For the past decades, politicians and insurance companies could carelessly proclaim that the United States had the best healthcare system in the world, but as its major deficiencies have become more apparent many people have found it harder to accept this claim. It is reported that around 59 million Americans are without health insurance and are aware that our health care system does not work for everyone. This has caused a growing recognition that the major problems of rising costs and lack of access constitute a real crisis.
However, the search solutions have not been easy or clear cut. The problems of our health care system have been responded to with various makeshift solutions rather than analyzing the system itself as a whole to take more long-term measures. One important step in searching for an effective long-term solution to simply ask; how do we know when a health care system is both effective in quality and fair in terms of financing? The patient that was interviewed share his insight about the American Healthcare System and his experience with it.
Mr. H, 22, a college student from Pakistan was having pain around his tailbone one day and decided to call his doctor, his relative, to receive a check up and fix the problem. He was diagnosed with Pilonidal sinus, also known as pilonidal cysts. A pilonidal cyst is a cyst that develops along the tailbone near the cleft of the buttocks. These cysts usually contain hair and sin debris. They are often very painful, affect men more frequently than women, and typical occur between the ages of 15 and 24, and it uncommon after the age of 40.
If left untreated infection may accumulate and may cause sepsis, which leads to death. Shortly after being diagnosed, his doctor scheduled him for a surgery. Mr. H was very worried for his well-being after hearing his problem. He did not want to have to undergo surgery especially since he had classes making his student life more difficult. The only option was to accept his condition and bear with the difficulties and inconveniences. At this time, he had many expectations of his care.
He was expecting “good service,” which include proper care, being checked in a timely fashion, non-faulty diagnosis, efficient treatment, non-recurrence of the disease, being informed about post-surgical care and how he could utilize the hospital’s services for that care, and easy follow-up. He also was expecting that his treatment was affordable and worth the quality of the treatment. Since Mr. H is a student, he currently has health insurance through his university.
He expresses, “As a college student you’re at an advantage since your health insurance is cheaper and covers almost everything as compared to paying for a private insurance plan. ” For this particular surgery, all his expenses were covered and he did not have to pay a co-pay for his check-up since he was diagnosed by his relative. Therefore, he did not drop a single penny. He was very content with his pre-surgical care and his surgery; however, he was extremely displeased with his post-surgical care. He was appalled by the way he was treated by the physicians and voiced his disgruntlement.
He was being treated in New York and when his classes started he had to return to Boston. Since it was more convenient for him, he requested to have post-surgical care done in Boston. When he went to the hospital the physician refused to take care of Mr. H because he himself did not perform the surgery. In other words, he did not want to take responsibility if anything went wrong. As a result, he was forced to return to New York twice a week to get his post-op. He strongly believes that this is a major flaw in the American healthcare system.
Coming from Pakistan, he has never heard of such a thing. He believes it is the wrong mentality for doctors to not treat patients because of the fear of assuming responsibility and having to face the consequences if something goes wrong. In Pakistan, he claims that the decisions made by physicians are not ruled by the fear of getting sued. Rather, they do what is in the best interest of the patient. Since his father worked for the government in Pakistan his health coverage was free port the most part and if he wasn’t covered he also had a family of doctors to provide care for him.
He states that he never had to pay for any healthcare until he came to the United States. He expressed his issues with health insurance. He detested the fact that he has a pay a third party 2000$ every year when he may not even need that care at the time. He said he would rather the cost of healthcare to be low enough to pay upfront when you need it. He explained that this is how people pay for their care in Pakistan and that people have better access to care there. The concerns Mr. H has expressed with the care he received and the issues that were went over in class are very similar.
Although he did not disclose his financial status, it was obvious that he was troubled by the thought of paying insurance companies so much. He also pointed out the fact that people have to pay before getting treated rather than getting treated first. All of these issues take us back to the problems of high costs, access, fairness, and the increased control of managed care companies. This will be undergoing a huge change as our nation shifts towards universal health care. Overall, many people are discontent with our health care system; however, what is important is that we are always looking to find solutions.