Lola Butcher

The U.S. health care system comes up smelling like a putrid rose in a survey that compares how citizens in 10 countries feel about their nation’s health care situation.

The report on the survey–actually, several surveys combined–published by Harris Interactive can be found here.

While the  finding that Americans don’t like their health care system surprises no one, it is interesting to see that the other health care systems reviewed also have many detractors. The Harris Interactive researchers sum up their findings this way:

• Regardless of what system a country has, it falls short of public expectations. Most health care systems appear to be continuously in or on the brink of crisis.
•  Governments in all 10 countries that were studied are either changing or debating how to change their system.

The American Medical Association has issued an apology for its long tradition of racial inequality toward black physicians and for accepting segregation within the medical profession.

Institutional racism such as that fostered by the powerful AMA is one of the insidious forces that has contributed to America’s shameful history of white privilege.

I suspect that the rise of Barack Obama as a presidential candidate is forcing many institutions to realize that, within a few months, a black man may become the most powerful person in the world. Funny how power shifts like that.

A new bus is pulling out of the station, and it’s time for every American institution to get on board.

It is always surprising to me that physicians perceive themselves to be victims of America’s health care crisis when, in fact, they are the only ones that can save the system. I don’t blame physicians for the problems–there is too much blame to go around to pin it on just one group–but physicians alone have the power to sabotage any proposed reforms.

That’s real power, and that means physicians must be on board with any changes designed to return from the brink. And the only way they will be truly on board is if they help design the changes. Physicians, America needs you to apply the intelligence that got you through medical school to the nation’s health care quality and cost crisis. No, most of you did not sign up for this when you decided to become a physician, but you are the key to solving this mess. So please, proceed with haste.

Robert Laszewski, president of Health Policy and Strategy Associates and one of health care’s truth tellers, says this nicely in his recent post.