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HEALTH CARE USA The Obama transition team asked that small, health-care discussion groups be held in communities across the United States in the last half of December. As in thousands of other communities, we formed a small group at Unity Church and had a wide-ranging discussion on the 27th of December about problems in health and health care in the USA. We have many superb physicians and medical centers with excellent ability to diagnose and treat life-threatening diseases and disorders. Yet access to care, health care costs, and overall coordination of health care matters are problematic at best, and appalling at worst. Stories about people suffering major illness or trauma with no medical care coverage are common. Even those with good insurance often have difficulties coping with the system. Most health authorities acknowledge that our health care system in the United States is less than ideal. Piecemeal approaches to fixing these problems have not worked well in the past, and are not likely to now. After much discussion, our group came to a consensus on three broad recommendations to address basic health matters in the United States. These recommendations are as follows: I. It is time to move toward Universal Health Care in the United States. II. Strong emphasis needs to be placed on Wellness Practices in our culture. III. Corporate lobbying influence on health care policy should be limited. Universal health care in some form has been debated in the United States for a long time. Sometimes called socialized medicine, it has definite pros and cons, as does our present system. American genius can design a health care system that incorporates best practices found in existing universal health care systems around the world, yet keeps some of our own best practices. It is time for us to design the best health care system in the world. With regard to personal health, many Americans do not take the best care of themselves. Most do not realize how much this self-neglect factor costs them and our health system. It is hard to imagine a healthy population largely free of heart disease only because we have lived with the abnormal for so long. Yet it is possible. Careful research shows that over 75 percent of our chronic disease burden can be avoided by healthier lifestyles. This is a huge factor. It’s not government’s role to regulate health behavior, but it can do much to encourage wellness practices in every possible way. Americans can commit to taking good care of their health. The result will be a better quality of life and a healthier nation. To level the political playing field, the lobbying power of major corporations must be limited. The public should have a real voice on matters of public interest. Government should routinely ask for citizen input on major issues like health policy. Strong grassroots involvement and feedback grounded in our democratic system is vitally important. As the Obama campaign has shown, today’s communication tools make this possible. Can we really do all of the above? To quote the Obama theme: “Yes – we can!” |