I am thinking back to the late 50's, my Dad was the outgoing President of the Montgomery County Medical Society. In his speech, he outlined his thoughts of what was in score for the future of "medicine." He , as a Doctor, had been involved in "Medicine" all of his working life, and unfortunately realized what would happen.
And it has. In Columbus, Ohio, a new cancer hospital, cost over a BILLION .... working on a cure. While BILLIONS are being spent to Cure Cancer. Something is wrong there.
Here in Newark, fifty years ago, we had a small hospital that seemed to be able to take care of all of the needs of the community. Then, they built a new big one, which has been enlarged and remodeled a few times, and, this is only in Newark, Ohio. Each community has experienced the same growth, I am sure. I think the hospital is the largest employer in our county, and I imagine this occurs in other communities also.
My guess would be that the "industry" is one of the largest employers in the country, if not the largest. One of the most controversial issues, Health Insurance.
Why and when did all of this happen ... Doctors OWNED by hospitals, drug stores, grocery stores all with their own "clinics" .... a plethora of medical facilities ..... nursing homes, extended care, hospice care, assisted living care, the VA alone ..... medical care and treatment is, well, out of hand ......
The old Country Doctor, making a house call, horse and buggy, or even, as my Dad did, making house calls, being a Doctor, Minister, Counselor and Friend .... those days are gone.
Who is to blame, probably a number of things, but I think the first abuse came at the hands of the Doctors, who initially ..... took advantage of INSURANCE, over billed, billed for services not performed, procedures not performed, then the hospitals did the same thing, and all of these caused the EXPLOSION ..... Take two aspirins and call me in the morning ... but, before you do that, go to the hospital and have these tests performed. get ALL of these prescriptions filled, X-rays, EKG's, tests, tests, and more tests ...... then call me .... ah, well, after you pay all those bills, OK?
