Many people anticipate their 65th birthday with dread. Not my wife. The reason? Medicare.
To be part of this national, single-payer, governmental healthcare system is a blessing and a milestone. In general, Medicare provides broader medical coverage, including mental health services. The cost: less than half of what my wife paid under the Affordable Care Act (including supplemental insurance). Medicare gives us a reason to celebrate.
I am thrilled that our ages and work histories qualify us for this government healthcare plan. However, I’m also deeply troubled that my government can wage war, hunt down immigrants (whom most of us were at some point), levy tariffs, break long-standing alliances, and fill their families’ personal financial coffers but can’t fund our citizens’ healthcare or foster humanity.
A healthy society is not a zero-sum game. We all lose when we allow mental illness to go untreated, when people have to use emergency rooms for primary care, or when medical debt leads to homelessness. Ultimately, we still pay.
As you read the cover stories and features in this issue of Chicago Health, you’ll undoubtedly realize that an efficacious healthcare system involves partnership at the federal and state levels, with hospitals, community organizations, universities, local businesses, clinics, and insurance and pharmaceutical companies. We’re all connected. Together, we can create equitable opportunities so that people can do more than survive.
Doctors, when taking the Hippocratic Oath, swear to do no harm, to act in patients’ best interest, and to treat each individual not as a disease but as a whole person. It’s time we stop treating healthcare as a disease and instead look at the whole system, including the parts that pertain to equity and justice — for all.
Marshall Chin, MD, of the University of Chicago likes to quote legendary NFL football coach Bill Parcells: “You are what your record says you are.” The record of the U.S. healthcare system isn’t good.
Read on so that through your knowledge, vote, medical choices, philanthropy, and voice, you can contribute to a better system.
May we all get to be part of a single-payer, governmental healthcare system — before we reach age 65.
