I have an ongoing medical condition that my doctors were unable to treat for several years. I should point out that I have excellent health insurance and healthcare. Nonetheless, it was only through my own research and willingness to pay to go outside of my network that I finally found treatment.
My condition is vertigo, Benign Paraximal Positional Vertigo (BPPV), which means that I sometimes suffer violent spinning when I am lying down. Normally, BPPV goes away after a few days, sometimes weeks. Other times it clears from treatment. Mine kept coming back. BPPV should not return in an otherwise healthy middle aged man. It is a condition for the old and for people that have suffered severe head trauma. That’s not me.
BPPV is caused by small calcium deposits that break away and float in the fluid of the ear canal aggravating the balance system. There are some maneuvers doctors can perform on patients heads to correct the problem. I did not know this at first and neither did any of the doctors that I saw during the initial few years I suffered from the condition. Different doctors offered different treatments, from therapy to build up a sort of immunity to dizziness, to allergy shots, and even a special diet nicknamed the Cave Man Diet.
Despite the best intentions of many well meaning doctors I was repeatedly told that I just needed to learn to live with this horrible spinning and the generally awful feeling that accompanied the spinning. That was not an acceptable answer so I read the medical literature, wrote to doctors as far away as Italy, and ultimately found the doctor that helped me get this condition under control.
This doctor was here in Atlanta but not on my insurance plan. I paid out of pocket for the first few appointments (the doctor was later added to the network). The good part of this story is that I was able to go out of network. Yes, it cost me money but at least I had the option. Would I have had that option under a single payer or some other government program? I had to undergo two MRIs. Would the second MRI have been allowed for a condition considered to be untreatable?
Reports from Canada and Britain are not encouraging, according to CBS News. No doubt the government healthcare systems in Canada and Britain have improved healthcare for many people who could not or would not afford healthcare. At the same time, the stories of patients prevented by law from seeking help outside their networks, according to the New York Times, waiting for extended periods for treatment, or being refused treatment, abound. Costs for all of these systems have skyrocketed.
Everything has a cost. Government can only give to one group by taking resources from someone else. I fear that with a major increase in government intervention into healthcare, healthcare services will be limited, just like the Canadian and British healthcare. Under those systems top quality healthcare isn’t always available to people that value it enough to work extra hard to provide it for their families. The needed care is not always available to Canadian and British citizens with uncommon and/or difficult health problems. I don’t want that here. I, like millions of other Americans, know that great healthcare has a cost. I am willing to pay for that for my family. Therefore, I want to know that the coverage we Americans pay for will not be limited by the coming government programs. I want to know that the money we earn will be available for our family’s healthcare beyond our insurance if and when we need or want it. I want to know that those that suffer from rare diseases, sometimes called Orphan Diseases, will have hope. The assurances I hear are far from encouraging.
From the factory worker to the CEO, millions of Americans strive to earn good compensation because they value healthcare. Under the Canadian and British healthcare systems the resources earned by hard workers are taken and distributed to people that otherwise would have chosen not to buy health insurance, or did not do the hard work and make the sacrifices to earn health insurance.
I have read and heard many assurances that these scenarios will not play out here. I have yet to see even a shred of evidence to convince me there is truth to those claims. The cost of national health care is going to be outrageous and there seems to be a complete lack of comprehension among supporters that money is a finite resource (see Economic stimulus plan, bailout, GM and Chrysler Bankruptcy). The money will have to come from somewhere and using government to take it from those that value healthcare enough to earn it will be too easy.
I am sure that many readers are screaming at their monitors right now that I am selfish and don’t feel for the poor that can’t afford healthcare. First of all, “can’t afford,” is all too often a relative term meaning, “Won’t afford.” That said, there are far too many children in this nation that don’t get adequate healthcare (or quality food, education, shelter, love). There are programs available. State Children’s Health Insurance (SCHIP) programs among them. No doubt these programs can be improved, and no doubt parents need to provide healthcare for their children. Taking healthcare away from people that earn the money to pay for healthcare for their families is not an acceptable solution to this problem. It is not, in fact, a solution at all.
If we are going to turn health insurance into a right, are we going to protect the rights of those that consider healthcare a high priority and earn the money to get the best care? Are we going to prevent people from seeking that high end care? Are we going to be Britain or Canada?
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Your last paragraph concerns me. Why should your health care be better than mine because you make more money? How about if everyone has the same great quality health care. Heath CARE won’t change under the proposed single payer system. It’s the INSURANCE that will. And if the rich don’t think they are getting enough, then they can lobby the government to make it as good as it can be, for the benefit of everyone, rich or poor.
If that’s not enough then maybe you just like the idea that you can have something better than someone who is less fortunate financially.
How much are you paying for your healthcare, and how much is your employer paying? How much would you pay for that coverage privately? How much would someone approaching 65 with chronic conditions pay for it? When you look at the actual cost, which many of us do not pay, it shows that healthcare costs are stifling our businesses, and we all pay more for the care required to treat those who turn up at emergency rooms.
Either the market can bear the costs or it can’t. I believe that costs will be contained somehow and there will be bureaucracy. We have to choose between a government bureaucaracy and a private, in many cases, for profit one. The government system will have the ultimate goal of treating us, and the private one will have the ultimate goal of maximizing profit, which means, in effect, not treating us. The private system will go on as they are now, either keeping the sickest people out altogether, restricting access to services, or paying so little for certain services that practitioners quit providing them. On the other hand, the government system will be subject to the political process. Pick your poison.
Through my employer, I am paying $800 a month in health insurance which is likely to jump to $1200 when my child is born in Nov. If I were paying into a single payer system (raise my taxes 2%) I would be spending $660 a YEAR. Even if my taxes were eliminated, I would still end up with more in pocket from a 2% tax hike. And that $660 eliminates deductibles, copays, in network/out of network, preexisting conditions. It includes free choice of doctor (did somebody say free market?), disability, long term care. Read the proposal… I urge anyone…. do the math… how can a fiscally responsible conservative ignore the savings while maintaining the free market experience of choosing the best doctor. The government won’t decide what is or is not necessary, that’s for the doctor to decide.
Afraid of rationed care? It’s already rationed. Wake up! Does anyone really think Private Health Insurers are really all that great? Just wait till you are fighting with them over a cost they don’t feel the need to pay for. When you declare bankruptcy, tell me you’d rather stick with it.
Howard Dean is correct.
“a”(Toothy, Robust)”public health insurance option is more important than bipartisanship, and Democrats should pass health-care legislation that includes the option with 51 votes if necessary.”
“Democrats should have “no intention” of working with Republicans if it’s not the strongest possible legislation that could be passed with a simple majority.” (Howard Dean)
This is what WE THE PEOPLE gave the Democrats all that power to do for ALL of us.
You see, Dr. Dean knows that in medicine and healthcare there is only one acceptable standard. And that standard is the HIGHEST level of EXCELLENCE you can provide for everyone. Nothing less has ever been acceptable in caring for a precious human life.
And the White House is right too. “Good health care reform is essentially good economic policy.” (Christina Romer)
jacksmith — WORKING CLASS
Robert,
As a Canadian currently working in the US I can offer a different perspective. Health-care is expensive where ever you get it and no system is perfect. I think the decision people have to make is what are your priorities.
I would like to raise a few interesting statistics. American health-care is the most expensive per capita in the world and yet not everyone is covered. Why? Emergency health-care is provided to everyone though which is great, but who pays for this and how much? US tax payers do. The down side is that paying for emergency care but not basic care actually costs more – ER visits are nearly 10 times as expensive at primary care visits. So would you rather pay for health-care for the diabetic without insurance at the primary care level or the ER level. Sooner or later you will be paying. Not only is there an easy to see cost to ER visits but there is the social cost of having un-insured people go bankrupt due to health expenses – which again cost business and tax payers money. Finally there is the employment (or unemployment) cost of poor health. People who are sick don’t work. So they go on un-employment insurance or resort to crime or live of the system. The argument that a self pay system is cheaper for the insured individual is false. Sooner-or-later you are going to pay. There is an extreme circumstance where this is not true, where ER visits are not covered and people die in the streets, and school children are not vaccinated and there are polio outbreaks – this is what happens when people only pay for themselves – lots of good examples can be seen in Africa – I guess you could opt for that system,..
As a Canadian I think we believe that yes it is expensive to pay for heath-care out of taxes but in the long run it is in everyone’s best interests. As a result everyone is covered and treated the same, which does mean some waits but it is untrue that you can only be seen “in network”, in Canada there is no network, get treated where ever you want. The wait issue is true – the cost of universal health-care (or at least the sacrifice to keep costs down) is waiting. However, if you have a heart attack you will be treated just as fast as here – it is only non emergency services for which you have to wait – but not forever (and generally not a duration which affects your condition outcome – like waiting for chemo or something).
Finally a note on BPPV. It is a newish disease and sure not too many people know about it. But did you know you can treat it at home? There is a BPPV self treatment device called the DizzyFIX (http://www.dizzyfix.com) which guides you through the treatment maneuver (Epley maneuver) and is effective in nearly all people . You may like to look into it. This kind of innovation and putting health-care back into the hands of the people is a great way to keep costs down and reduce waiting times.
Canadian in the US
So what did you do to fix the dizziness? Or rather your doctor?