We often hear how the United States spends more on health care per capita than any other nation; that the U.S., while paying twice as much as Canada, lags behind other wealthy nations in such measures as infant mortality and life expectancy; that life expectancy in the United States ranks 42nd in the world and that the United States is at or near the bottom in infant mortality, heart and lung disease, sexually transmitted infections, adolescent pregnancies, injuries, homicides and rates of disability.
Faced with these disturbing statistics, we now have Obamacare and other programs in which our government is attempting to provide more health care to more people at lower costs.
Physicians will do their part. They will be forced to see more patients, deal with more government regulations and accept lower reimbursements. Patients too will comply. They will accept longer waiting times, denied “unnecessary” care, accept treatment from non-physicians and bear more out-of-pocket expenses.
The question, however, is will our new government sponsored care have a positive effect on our decreased life expectancy, increased rates of heart and lung disease, adolescent pregnancies infant mortality and our homicide rates? Doctors can provide more care to more people but if that is all we do, I suspect that we are going to fall woefully short of our goal
We all know that the majority of illnesses are induced or exacerbated by unhealthy life choices. Obesity, an epidemic in this county, causes high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, osteoarthritis, etc.; smoking is linked to cancer, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease, etc.; alcohol causes cancer, cardiovascular disease, anemia and drug use causes high blood pressure, seizures, disorientation and psychoses. And the list goes on and on. Just going to the doctor more will not solve these problems.
If we are going to solve these problems, we must do something about the root causes of disease. In short, we are going to have to take personal responsibility for our own health. The doctor cannot magically solve our medical problems. We need a partnership between physician and patient. Sure, the doctor must do his part. But as patients, we too have to help. We need to take responsibility and reassess our own lifestyle choices. We need to eat less, exercise more, quit smoking, consume less alcohol, avoid drugs, reduce teenage pregnancy and make choices to reduce stress. We need to listen to and follow our doctor’s advice. Maybe then we will find that our health care system is not as woeful as the statistics suggest.
Of course, the issue is how to get people to take responsibility for their own health. That is the real problem. And as I tell my patients, I only have an “M.D.” after my name, not a “G.O.D.” But maybe that discussion is for a future blog……?