The Rand Health Care Report:
The Flip of a Coin Isn't Good Enough Recently we read the results of the Rand Corporation’s study about the chaos in our American health care system. Regardless of income, race, gender or health insurance, we receive equally shoddy care. According to Dr. Steven Asch, the doctor who led the study, whether you or I will receive quality health care is “almost the flip of a coin.” The flip of a coin? Let those odds stay in Vegas. Clearly, we need to do better, and we can’t wait for someone to repair the flaws in our current healthcare system. There is no quick fix and no easy blame for those failings. We can’t pin this solely on doctors, who can’t possibly keep up with all the latest research results, and who are tightly constrained by insurance companies. We just can’t get the best care in the six minutes we are allotted when we make an appointment. We can’t blame just the insurance companies which face steeper costs as drug prices rise and equipment gets more expensive. As boomers age and obesity rises, they must figure out ways to stay solvent by trying to keep costs in check. Pharmaceutical companies charge incredibly high prices for their drugs – but also bear the costs of many years of research. All those news drugs they develop take time and time, as we know, is money. Not to mention the cost of advertising. The only blameless parties are we patients. None of us ever plans to get sick or hurt. Granted, we may not take as good care of our bodies as we could, but we are human, after all. And sadly, we are the ones paying the ultimate price for this horribly dysfunctional system. So what can we do? How can we be sure the health care we get is the best it can be? By taking responsibility for our own health and medical decisions, and no longer relying solely on medical practitioners to tell us what to do. Excellent doctors and facilities do exist. Tests, research, drugs, technology, treatments – many answers are available. But we can’t stand back and let the “system” run its course, because chances are, it won’t produce the best results on its own. Trusting the chaos that is our current American Health Care Debacle will not keep you healthy. Learning to advocate for yourself and your loved ones might. Take responsibility. Ask questions. Be collaborative. Research and learn. Take the lead in your own health care decision-making because the “flip of a coin” just doesn’t produce good enough odds. © 2006 Trisha Torrey Return to Main List of Columns
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