Listen to "Doctors Without Health Insurance I"
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 6:55 — 6.3MB)
Subscribe: RSS
Medicine under Lock & Key, Pondicherry, India Feb 06
There’s plenty of statistics and articles available on the disastrous health insurance situation in the United States of America. Health care costs have spiraled out of control, for the most part, making health care unaffordable to the uninsured. And health insurance itself has become increasingly expensive while covering less of the costs of health care in America. I could bombard you with the numbers and statistics but I’ll spare you the agony. That information is strewn about everywhere. We know that people who are unemployed and under-employed are left without adequate access to health care. We know that many people who are self-employed are offered health insurance at individual rates that are often unaffordable and impractical. We rarely think of physicians and other clinicians who are working in the health care professions to be also living without health insurance in America. Doctor Kelly Eagen shares her experience with going without health insurance for a period of time. If you are uninsured or under-insured, or know someone who is so, or even if you are just someone who cares, feel free to comment. And stay tuned for a few more doctors without health insurance who will be sharing their varying perspectives on the subject.
![Happy Holidays! As we close out 2017, it is worthwhile to explore some tools to support our personal peace of […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/23621309_1493619504066654_7516913274676473554_n-36x36.jpg "Balancing Bipolar with Yoga"){kind=small}
![For years I wanted to celebrate Diwali in India. I wanted to see homes lit up with clay oil lamps […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/sep-oct-07-015-36x36.jpg "Diwali: The Festival of Noise OR Honk If You Hate Noise"){kind=small}
![Life keeps showing up with surprises. Sometimes the surprise is a shock to the system. Often that shock reverberates through […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/283599_314516585310291_1928207268_n-36x36.jpg "Losing Hair Over Losing a Loser of a Lover"){kind=small}
![Bachelor Girls is a 2016 film by Shikha Makan about the challenge of finding appropriate housing as a single woman […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/bachelorgirlspromostill-36x36.jpg "Bachelorettes – Welcome (and House) The New Race in India"){kind=small}
![In honor of the recent occasion of the full moon in July, the auspicious day of Guru Purnima, India’s ancient […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/13138776_10154247273641349_4365203924607363718_n1-36x36.jpg "School’s Out: Unschool Yourself"){kind=small}
![Appeal and Repeal. We played that game with Obamacare. Now we are playing the Repeal and Replace game. Let’s face […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/repealreplace3-36x36.jpg "Trumpcareless Insurance Sparks Guerrilla Health Revolution!"){kind=small}
![Quality of thoughts determine the quality of your work, according to Mr. Somnath Kakade, a renowned tabla maker based in Pune, […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/P1110185cropped-36x36.jpg "Look, Ma, One Hand!"){kind=small}
![Has it been a long time since you’ve had your seat in a bicycle saddle? Maybe you don’t even know […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/P1120065filled-36x36.jpg "Bicycling in the Bushes of Utrecht"){kind=small}
![In this short interview with Mumbai-based filmmaker Anand Gandhi, we discuss his beautiful, thought-provoking, mind-changing, inspirational 2013 film, Ship of […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/SOTposterimage-36x36.png "Whose is the Ship of Theseus?"){kind=small}
![Life is full of ups and downs, lefts and rights, twists and turns, rights and wrongs. Resilience carries us through […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/2007_06_23_superman032-36x36.jpg "Resilience, the Great Bounce Back"){kind=small}
![It’s graduation time again so we turn our attention to education once more. In this short interview, Ms. Vivian shares her experience as an […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Apples-are-the-best-40190168036-36x36.jpeg "An Apple for the Teacher, and the Students."){kind=small}
![Who wants to bicycle around Bandra, Bombay, besides an expat classically trained cellist? In this short podcast, North American born […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/P1110189-36x36.jpg "Bum on the Saddle in Bandra, Bombay"){kind=small}
![This podcast begins a series covering different herbal tonic formulas that can be used safely by everyone, starting with Triphala. […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Phyllanthus_emblica_BNC-36x36.jpg "Long Live Triphala, Long Live Us!"){kind=small}
![In this episode we learn about the role Eastern healing traditions on oral health, particularly Ayurveda and Acupuncture. We also revel […]](https://dev.neijingnow.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/teethcontents-36x36.jpg "Let the Sun Rise in Your Mouth"){kind=small}
If a bunch of doctors come together and form a coop, then they can offer reduced or free services to each other. One member of the group is a derm, one is a dentist…
You get the point.
create your own doctor groups and start offering services for reduced or fair price to others.
Guri, thanks for listening and sharing a nice idea. The trouble is the practice of medicine is now so intricately entangled with pharmaceuticals and diagnostic and therapeutic high technology, all of which are very expensive. Generally the doctors have very little say in setting the costs for these services and products. It is true, if doctors have their own practice, they have some negotiating power on their fees for their clinical services. If they also have to own labs, radiology equipment, chemotherapy suites, surgery suites, etc..that becomes rather impractical. As we’ll hear in the upcoming clips in the series on Doctors Without Health Insurance, there are doctors who are innovating within the system, or bucking the system all together, to get and offer care without insurance. Stay tuned!
Jaysi,
Thank you for doing these “shorts”. I really like the format! Interesting story too. I had no idea that many doctors were among the uninsured.
Dan
I’m enjoying making the shorties too! Glad you appreciate them. Thanks for listening and for all your support.
HI, I agree with Jayshree about costs, also, that insurance companies and drug companies are intrusive, manipulative and greed based. In turn that trickles down to the price of one Dr. visit. Aside from good doctors being told how to practice, what to give, limit their diagnosing powers due to cost effectiveness, that we must remember that physicians are human, they have lives, they have dedicated years of study to help others and I believe many are burned out, disgusted, frustrated that they cannot give more than they are limited to by corporate businesses after making money not healing.
I also believe that the patient is responsible for taking part in being healthy, by behaviors that produce health instead of rob them of it, such as excesses and toxins many choose to indulge and then want a fast pill that resembles an eraser on the blackboard and erase the choice of their actions. I have health insurance, but I rarely use it, if ever, I have made choices that keep me healthy, and I read a lot, the wisdom of the universe has no monopoly on it, anyone can know anything. So I read everything at my fingertips through internet, books at the library, and asking other knowledgeable people who are happy to help. I do not blame doctors, I blame the greedy companies that keep people sick so they can make a buck on the latest drug or make a buck on withholding benefits to those in need. So sad, there must be change and it must continue. the change is in mindset, have a health based mindset. It is up to us.
Alma, what you say is true, corporate and business interests have taken over the practice of medicine and doctors are now employees facing many of the same productivity pressures that factory workers contend with.
And we each must take responsibility for our individual and collective health. Although individual choices may seem easy at first glance, they are influenced by many of our collective priorities. The toxins in our air, water, and soil are our collective responsibility. I commend you for reading and getting informed and making healthy choices. Thanks for encouraging everyone to do the same.
“Physician, heal thyself”…we could say this two centuries ago. The irony of progress.
Linette, it is indeed ironic that medical school, internship, and residency are so grueling that many trainees actually become ill. Now, even the practice of medicine is driven by corporate and administrative business interests that productivity demands outweigh quality of practice. Stress levels remain high even after the training period. Doctors no longer control their own practices. Heal Thyself is based on personal control over how one lives and works. This applies to everyone, not just doctors. After all, we all have the capacity to prioritize our well-being. Good to hear from you, Linette.