"Heal Thyself"

I know - my blog is usually light and airy stuff - but now that my Lenten "Positivity Project" has been shelved till next year - please allow me to rant, won't you?

Healthcare in America is a mess!  There I said it!  Having just been through the wringer and experiencing it firsthand, I can say that we are in a world of hurt, both literally and figuratively, if we don't fix it!

I recently experienced some health issues and went to the doctor.  Some testing was needed...first bloodwork, etc.  Meds were prescribed, made some headway with those, additional and more invasive testing was prescribed.

The orders went to the hospital on a Monday and there I was, four days later, waiting on approval from the insurance company!  Good thing I wasn't writhing in intense pain the entire time or bleeding from every orifice...It's almost like they were either expecting me to heal myself or hoping I'd just die in that waiting game.

I get it - the insurance companies take most of the heat - Folks using the emergency room as their primary care physician, the exorbitant cost of prescription drugs, unneeded tests ordered up  by unscrupulous doctors all add to their woes.  I get it.

And some doctors and some hospitals aren't blameless either.  Piggy-backing expensive procedures before results from other ones are in, the costly cutting edge equipment, insurance to protect them from folks who don't think they've gone far enough for them.  It's a mess!

I pity the elderly who have to go through the healthcare maze and have no advocate, willing to help steer them through.  But I really feel badly for our kids and grandkids -they don't know how it used to be - this is going to be their normal and their "good old days".  Sad.

Luckily, I like our doctors.  They've gone to the mat for us on more than one occasion.  I guess the lesson I've learned here is that you have to be aggressive and proactive about your own healthcare and that of your family's.  Don't be afraid to get in there and mix it up with the big guys.   It's your health and your well-being at stake here.   Oh, yeah...and say some prayers for a fix for the system.  Because, I can tell you, it needs it!