Welcome to part two of this little thought experiment. Yes
yesterday's issue was long, but hopefully today's will not be as labor
intensive. Let us start.
Step 3 of making the universal health care
system work would mean reducing the amount of things that can be considered a
health care profession. This means things like masseuses, yoga
instructors and similar cannot be considered medical professionals. Even
if the techniques they know can be integrated into therapies, the professionals
that know them are too specialized in general for them to be worth covering in
my opinion and also the universal health care system does not allow for
innovation or change which may allow alternate cheaper forms of these techniques
like for example the 15 minute street massages that are gaining more
popularity. As such, wherever possible the government should reject any
and all professions as much as possible from becoming considered health
professions as they will increase costs and thus limit access to these
techniques. At the same time, techniques specific to health care/physical
therapy and recovery minus any religious or spiritual aspects (indicative to
yoga and tai chi) will be taught to nurses in specialized classes in the same
way they are thought to be phlebotomists (people who draw blood) or to
administer first aid. The reason for this is to provide patients with an
alternative to getting these therapies once they are discharged by government
run hospitals and doctors’ offices or the universal health care system refusing
to pay for further treatment. Having a nurse or doctor perform such
techniques let alone treat patients is expensive for the government which is
why they will only use it when required to treat the patient. Taking into
consideration the costs to the government and their want to discharge and stop
treatment at the first available opportunity it is necessary to provide a
non-medical alternative to getting the same treatment on the cheap, especially if
the patient is seeking more than just physical treatment, like spiritual health
which is sometimes provided by massage and yoga instructors amongst others.
(Note: This can also be done in our current healthcare system to keep
costs down).
Step 4 is the legalization of as many
pharmaceutical drugs as possible. In this instance psych drugs and
addictive drugs will be restricted to prescription only, and even then some
addictive drugs will be able to be OTC's but the age and how much can be sold
at any given time will be limited in the same way they do to pseudoephedrine
products now which with other ingredients can be turned into meth. So
things like codeine products would be sold behind the register. Otherwise
antibiotics, non-addictive pain relievers, topical burn creams, acne
treatments, and others will be over the counter medications unless the side
effects are so potentially debilitating or dangerous that they must be provided
with a prescription. Claravis and its sister products come to mind which
is to treat acne, but the potential side effect is depression to the point of
suicide and birth defects resulting in a test by the patient and questions
needing to be answered by the doctor each month just for the drug to be
dispensed. As such, pharmacists will still be needed, but they will be at
an info desk to talk to patients and recommend which antibiotics or other
products to take to treat what ails the patient based on what a doctor says
they have or, if trained to, their own diagnosis of the patient. Some may
be wondering why legalize all these drugs without a prescription in the first
place? Let us use Flonase as an example.
This allergy nasal spray without insurance prior to becoming an OTC was
$200 plus dollars, but now that it is an OTC, the cost for the brand is at most
$26. That cost difference is due to the regulatory requirements imposed
by the FDA amongst other factors. Same medication, just as safe to take
as it was when it was prescription only. Likewise, with the change in
curriculum mentioned in step one people will have an idea of what to take and
when, which saves money by not needing to go to the doctor in the first place.
(Note: This can also be done in our current healthcare system to keep
costs down).
Step 5 deals with illegal drugs.
Right now illegal drugs are not allowed to be used to create or be used
in experiments to create drugs or even alternative therapies. This would
need to be changed so that more potential treatments can be found. Also,
as many illegal drugs as possible will also be made legally available via the
pharmacy or similar. As such marijuana and similar would be able to be
monitored sales wise and even who is taking it to ensure proper medical
treatment can be administered. More serious hard drugs will be in
specialized dispensaries run by the government, but the people addicted will
have to pay for their drugs to get them as they will be considered over the
counter medications, but if they overdose (as they will only be allowed to ingest/inject
the drugs there on site), the treatment for saving them in the mini hospital in
the back will be free. The idea here is to monitor these long time
patients and new patients so as to gain a better understanding of addiction,
keep these people from buying from dealers on the street, protect the addicted
person's children by not allowing them to see their parents do drugs and
overall provide help to get off these addictive drugs when the person asks/is
ready for it. (Note: This can also be done in our current healthcare system to
keep costs down).
Conclusion to part 2: So step 3 is to keep costs down
while allowing for alternatives to medical treatments when the doctors and or
universal health system no longer wishes to pay for therapies. In step 4
we eliminate as many prescription drugs as possible by making them OTC or a
restricted product like alcohol so as to reduce costs due to regulations, while
step 5 ends the drug war allowing for the money used to stop illegal drugs to
instead be used to look into new medical treatments and get a better
understanding of addition so that we get these poor people out of the shadows
and the prisons to give them the health care they deserve.
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