I'm not choosing sides here, i think the healthcare in this country is broken and neither party can fix it.
I 'll start with my story: I recently have been without insurance and i got some small bites on my knee from chiggers, i had a bad reaction and i started to get streaking up my leg. I went to the local clinic that was the cheapest because all i needed was antibiotics. I am very healthy and havent gone to the doctor since 5 years ago for a spider bite. Anyway, it cost me $80 just to walk in the door, then $120 for a antibiotic shot in my buttocks, then i pay on the way out another $240 for level 2 care whatever that is, i suppose that was for the cleaning and bandage, then i go to get my prescription at walgreens and it was$75 for basic antibiotics. Over $500 later im finally done. It cleared up right away, but there is no way it should cost that much. I almost should of just bought a round trip ticket to mexico and went to a clinic there for some antibiotics. would of saved money and got a trip out of it. Which brings me to my rant.
Healthcare in the u.s. has been awful for years even before obamacare and it has just gotten steadily worse. A typical general family doctor has only 4 hours of mandatory nutritional training, the system is set up to create returning clients not to keep people healthy and prevent visits. At the same time doctors prescribed over 2 billion prescriptions in one year alone, many with bad side affects and some that are very addicting, can you say opium crisis? Most of these drugs just mask and treat only the symptoms and not the underlying cause.
The govt involvement has created this problem along with the higher costs. Health insurance is now mandatory under the ACA, wonder how bad something is when you are forced to buy it? This quasi socialist type system has little price discovery mechanisms to keep the costs competitive, it was written by the big pharmaceutical companies who want to make money off everyone from cradle to grave. Force everyone into a socialist system where the doctor and hospital works for the govt and insurance companies, shouldnt the doctors work for the patient? They don't because we are not directly paying them.
A great solution would be for the govt to get out of the way and allow the free market and competition to allow for better care, lower costs and a renewed doctor patient relationship along with alternative holistic approaches. Create a two tiered system, one with local clinics and doctors who could do simple things like stitches, prescribe antibiotics for poison ivy or spider bite infections or even set a cast on a broken arm. This would all be paid in cash or personal medical savings account and would be significantly lower cost. Health insurance should be purchased like home owners insurance, not for every little day to day things but for catastrophic accidents or diseases. This along with competition would significantly lower the costs of catastrophic care. The fact is now average people are paying hundreds of dollars per month in premiums yet there deductibles are so high they are paying double when something small like i had pops up, might as well just pay the penalty.
We can fix this healthcare mess the old faishon american way, and its not by expecting the govt in collusion with the medical establishment and big pharma to force us into it ( that's the definition of fascism). Get out of the way and let americans and the free market decide what is best for our own health. We are the customer, it is our body and the doctor and hospital work for us, not being railroaded into a system where your just a number and they are just pushing there drugs, vaccines and collecting your data. THIS IS WHAT WE GET, when we give up and give in to our lives being controlled by the govt. I know there are some good doctors out there and some great technology for dealing with some complicated issues, but most of us just need basic care every few years for small things like stitches or antibiotics occasionally, that shouldn't cost an arm and a leg.
I only briefly touched on a few things, this issue is huge and i left so much out... just getting it off my chest, thanks for reading