I Want... Wednesday

I want for the week: What do you want to change about the medical industry?

Oh lordy. Where to begin on that one. Well, for starters, I've worked in the medical industry as a transcriptionist for the past 12 years. In those years, I've seen control of patient care go from doctors to insurance companies. Your doctor doesn't decide what medications you take anymore, the almighty dollar does. And your doctor has to fight them if you need something else.

I haven't got insurance. I have a dozen things I'd have gone to a doctor for months or years ago if I had insurance. My #1 issue in the last presidential primary and election was definitely health care. So...

1) I want insurance!

I want to find out why I'm tired all the time. I want to get the sore in my mouth I keep biting taken off, I want my broken Achilles' tendon fixed so I can be active again without pain. I want to not live in fear that if something awful happens to me or any of us my family will never recover financially.

2) I want insurance for everyone.

No one should be denied health care. I just finished this book, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (fantastic read by the way). It's a childhood horror story of poverty and a father who couldn't keep a job for a drinking problem. But by golly, when they got sick they went to the doctor, both in America and Ireland. Health care is a basic human right. Yes, I'm talking socialist health care for those who can't afford their own policies. Yes, I said the S word. Yes, I'm willing to contribute to the pot so people who are less well off than I am can get taken care of.

3) Drug companies are out of control. I wish they would be reined in, and drug advertising was seriously regulated and possibly banned.

Not everybody who's sad needs an antidepressant. Not everyone who has high blood pressure needs high blood pressure medication (diet and exercise do wonders!). Not every child who misbehaves needs ADD medication (discipline is a great thing!). But you can hardly watch a TV show without some drug company telling you that you need their medication to make your life better. Sci fi has had a field day with this mentality many times over. If we could drug away all our problems, would it be a good thing? Don't get me wrong, I believe pharmaceuticals are a great thing in their place. I just think it should be my doctor's idea for me to have it, not some industry's.

Now we get into stuff that's more "I wish" than reality.

4) I wish research didn't have to be driven completely by money.

Alternative medicines and therapies are bashed because their efficacy isn't scientifically proven. But no one's going to get rich off scientifically proving the efficacy of most of them, and as a result no one will fund the research to prove it. So they'll remain off the radar, sometimes somewhat shady. But a lot of people could probably benefit from some of them. I wish (want) research to be done sometimes for the good of mankind, not for profit. I know, it's a silly dream.

I wasn't sure what to write about today so I went over to I Want... Wednesday (click the icon to go to the site). The topics are usually the kind of stuff I can write dreamy, poetic posts. Not today. But it's been a while since I assaulted you with public service announcements, so there you are.