Our Ailing Health Care System

Where to Begin!

Since this is a post, not the required book, I’ll keep it short. 

We are a nation in crisis currently and not the least of the crises is our health care system. The enduring battle to reduce if not cripple government has taken its toll. We are the only developed country without an advanced health care system for all its citizens. And even what we have is under attack. Our system is inefficient and costly. Even if you are well off and well insured you immediately see problems.

And now that the government is under continuing attack we may see the collapse of small hospitals in rural areas. It would make the system even worse.

Seeing Problems First Hand

A few years ago I began to suffer mysterious and ephemeral problems and began a search for a cause. It turned out that I had Lyme Disease which had been poorly studied and is now epidemic. That was a major indicator of medical shortsightedness in itself. But then the problems became more obvious. I saw three separate physicians and each ordered a blood test (which we now know was virtually useless). When the results came in I found they were all the same tests. What a waste.

In France the public carries a data card and all results go on it. If we had such an efficient system the second physician would have had the results and there would not have been a second or third set of tests.

Floundering Over the Years

I am now considered to be a chronic Lyme Disease sufferer. It has been ten years since I believe I contracted the illness and I’m in my fourth return of the disease. This time my treatment will be more protracted. I can’t fault the medical people who have tried to help but the research has been abysmal and denial has been widespread. The stories of problems are endless.

Each of us has our own stories of problems, failures and inefficiencies. And the mental health field is no different. In a later post I’ll focus on one notable issue I became centrally involved in.

Failure on the Horizon

Many of us are looking at health care systems around us failing or on the verge of failing. As noted above, poorer, rural areas are particularly vulnerable in present circumstances. If those hospitals close, the effects will be devastating and the consequence will echo down the generations.

And currently we see areas which are very vulnerable and I saw a very specific area decades ago and it has not gotten any better. When I went to work in the impoverished area in the inner city of Baltimore our young staff learned quickly that the greater threat to “mental health” was poverty because of the depression and anxiety. But our seniors held fast to their desire for centralized systems rife with long term therapy and medications which served our people in the inner city poorly. I’ll leave it there for now. The sad tales go on and on.

But There Is Hope

Suddenly we are seeing an uprising in America. Our young are proclaiming “Enough Is Enough” and women are proclaiming “Me Too” in regard to sexual harassment and at the same time we are seeing a reenergized civil right movement. Now we can see the distinct possibility of vision and attention to the realities for our future. And health care is an essential part.

Gaia’s Majesty-Mission Called: Women in Power by Roger B. Burt

Roger B. Burt’s Amazon home page

Creating Characters and Plots by Roger B. Burt

Stepfamilies: Professionals and Stepcouples in Partnership

Whatever Happened to Community Mental Health by Roger B. Burt