Universal healthcare is only about 1/4th of the battle for survival. Gaining access to care is a separate issue. For example, where I worked, in the midst of a fairly decent state health system, new patients on one state aid program had to wait for months for a PCP appointment before they could do anything, at all, and their only other option was a very busy overcrowded urgent care clinic. There were no exceptions, not for diabetics, heart patients, nothing. The urgent care doctors saw it as their job to patch with bandaids and send people to their PCPs, and were very hesitant to write any long-term renewable prescriptions. To top it off, for some patients, their plan covered primary but not urgent, so every time they had to see an urgent care doctor to get a med renewal they'd get charged hundreds of dollars for a visit.
So healthcare is #1. Access is #2. #3 is all the things that have a major impact on health, are very expensive, and are not covered. Dental. Mental. Chiropractors - don't laugh, I was very cynical about chiropractors until I went to see one out of desperation and she not only kept me from needing the back surgery that would have likely been inevitable, but also in her secondary role as a nutritionist helped me to lose a lot of weight. Probably did as much for my health as my "real" doctor. #4 is the one that's thought of least, neglected most, and perhaps as important as all the others combined: disabiity insurance. When I worked I always had short term and long term disability insurance. Now that I'm retired, I don't have to worry so much about maintaining my income, but I would very likely lose everything if I had to spend any time in a nursing home. That's fine for people planning to die in the nursing home, but occasionally, one gets better, is ready to go home, and - look ma, no house. This happens to people who get in auto accidents and have serious injuries a lot - they spend 6 months in rehab, and come out to find themselves with half a million in bills and their house in foreclosure. #4 looks like what's troubling your cousin.
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Date: 2011-12-06 07:52 am (UTC)So healthcare is #1. Access is #2. #3 is all the things that have a major impact on health, are very expensive, and are not covered. Dental. Mental. Chiropractors - don't laugh, I was very cynical about chiropractors until I went to see one out of desperation and she not only kept me from needing the back surgery that would have likely been inevitable, but also in her secondary role as a nutritionist helped me to lose a lot of weight. Probably did as much for my health as my "real" doctor. #4 is the one that's thought of least, neglected most, and perhaps as important as all the others combined: disabiity insurance. When I worked I always had short term and long term disability insurance. Now that I'm retired, I don't have to worry so much about maintaining my income, but I would very likely lose everything if I had to spend any time in a nursing home. That's fine for people planning to die in the nursing home, but occasionally, one gets better, is ready to go home, and - look ma, no house. This happens to people who get in auto accidents and have serious injuries a lot - they spend 6 months in rehab, and come out to find themselves with half a million in bills and their house in foreclosure. #4 looks like what's troubling your cousin.