Healthcare: Right or Responsibility?

We were exposed to mountains of rhetoric on health care reform during the past two years. The dilemma has been surfacing routinely in election years for as long as I can remember, and I have been involved in health care for more than 7 years. Is access to healthcare an entitlement–one of our inalienable rights–or is it a responsibility? In my experience, the arguments are more often  emotional rather than rational. It seems much easier to fix the blame than it is to fix the problem.

Now, we have the most sweeping reform of the health care system since the creation of Medicare. Will it fulfill the promises that were made to gain the support necessary for passage? Will it really deliver affordable health care to more than 30 million Americans that were previously uninsured and reduce the escalating costs of health care at the same time?

During the last 7 years of my life, the cost of health care has continued to escalate at an alarming rate, taking an increasingly larger share of the gross domestic product of this country. The health care sector has become one of the largest consumers of our financial resources. Yet, today a growing portion of our population still cannot afford health care insurance. We must ask, “Why?”

Life is a terminal condition!!!!!!

We enter life with death as the certain outcome. That is a fact. Only the length of life is an uncertainty. The mission of care-givers—whether physicians, nurses, or other health professionals—is to improve the quality of that life. The conflict for the health professional occurs at that point when the inevitable approaches—the end of life. The physician commits to “first, do no harm.” At what point does prolonging life become counter to that commitment? Does that mean the physician must know when it is time to help the dying patient confront his or her mortality with dignity? Should it mean the best care-giving strategy is providing the patient with the best and most tolerable exit when “life-saving” efforts are futile?

It has been said that each of us will spend 80% of our total life’s health costs during the last 22 months of life. Reversing that thought would imply that unless we are less than two years from death’s door, we have yet to consume 20% of our total life health costs. Using simple mathematics you can get an estimate of what that cost might be. Start by totaling all your life’s health expenses to the present (make sure you include all the premiums you have paid on health insurance including your employers’ contributions). Then, divide by 0.2 to arrive at a number that would approximate something less than the cost of your health for your existence. Subtract the amount you have spent to determine approximately what you have yet to spend. My guess is that number would stagger you. What, if any, is the lifetime cap on your health insurance policy? Most have one. How close are you to reaching it, now? Now compare that with your total health care costs. Are your personal assets sufficient to cover the remaining costs? What would you have to sell to cover the remainder? Does it seem reasonable to consume the accumulated resources of a lifetime—not to mention potentially burdening children and grandchildren with that kind of debt—merely to prolong the inevitable? Might you, the patient, be better served with an alternate plan to provide comfort and care in a hospice setting or at home surrounded by family and friends?

Herein lies the rub. To deal with this issue, we must confront our mortality. We must accept that life is a terminal condition and that we are not getting out of it alive. The sooner we come to grips with that reality, the sooner we can begin to logically approach the management of healthcare cost.

MEDICAL ETHICS.......

Medical ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of medicine. As a scholarly discipline, medical ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology.

How to Become Healthier and More Effective Healthcare Professional.......

According to a recent Institute of Medicine report: "The great advances of genetics and biomedical discoveries could be more than offset by the burden of illness, disability and death caused by too many people eating too much and moving too little over their lifetime."

Healthcare professionals are in a unique position to make a significant impact on their patients when it comes to exercise and diet. The advice they give patients has an added element of credibility not found elsewhere. As a CME provider, it's important that we offer healthcare professionals the tools they need to pass along the health benefits of exercise and proper nutrition to patients. Healthy Healthcare Professionals Can Equal Healthy Patients.