Comments on: Who is Responsible for Your Health Care? http://gohealthygo.com/2008/10/responsiblehealthcare/ Living Longer, Living Naturally, & Living in Freedom. A WomanWize blog Sun, 02 Nov 2008 01:52:40 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Janet Wilms http://gohealthygo.com/2008/10/responsiblehealthcare/comment-page-1/#comment-50 Janet Wilms Fri, 24 Oct 2008 23:31:41 +0000 http://gohealthygo.com/?p=259#comment-50 Karen, You bring up some excellent points. The fact of the matter is that the US health care industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that is not interested in promoting disease prevention. The pharmaceutical manufacturers make a lot of money off of illness. They would have to re-tool their entire business model and approach to shift to a prevention mindset, and figure out how to generate millions of dollars in revenue off of a healthy diet and exercise plan. It is not in their financial interest to have healthy Americans. The same can be said for the fee-for-service reimbursement for doctor's services that exists within the typical health plan structure. Doctor's are able to bill annually (at most) for physicals and other "preventative services" for adults. Some preventive tests and procedures are only covered every 5 years or only after a certain age. The real income for physicians in a fee-for-service reimbursement model is when patients come to their office on a regular basis for prescriptions, lab work, and illness-related services. Now, I am not saying that physicians do not care for the health of their patients or that they are only in the medical field to earn a paycheck. I am saying that the current insurance system does not support an emphasis on prevention and wellness. Whoever takes on the job of our next President needs to be able to take on the big, well-funded lobbies sponsored by Big Pharma and Big Medicine. The only way we are going to see a true shift to prevention is for Americans to demand equal coverage for preventive services and for employers and insurers to add a premium penalty for disease costs related to controllable lifestyle factors. The first may happen. People are starting to take an interest in living well, not just living. The second factor, though, is going to be a difficult pill for most to swallow. Karen,
You bring up some excellent points. The fact of the matter is that the US health care industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that is not interested in promoting disease prevention. The pharmaceutical manufacturers make a lot of money off of illness. They would have to re-tool their entire business model and approach to shift to a prevention mindset, and figure out how to generate millions of dollars in revenue off of a healthy diet and exercise plan. It is not in their financial interest to have healthy Americans. The same can be said for the fee-for-service reimbursement for doctor’s services that exists within the typical health plan structure. Doctor’s are able to bill annually (at most) for physicals and other “preventative services” for adults. Some preventive tests and procedures are only covered every 5 years or only after a certain age. The real income for physicians in a fee-for-service reimbursement model is when patients come to their office on a regular basis for prescriptions, lab work, and illness-related services. Now, I am not saying that physicians do not care for the health of their patients or that they are only in the medical field to earn a paycheck. I am saying that the current insurance system does not support an emphasis on prevention and wellness.
Whoever takes on the job of our next President needs to be able to take on the big, well-funded lobbies sponsored by Big Pharma and Big Medicine. The only way we are going to see a true shift to prevention is for Americans to demand equal coverage for preventive services and for employers and insurers to add a premium penalty for disease costs related to controllable lifestyle factors. The first may happen. People are starting to take an interest in living well, not just living. The second factor, though, is going to be a difficult pill for most to swallow.

]]> By: Joel Thornton http://gohealthygo.com/2008/10/responsiblehealthcare/comment-page-1/#comment-49 Joel Thornton Wed, 15 Oct 2008 19:57:36 +0000 http://gohealthygo.com/?p=259#comment-49 Karen, Great article! The government should maintain roads, maintain and deploy the military, and carry the mail--everything else they touch they ruin. Let's decrease the size of government rather than increase it. They could really help by banning advertising of drugs that require a prescription on television. That money alone could probably pay for the sky rocketing costs. Then they could cut out the kick backs to doctors. Otherwise the government is the problem not the solution. Thanks for your well-reasoned look at a tough issue. Joel Karen,

Great article! The government should maintain roads, maintain and deploy the military, and carry the mail–everything else they touch they ruin. Let’s decrease the size of government rather than increase it. They could really help by banning advertising of drugs that require a prescription on television. That money alone could probably pay for the sky rocketing costs. Then they could cut out the kick backs to doctors. Otherwise the government is the problem not the solution.

Thanks for your well-reasoned look at a tough issue.

Joel

]]> By: Linda Kleist http://gohealthygo.com/2008/10/responsiblehealthcare/comment-page-1/#comment-48 Linda Kleist Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:40:46 +0000 http://gohealthygo.com/?p=259#comment-48 Karen, You raise some excellent questions. Why you think people may be looking to the government for health care? Is it that we have come to expect the government to catch us when we fall in so many other areas such as unemployment insurance, social security, disaster relief, securing our savings accounts, and educating our children--even through college! Perhaps you could address other issues that hinder many people from taking charge of their own health. The glut of supplements on the market can be overwhelming. Furthermore, people may feel apprehensive about spending on supplements when they may not see results right away. Why do we trust doctors more than "non-medical" health advisers? Why don't we have time to learn about healthy choices: isn't making changes in our lifestyle more difficult to do than to take a pill from the doctor? Karen, You raise some excellent questions. Why you think people may be looking to the government for health care? Is it that we have come to expect the government to catch us when we fall in so many other areas such as unemployment insurance, social security, disaster relief, securing our savings accounts, and educating our children–even through college!
Perhaps you could address other issues that hinder many people from taking charge of their own health. The glut of supplements on the market can be overwhelming. Furthermore, people may feel apprehensive about spending on supplements when they may not see results right away.
Why do we trust doctors more than “non-medical” health advisers?
Why don’t we have time to learn about healthy choices: isn’t making changes in our lifestyle more difficult to do than to take a pill from the doctor?

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