Acupuncture Blog Chicago: Healthcare a Prescription for Change

She's baaaack.....my good friend, collegue and guest
bloggerJennika Wildau, L.Ac..

Here are her ideas on how we can change our healthcare system for the better.

I. How to afford basic healthcare for all

Under a basic universal healthcare system, all Americans would be entitled to receive preventative and necessary healthcare by creating a program whereby recent graduates from all medical fields would be encouraged or required to serve 2 + years as "universal plan" providers. In other words, individuals choosing to enroll in a basic, universal (government-financed) health insurance plan would receive care primarily from younger, less experienced healthcare providers. Within these participating clinics/hospitals, there would be senior clinical supervisors overseeing and consulting with their younger associates. A monthly premium and/or co pays could be determined as a percentage of annual income, with a cap.

Those individuals who wished to receive more specialized and expanded care could purchase supplemental plans that would be privatized and outside of the government financed universal system, just as we do today with employer or individual financed private insurance plans.

Healthcare providers who opted into the universal system would be rewarded by student loan forgiveness programs and subject to contracted wages/salaries negotiated between healthcare providers and states/federal government.

II. Focus on Prevention

Along with valuable screenings, check-ups, and other disease-detecting methods, an emphasis on nutrition, exercise, and natural-based, noninvasive therapies are needed as part of a "first resort" emphasis (i.e. acupuncture, myofascial release techniques, chiropractic, and various rehabilitative exercise therapies). If these therapies were covered benefits, they would no longer be the exclusive domain of the rich and privileged. And, if there were more interface between allopathic medical providers and "alternative medicine" practitioners, physicians, nurses, and other medical specialists would gain the ability to recognize when it would be valuable and appropriate to refer patients to these "first resort" treatment options.

This would be most efficiently implemented by establishing integrative clinical settings, where patients could travel to the same facility for all their healthcare needs, and where providers worked as a team to provide customized treatment plans for each patient.

Jennika Wildau, L. Ac.
Aloha Wellness Clinic &
Aloha Annex Movement Studio
3400 Table Mesa Dr., Suite 204 & 205
Boulder, CO 80305
(720) 352-3722
email: jennika@email.com

To read more from Jennika check out her previous post
http://acupuncturechicago.blogspot.com/2008/11/healthcare-debate-type-of-care-needs.html

www.tcm007.com