A quote, once attributed to Mark Twain, stated: Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it. Scholars now credit this to his friend, Charles Dudley Warner.
An update to this observation could be “Everybody talks about health care, but nobody does anything about it.”
Before you beat me over the head with Obamacare, please realize that AT BEST, all his “comprehensive” reform bill does is to tweak insurance–and not in a particularly useful way, considering how many billions it will cost. Notably, and as one has sadly come to expect from a major program designed by government policy wonks, Obamacare adds thousands of bureaucrats, but not a single new doctor.
I invite you to read some of my Health News Digest columns on this issue…
- Not Enough Physicians: The Soft Underbelly of Health Care Reform
- How Generic Lipitor Could Affect You, Even If You’re Not Taking A Cholesterol-Lowering Drug
- Obstacles On The Road To Health Care Nirvana
- If Health Care Is So Important, Why Don’t We Care About Doctors?
It is high time for Americans to realize that judged on the basis of outcomes–which is really the only way to judge health care–our system is by no means the “best in the world.”
But, to fully appreciate this, consider that if the government is going to get so involved in health care, this means a lot more than what is better termed “disease care.” For one thing, the Feds could do a whole lot more about obesity by simply increasing ag subsides and fruits and vegetables, rather than concentrating virtually all of it on corn and soybeans.
You say “That’s not health care?” Au contraire. That WOULD be health care. Unfortunately, all that anyone ever seems to talk about is disease care and health insurance reform.