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I don’t know about you, but I’ve found this national debate to be very disappointing. Like passengers on a sightseeing cruise, it seems like our national attention is moved from port to stern as different subjects (death panels, public options, medical co-ops) become the hot topic du jour. We get jerked from one emotional trigger-point to another with the effect being an almost-toppled boat. This is so discouraging because we’ve lost sight of the problem!
We need to acknowledge that America’s health care is under-serving us. We don’t have the best health care system in the world. We have a higher infant mortality rate than 2 dozen other countries. 20,000 people die every year because they can’t afford to see a doctor. 700,000 people are driven to bankruptcy annually by their medical debts. And that doesn’t even touch hospital errors, responsible for thousands of deaths a year.
While our life-expectancy rate is higher than it’s ever been, we are still elapsed by two dozen other countries, including such health powerhouses as Monaco and Andorra. If our health-care system was so good, why are so many Americans going to destinations like India and Mexico for operations paying cash for their procedures (go and google medical tourism if this is news to you)?
And what about supporting family caregivers? Has anyone heard anything in the health-care debate about this?
Why is family caregiver support important? The estimated value of family caregiving is estimated to be over $300 billion a year, more than double the combined size of the home care AND nursing home sectors ($158 billion), according to a paper on ‘Economic Value of Informal Caregiving’ presented to the VA in 2006. It is no stretch of the truth, or the imagination, to say that unpaid, family caregivers are the glue holding our nation’s health together. And I’ve not heard any political leaders speaking to their importance or how system reform will accomodate their contributions.
Do you think the debate over national health care has lost sight of the importance of family caregivers?
