Health Care Crisis

Read about one of the problems the expansion of Medicaid will cause in the NY Times here. This is not saying that the expansion creates the underlying problem; just that thinking Obamacare will solve the crisis in healthcare is ludicrous. You can't just say, "lets add all these people and make it fair" if you can't take care of those people anyway. Having insurance without doctors doesn't help. This points out only one of many problems with the reform plan. We need to look at all levels. Education, which at this point is mostly focused on getting as much money from the student as possible. This makes it difficult to get doctors and advanced practice RNs in the system. We need to reform the whole system that is broken.

If a person, say an RN has been out of school, and WORKING in healthcare with lots of experience, but she hasn't the credentials to get into an advanced RN program because the education system is set up to deny credits that are too old, or were numbered differently when she went to school, this is a missed opportunity for a health care provider who could enter the system but refuses to do so when it requires so much more education (much of it redundant) that it isn't worth it to her (or him).

We need to reform the education for health care providers - giving credit for on-the-job experience and actual knowledge (think outside the good ol' boys box), the tort/legal system (where the lawyers drive up costs in frivolous law suits), the way care is given (again, think outside the box), and get rid of the ridiculous waste that insurance causes. And, Medicaid is 10 times worse than any insurance you have encountered when it comes to waste and red-tape. So, adding more to those rolls is asking for trouble and adding to the problem, not helping it.

So, that's my two cents worth today.