Figuring out the Health Care Debate

As I read the news and try to keep track of the healthcare debate I find it very difficult to keep up with the different policies being considered by Congress. I hear the words public option, trigger health care, and defensive medicine being thrown around and I really don’t know what to make of them. As an aspiring doctor, however, these are the things that I should know about the most as they won’t only affect future patients, but they will affect me as a working doctor as well.

After weeks of studying and talking to peers this is what I’ve learned…(1) The House and Senate agree on one thing: making healthcare accessible to more Americans and doing so in a fashion that is affordable (2) That is the only thing that Democrats are agreeing on in Congress (3) There are many propositions being thrown around which include a creating a public option in which the government will set the market by providing insurance to Americans, leaving states to decide if a public option will be offered in that state but regulating insurance markets to ensure that policies are kept affordable, or implementing a trigger option in which a state not having affordable insurance options will lead to government enforcement of a public insurance company.

From the doctor’s perspective, I see a fear emerging as the prospect of minimum Medicare payments for health services is suggested by many legislators. At first I must admit that this confused and even angered me. The reason one becomes a doctor is to help people, correct? Medicine should not be a business! As I apply to medical school, however, and begin to see the amount of debt that I will be in by the time I graduate I begin to understand the frustration of the doctor. To devote over ten years of one’s life after high school to a profession to only have debt in return would seem unfair to anybody. There must be a balance that doctors strike, however, between leading comfortable lives and upholding the oath of caring for the lives of all those they can. An option that the government should also look into is creating more scholarships and lowering the cost of education for doctors so they can afford to treat patients for less. Not having the burden of debt makes it easier to push money to the side and concentrate on the patient.
I definitely am not ready to create any health policies, but what I do know is that it’s absolutely necessary that something be done about the millions of uninsured Americans. As the daughter of immigrants that came here in search of healthcare, it seems to go against the American image to deny the basic right to a health life.

Just another note from an aspiring doctor…

Medicine for the Right Reason

With the growing debate on health care reform, it's a wonderful time to be an aspiring doctor. As I apply to medical school and look around me I see my peers frantically filling out applications, biting their nails before interviews, more stressed than I have ever seen them, and for what? These twenty something year old students have a genuine desire to help people. Many have had sick friends or family members and they go into the medical profession for the right reason.

What is it then that has made the medical profession so business minded in America? Most doctors go into medical school for the right reason...it's fear of malpractice lawsuits, the push to pay off debt attained from medical school, and the red tape associated with insurance companies that turns their attention to money rather than the patient.

Perhaps reforming the American health care system to turn the attention of the system back to the patient rather than money will keep these aspiring doctors on the right track of doing what they do for the right reasons.

Just another note from an aspiring doctor...