchers for the very poor and minimal regulation. Both Australia and Sweden have large private sector health systems with government reimbursement for privately-provided services so can a purely private system with some level of government reimbursement or insurance for the poor be so hard to do?

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