Changing Healthcare After the Election
It does not seem that long ago I was out on the campaign trail stumping for Trump. I do not know if our big red 42 foot traveling Winnebago billboard helped but we did spend time in the five swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida, all won by POTUS Donald J. Trump. I have not had the pleasure of meeting President Trump but look forward to the opportunity when it arises.
Following this election, it is time for people to get on board to help our president fix healthcare. I really do not care if you were for him or against him but we all know health care needs to be fixed. We have sucked our grandchildren’s chances of ever having a savings account dry.
The United States ranks last among industrialized countries in healthcare and now ranks behind many third world countries. Every year millions of Americans are traveling abroad to receive health care. This may be for an operative procedure but for many it is for routine medical care. Why do Americans do this? One answer. They go to get better care.
The United States of America in years gone by was the destination for many people of the world to get medical care. We ranked first in health care and first in education. Now we rank an embarrassingly low thirty-seventh in the world in both. When I look at this situation after having spent nearly fifty years in health care, I do not see us getting out of this downward slide within the next ten years. We no longer have the necessary primary care physicians to care for people adequately. You cannot get a bunch of fractionated care from multiple specialists and expect to have good continuity of care. It just does not happen. I have read progress notes from three different hospitalists during a stay and it is almost comical. The notes do not even look as though they were written about the same patient.
This is Dr. Rick Redalen, the Maverick Doctor. Let’s help our president to address the mess.
Dr. Rick R. Redalen, M.D., the Maverick Doctor, is a retired American physician, entrepreneur and philanthropist. His nearly thirty year medical career focused on family medicine both in traditional medical practice and emergency room settings. After retiring as a physician, Redalen’s focus changed to improving the quality of patient care and health education. He did this by founding Exit Care, a software company formed to provided standardized hospital discharge paperwork and patient education written in plain English instead of technical terms. Dr. Redalen more recently founded Quest Global Benefits to help employees attain optimal health outcomes while holding down costs for their employers. Visit MaverickDoctor.com, email RickR@MaverickDoctor.com or call 928-719-7582.