Linden: Improvement in health care depends on election

If you think that the primary goal of medicine should be helping patients by putting control of their treatment back into the hands of medical personnel who feel their competence is respected, you should vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.”

Jill Linden is a resident of Harbeson.

Medical care in this country has gotten much worse, and the result of the upcoming election will determine if it improves.

At age 83, I can remember when most outpatient medical care was provided by single physicians or small groups of physicians who worked independently to provide the best care for their patients. They had the time to get to know their patients well enough to make well-informed decisions about what was best for each individual patient.

Now, outpatient physicians and other medical practitioners (now called “providers”) mostly work for insurance companies, sometimes in affiliation with hospitals. They have much less say in what is allowed for their patients. The “providers” now have to do much more recordkeeping than they used to. Much of this recordkeeping is used by the big-business insurance companies to deny services the physicians feel are medically necessary. The medical providers then have to take additional time to appeal to try to get what they ethically feel their patients should have.

Second, doctors, nurses and other medical personnel used to enjoy their work a lot more. They took pride in treating their patients in the best ways they could, based on their training, experience and knowledge.

Now, they must constantly compromise between what they think is best for their patients and what the big-business insurance companies will allow.

Results:

• Older physicians are retiring early — in droves.
• Medical personnel are leaving small, private practices to work directly for, not with, big businesses like insurance companies and drug companies.
• It can take months to get a first appointment with some physicians. This can result in patients becoming sick enough to have to go to hospitals, some of which are run by big-business, for-profit corporations.

Conclusion: If you think that the primary goal of medicine should be helping patients by putting control of their treatment back into the hands of medical personnel who feel their competence is respected, you should vote for Vice President Kamala Harris. If you think the primary goal of medicine should be about helping big businesses make more money, then you should vote for Donald Trump.

Your own future medical care may be on the line.

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.