UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE., just because everyone else does it... Rating Options

[NoSex]

so, why the f*ck don't we have universal healthcare?

[mipadi]

Well, I think you (Rebecca) bring up a couple of more good points that are important to consider:

1. There is a tendency to require unnecessary tests and treatments, and part of this is due to the horrendous malpractice issue in this country. Doctors often order unnecessary tests as a sort of "cover your ass" move to prevent malpractice suits. The thing that the general public needs to realize is that medicine is as much an art as it is a science, and doctors aren't right 100% of the time. Yeah, no one wants to die after going in for surgery...but unless a doctor is grossly negligent, I think we have to accept that mistakes will occasionally happen. Unnecessary treatments also result in our situation with antibiotics, in which antibiotics were so over-prescribed that many conventional antibiotics are now useless, resulting in the need for newer and more expensive medicines (although I'm sure pharmaceutical companies love that).
2. We really should consider long-term treatment solutions, rather than "quick fixes". Americans often demand medicine to fix what could be solved by long-term lifestyle changes. Diabetes is a good example. Another is heartburn. There are tons of heartburn drugs on the market, when the solution to heartburn is pretty simple for most people: don't eat spicy food. But people want to be able to swallow a pill and eat as much chile as they can. Mental illness is another area in which we look to quick solutions. Depressed? Take Prozac. Anxious? Take Xanax. I'm not saying that medicine is never necessary for mental illness, but it is over-prescribed, in my opinion. A short anecdote: for about four months, I was treated for depression and anxiety. Both my therapist and I were reluctant to prescribe drugs, so we did it the "old-fashioned way": by talking. It probably cost a good deal more than drugs (and therapy sessions weren't covered under my old insurance plan), but in the long run, I think it's worked out better. It did take a lot more work on both our parts than just popping a pill, though.
   
   Hell, Brooke Shields is even advertising a pill to make your eyelashes longer now, for God's sake.
   
   Partly this solution could be improved with controls on pharmaceutical companies' advertising. I don't think drug companies should be pushing their drugs on TV. Doctors, not the general public, should decide what drugs are necessary.