CHARACTERISTICS OF AN AMERICAN HEALTH SYSTEM

Executive Summary

In the Proposal INTRODUCTION I suggest the philosophical point that all citizens can make their own healthcare decisions if they are well informed. It is proposed that all societal institutions, and not just healthcare, must therefore be involved in people's health, and that traditional medicine must support society in this. Each of the five institutions of the family, education, religion, politics, and economics then is briefly analyzed, with suggestions on how they relate to present conditions and to good health.

Under the heading of GENERAL PHILOSOPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS it is first argued that too many social problems have been made "medical problems," thereby increasing medical costs and perhaps ignoring other b'nonmedical" ways of dealing with them. Other suggestions include the proposal that a well-informed public can, indeed, perform "self-diagnosis" and, in fact, already does so. The "medicalization" of death is discussed in more depth as an example of "overrnedicalizing" something which is natural and inevitable. The overriding concept of the "public health" is presented as a guiding principal for judging what services should be provided and not provided in an improved healthcare system. It is proposed that associations and physicians representing various disease categories analyze and publicize how their research and/or services impact the overall public health and interrelate with other medical specialties. The concept of "globalization" is mentioned, as it demands that we expand our concept of "public" to consider the health of the world. It then is argued that medical researchers should be much more inclusive and thorough in doing literature reviews before actually conducting research projects, this to include reviewing literature from so-called "alternative medicine." A model of how the body works used by practitioners from nontraditional medical models is suggested because it might allow for integration of new and existing knowledge and of various medical specialties. Lastly under this topic of GENERAL PHILOSOPHICAL CONSIDERATIONS, "genetic" research is questioned.

REEXAMINING OR PROPOSING LEGISLATION, REGULATIONS, OR REWARDS AFFECTING HEALTHCARE contains suggestions on how traditional Standards of Care, licensure laws, and roles of healthcare workers might be reexamined and changed. It is suggested that consumers keep their own medical records, and laws and regulations on drug use are examined from the standpoint of the public health. A reward system for those who contribute significantly to the public health, whether or not they are healthcare workers, is suggested.

IMPORTANT QUESTIONS YET TO BE ASKED OR ANSWERED are presented, and TRENDS WHICH SHOULD BE CONTINUED are listed, after which I attempt to document RESPONSES TO SPECIFIC "CONTEST TERMS AND CONDITIONS." I then speculate on what a different healthcare system might be like in A PEEK AT A NEW, BETTER HEALTH SYSTEM, using suggestions made previously, after which I write a brief CONCLUSION.

Attachments A and B are presented to illustrate: a naturopathic screening given to a newly-diagnosed diabetic at the time of diagnosis; and a healthcare delivery model which might be used as a starting point for a new healthcare system, respectively. Finally, the ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY lists the 68 sources used to document some points (bibliographic sources being presented within parentheses in the Proposal).

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