Is There Still a Better Alternative Healthcare System?

Most medical doctors will tell you that if they were ever asked about socialized medicine in their medical shool interviews and spoke in favor of it; they probably wouldn't have remained on the medical schools candidacy list. It seems highly ironic that in the hallowed halls of healing where it is practiced to " do no harm" and preached not to expect compensation due to your profession that to discuss free and open access to healthcare for all is still considered somewhat taboo. It is still even rarely discussed in formal platforms amongst peers in medical school academics to discuss options based on their science and personal expereinces about the topic . One would think that it surely must be daily and hotly debated in schools of public health(a master's level degree), but one would also be wrong. But, with this "self-censorship" amongst the medical profession there are still several organizations popping up that wish to openly debate the possible options for this country's healthcare. Groups such as Physicians for Social Responsibility, Physicians for Single Payer Health Care, The Commonwealth Group, and Americans for Healthcare are just a few among the throng that have begun this discussion. It appears apparently difficult for physicians to act proactively about this issue and many will tell you privately that they feel conflicted about the current managed care dominated fee for service system that leads the industry currently. They are also conflicted after taking the Hippocratic Oath when the industry makes them feel sometimes hypocritical about their actions. It sometimes puts them in a situation where their profession, not their intentions or art and science, appears to be a "conflict of interst" itself. In the academic setting physicians feel privileged to remain silent in a time honored profession that mostly still conducts an apprentice-stylized manner of didactics for only a certain few of society. In the world of private practice some economic "markers" also must be met for their managed care bosses to meet the bottomline. Much of this has been written about by the ex-Cigna Health chief, Wendell Potter whose book describes just how some health services are even witheld by patients for the purposes of improving their bottomline. He was also interviewed in the movie Sicko. Physicians are in a very precarious situation today to make a decision where to speak out and where they stand. With all the debate on whether we should have some real form of socialized medicine being bandied around, many would say that it already exists and has for some decades. How is that, you might say. It crept in under Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, the National Health Services program and the VA health program. Some may debate whether that counts.only the semantics are different , but these are shades of socialized medical programs. Today the debate is more about the specifics of a healthcare system that can be put into place before a greater healthcare "tsunami" washes up on our shores in the next decade. Universal health, single payer or a combination ot the two has been discussed as well as a real national health care service as in the case of a Medicare-for-all program or a public option. Programs that seem to have reached some success with either of these are France, Britain, Cananda and Scandinavian countries such as Sweden. But, wait a minute! Wouldn't the American taxpayer had benefited from a national teleivised debate from both private and public acturarial, epidemiologic, biostatistical, business, accountant, and economic analysts on which health system's logistics would best fit the American public? When did we have that discussion? We never did! It seems that we always have a national televised campaign on just about evetrything else including negative ads. Healthcare premiums are expected to rise an additional 9 % this year alone and expect to double overall in the next decade(Kaiser Foundation). A system that sustains itself from the pain, illness or suffering and mortality of its clients must also review its own moral and ethical stand of this form of remuneration and if it is inline with humanity as well as being an affordable system for all.