Disease Care not Health Care

That is the most remarkably accurate term I've ever heard. While there may be some dispute over who said what and when I'm conferring my imginary powers of the definitive on the most brillant professor Mohammad Rahim Tobari

"Historically, our health care system has not been a true health care system but a disease care system, and that notion has to change," he said. "True health care reform must pay attention with not just lip service but with resources for public health and prevention if it is to have a major impact on true health care and also control the skyrocketing health care costs. Therefore, investment in primary and secondary prevention, which are true public health initiatives, must be an integral part of any health care reform." The second element, he said, is that basic coverage for all Americans is fundamental, not only for controlling health care costs but also for investing in the future of the country.

Enemy Us

The things that cause us (rather them) to die or get ill the most aren't nasties out to do us harm but to quote the comic strip POGO (or FLOOK if you're british) "I've seen the enemy and he is us." The top diesases (heart disease, cancer and stroke) are all avoidable. If we got regular checkups or if we lived a better life (exercising, eating healthy) we would live longer. The implication is that if we took better care of ourselves we'd never die. That of course is completely wrong. 

We (rather they) die of what they die of. We are born to die. In today's climate of rising health costs and rising unemployment the conversations are now about finally doing something about our growing under and uninsured. Failing to address this rising tide will only continue to depress any economic or social growth that a President of Hope might create. In the shadow of a now pandemic (the "swine flu"), failing to protect the most vunerable appears suicidal.

It's not a question of finally doing something, the question is and always was what, how much and when. Both Roosevelts, Calvin Coolidge, Truman, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Carter and Clinton all have tried tackling the same problem with the same belief health care for all citizens. I mistakenly believed that this was a new concern.

Definition - Quality Health Care

"Accessible, effective, safe, accountable and fair..."

The Agency for Healthcare Policy and Research 2007