Medical Reform: They Don’t Have a Clue

Present political debate about health care totally ignores the real problem. First of all, let's get the nomenclature right. Our medical system is disease care, not health care. Modern medicine is focused on naming diseases and treating their symptoms by managing laboratory numbers. It knows little about what creates health and does little to enhance it. It is after-the-fact medicine.

The run up in medical costs is directly attributable to the flawed medical philosophy of focusing on repair, not prevention. It is also bloated by unnecessary interventions in an attempt to avoid law suits--which conveniently also pads the pockets of the medical providers.

When things are irrational at their foundations, they create irrational—and often deadly—results. Modern medical care is the number one killer in our society--iatrogenic (doctor-caused) and nosocomial (hospital-caused) infections, errors, and drug toxicities.(medical literature of this allegation, number one killer article link ("Living Life As If Thinking Matters", Chapter 17, Page 73)Its devastation is equivalent to six airliners full of passengers crashing every single day! In the present debate, when have you heard that mentioned? 

Instead, all we hear is regurgitated (false) propaganda about how we have the “best medical care system in the world,” and how it is responsible “for extending our lives.” ("Living Life As If Thinking Matters", Chapter 19, Page 87)

So the clamor to reform the medical system is (as usual) all about money and how to be sure everyone has better access to the number one killer in our society. This perpetuates the myth that your health is someone else’s responsibility requiring money and experts. Nonsense.

You health is your responsibility. Well over 90% of medical visits are self-limiting conditions for which no treatment other than time is necessary. Instead, people play the victim, clamor for drugs (that mask symptoms and create disease), and surgery that permanently alters the body’s structure and ability to heal itself. (This is not to slight the truly spectacular capabilities of crisis care.)

All people need do to virtually eliminate the need for medical care is the common sense salubrious things we all know: eat real, fresh, healthy foods, eat the amount your work day justifies, exercise regularly, work hard and productively, get daily sunshine, take supplements as an insurance policy—and get educated on medical dangers and the benefits of self care.

Does our society need to be taxed to death so that those who should be taking care of themselves but are not are given free access to medical care that usually does not solve, but exacerbates problems? The only winners in this scenario are government and politicians bent on expanding their powers by converting our society to a doomed socialist state.

Real reform would occur on its own if people had to pay for their own health care, and if government encouraged and got out of the way of natural and alternative medicine. It would also happen if legal fees were capped to a reasonable amount based on work done, not a percentage of an award. It would also happen if politicians were forced to live under their own laws and policies (note that the president and congress have exempted themselves from the proposed program), lobbying was banned, and there were term limits. It would also happen if politicians could be prosecuted for perjury and treason when they violated their oath to uphold the letter and principles of the Constitution.

Meanwhile, what to do about a very flawed medical system. Aside from the above fundamental paradigm shift from thinking about repair, to true prevention, the economics needs to be changed. Speaking from a doctor's perspective, it is very uncomfortable to charge someone for medical care. Helping people or animals that are suffering feels like (or at least should) an act of compassion, not an opportunity for profit. So doctors need to be removed as much as possible from the profit incentive. Aside from the compassion aspect, how is it fair that the more you are sick, the more doctors make? They should be rewarded for your health, not your illness.

Moreover, people primarily become ill due to their own choices. If money is needed for healing, then the person responsible for the illness should bear the burden of the cost. Citizen A who takes proper care of health should not have to pay for citizen's B health failure because they have been making the wrong life choices.

It seems the best way to solve these issues is through a third party payer, such as insurance. People should pay premiums based upon the amount of care they require. Those who "cannot afford" their premiums need to work more so they can afford them and/or make themselves healthier. Those who are ill and are incapable of work--but are making appropriate efforts to be healthy--need to be cared for by the premiums the rest of us pay. That insurer could be competing private enterprises, or the government. With the first you retain liberty and choice. With government, you will get inefficiency, absolute control, socialism, and loss of liberty.