Are Doctors to Blame for its Unavailability?July 2007
As the outcry for more
affordable health insurance on a nationwide scale grows louder and louder, one medical professional believes that health care reform has to start with nurses and doctors. But, can we really blame a lack of affordable medical coverage on medical professionals?
According
Reuters, "Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, stepped into the debate over health care reform with a call for changing the way doctors, nurses, veterinarians, pharmacists and dentists are educated."
Gerberding's comments are quoted in her response to Pricewaterhouse Cooper's Health Research Institute, which reported last week that the U.S. will be short at least 1 million nurses, and 24,000 doctors, by the year 2020. Theoretically this could lead us straight to a new problem in our health care system - one that's based not so much on the absence of affordable health insurance, but on the absence of qualified medical professionals to take care of us when we get sick or are injured.
But, can it be fair to blame our current health care situation on our doctors and nurses? On the one hand it's true that too much of the money we spend on health care - a shocking $532 billion - is spent to treat already established disease instead of to prevent it, and on end-of-life care instead of to help people lead "healthier lives." But, if nurses and doctors don't see these patients until they've become seriously ill, how can they be expected to treat disease
before it actually strikes?
In terms of creating an affordable health insurance plan for all Americans, most people believe that we ought to start with our national health care system first, particularly in light of the fact that we happen to be the only industrialized nation left in the world who doesn't have an organized health plan.
By making a
medical coverage plan more affordable to average consumers, life-saving preventative checkups that can protect against disease before it becomes deadly will be more feasible.
Facts on:
Affordable Health Insurance
Did you know...
The U.S. will be short 1 million nurses and 24,000 doctors by 2020?
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It could very well be true that we are going to need more doctors, nurses, dentists and veterinarians. But, until our national medical coverage system is amended to make their jobs easier, their hands are tied; there's very little they can do to help a sick person they never see.
Hopefully, since health care is currently on the forefront of upcoming elections, positive change will soon be on the horizon. Until then, the average person is advised to shop around aggressively - especially online - for affordable medical coverage, to compare health insurance quotes, and to go in for those checkups that make such a big difference.
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