Book Review: "An American Sickness - How Healthcare Became Big Business and How You Can Take It Back" by Elisabeth Rosenthal

There are not many among us who would disagree with the notion that our healthcare system in the U.S. needs fixing. The question is how? There are those who would submit that the government needs to get its hands deeper into the machinations of the industry, while others are for a free market solution. However, one might also wonder how we got to where we are and why?

The author delves deeply into the reasons that explain how we got here. This reader has been beating the drum for years now, but the author has the training and background to buttress the arguments made. The fact is that our healthcare industry has long since moved away from the doctor-patient relationship, a relationship designed to provide for the best health of the patient, and has become all about the bottom line. Whether it's your primary care physician, your local hospitals, the specialist(s) you see, or the drug companies, their first and primary concern is "how much money can we make?"

The author explores doctors attitudes toward patients, listing them as either "compliant patients," those who do as they are told and don't ask questions, and "Difficult patients," those who dare to ask questions and don't always follow instructions to the letter. You probably know of this attitude among doctors as "The God Complex." Hospitals and their administrators have a light shown upon them for the "for profit" businesses that they are, in spite of many hospitals listing themselves as  being "non-profit." The recent Covid-19 "pandemic" and the extra money hospitals get for admitting patients as "Covid-patients" and the extra money for using ventilators are just two examples of how hospitals look out for their bottom line, as opposed to the best interests of the patient. Big pharmaceutical companies are shown for what they are, as treating patients long-term, rather than eradicating illness is better for the profit margin. HMO's and other "health insurance coverage" plays its role, as well.

Where this reader disagrees with one of the author's conclusions is when she determines that the government needs to take a more regulatory role, while overlooking all of her previous writing about how the government has contributed to this morass. However, this is the only disagreement we have. The author presents the problem(s) in great detail and uses many examples from people who have suffered at the hands of our healthcare industry. She then finishes the book by offering many ways that we, as consumers, can effect positive change that would not require government intervention. Much of this involved you, as the patient, no longer being compliant and just doing as the guy in the white coat tells you. 

Ask questions, demand answers, what does that treatment cost, get an itemized bill, make sure the hospital knows that you will not be seen by any doctor or specialist who is not in your healthcare network, and many other worthwhile examples. This book will make your blood boil, but it is educational, well written, and offers solutions to the problems. I recommend that each of you get it and read it, if you want to effect the kind of change that we all want to see, and to keep the government out of the mix.

The Cycle Continues?

 

 

 

So, here's how I see it.

Right now the cycle is in the "democrats in power and pissing people off mode." The republicans are doing what they usually do in that mode - Talking the talk. This cycle has been going 'round and 'round for as long as I have been alive. When the republicans have power the cycle is that they are pissing people off and the democrats are talking the talk. And so on and so on and .......

Right now the republicans, in Virginia anyway, seem to be making some inroads and may pull out an upset in November. Only time will tell. McAwful is certainly not doing himself any favors with the stupid shit he is saying. My guess is that he, and the democrats, have gotten so cocky now that they think they can say anything and not pay the price for it. Again, time will tell. But let's assume that Youngkin and the R's do win and change the look of the GA in Virginia. I know a lot of you will be dancing in the streets.

However, as I see it, nothing will change. The cycle will simply start it's next, predictable phase. For all the talk from the Republicans they will DO NOTHING! The government will not shrink, taxes will still be wasted on buying votes instead of what they are supposed to be used for, the government will simply shift to spending money on things that the R's like, until the next phase of the cycle, when the D;'s will be back in power. And so it goes.

This happens, because the vast majority of voters, once their guys are in office, get lazy, complacent, and expect the government to take care of them. As long as "their guys" are in power they just expect that everything will be just fine. And thus, the cycle begins anew. True liberty, real freedom, the kind born of personal responsibility and vigilance, will once again take a backseat to party loyalty and the hope that "their party" will make everything alright.

As long as we continue to rely on a party mechanism to provide "freedom" we are never going to have freedom, as our Founders envisioned. Change my mind.