The problem with today’s healthcare system I would largely because of the actions and attitudes of both the insurance and corporate cultures. According to a study done by the New York Times one part of the problem is the costs for administration and billing in the healthcare, which have become so convoluted that an entire profession has been created specifically for a doctor to billing insurance company. In the article by Austin Frakt, he talks about how the reason a solution to this problem has not been implemented is because it would impact the bottom line for the corporations who have a large stake in keeping the status quo. Austin’s solution to the problem I think is the best way to go which is to make our administrative system simpler, which I think is wonderful, because most of the time when politicians talk about healthcare, they usually suggest something like single-payer which I don’t think would take in America. Another problem with our healthcare system is the prices we pay compared to European countries are a lot higher, and while nobody has any good solutions for this our current method of paying hospitals for every service regardless of whether the patient needed it is something that needs to be addressed. The next problem in our healthcare system is probably the most obvious which fraud and abuse. While there are already strict laws against these instances, I also think we should address why they happen to begin with at all. In my opinion these are signs that there is something wrong with our current healthcare system and we need to address them. Of course, there is also how the current pandemic is effecting healthcare as well in that the government has relaxed several of its regulations regarding telemedicine in order to both keep doctors safe and give people who need it medical advice. The Covid-19 pandemic will change our healthcare system I think in several ways one of which is that we are seeing a rise in telemedicine, which I think is determinantal to our healthcare system as our physicians will be able to properly diagnose their patients. Also, I believe that it will increase our opioid crisis as doctors I think will only be able to act on what their patients tell them, and so it will be easier I think for drug addicts to acquire more legal drugs.
I have commented on Carolin and Patricks post, and I should have 45 points total this semester.
Taking a longer view, I think the pandemic may well finally have exposed enough flaws and failures in our healthcare system--and the political/insurance/business cultures that have enabled them--to motivate serious reform in the coming years. I'm hopeful.
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