RESPONSE: East versus West, the Healthcare Throwdown

This is a response to East versus West, the Healthcare Throwdown. Please click on embedded link to read the original posting. The following is a reactionary essay to A's original thoughts. Any complaints, please email Ombudsman and remember interesting complaints will get posted for public ridicule. Thank you, the editor

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You know, I agree and disagree. I agree with everything that you said, but I don’t think that it is an issue of comparison. Why? Well, A. Im so glad that you have asked. Because when we compare A to B, and conclude that B is vastly better, then we are viewed as in favor of B over A.

The reality is that Western healthcare works ok too. For example, I too have had acupuncture and some other alternative treatments. For the most part, a good massage can do the trick for my back, but acupuncture does not even the slightest good for me. Western medicine sadly has been the only pain relief for me. The actual healthcare is a matter of choice. If eastern style works, great! If western works better, wonderful! I don’t think it is a match up of Eastern vs. Western, but is should be Eastern & Western vs. Insurance & Administration.

On a side note, I would also argue that acupuncture be considered a normal western medical practice rather than alternative or eastern therapy. There is good (western) scientific data on how and why acupuncture works so well and provides long term health benefits that are not limited to the health complaint but also extend to ones heart and joints and mental well being. I mean listen, in today’s world we view “alternative” or holistic therapies as shaky. Some believe, many do not. Some therapies are questionable, I agree, but some are definitely not and are proven time and time again. Acupuncture is definitely one of these and should be widely accepted in the same sense as chiropractic therapies.

However, let me get back to the main point. I think mainstream healthcare in this country is totally out of whack without the need of comparisons to other functioning forms of healthcare. It is a drive through process where general practitioners are paid based on the number of patients that they rush through and not the quality of care. Couple that with the insane amount of work it takes to submit claims as well as the rising costs of insurance, and your hometown doctor is unable to make enough money to stay in business. Doctors are then faced with the choice of giving up the practice, moving into a specialty field or simply rushing more patients through the door. Honestly, thank god some still rush patients through the door or else no one would have healthcare! But seriously folks, this is the HMO system that created this monster. Another side note, I heard a report about a study done on doctors and malpractice claims. Doctors who spent more time with their patients had far less claims than the ones who rushed people through. The also found that there were on average the same numbers of incidents between the two, but that people actually pressed charges less on the ones who spent more time. Food for thought.

Now one of the reasons that I argue that we shouldn’t compared the alternative therapies to the mainstream is because the single mother in Baltimore working for minimum wage needs a general practitioner when he 5 year old girl gets sick. Not an acupuncturist. So we need to be wary of people thinking that this is a choice. An “either or” situation. Yes, I believe holistic medicine offers a better overall experience, but I truly believe that for the most part, it is the HMO structure and not the doctor. I realize that there is plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest that some doctors are plain ass holes and they probably are, but I really worry about the state of the nation when we created this system where healthcare has turned into a fast food drive through.

You write in conclusion “I really am quite perplexed at our inability to see why Eastern medicine is better than our traditionally conceived notion of Western medicine” citing that Western medicine is overpriced and that Eastern medicine is rarely covered. I think here you are touching upon the heart of the matter. It is not the procedures per say from either western or eastern healthcare providers, but the infrastructure in healthcare payment. I would argue (but it would be another doctoral dissertation all together) that there are many practices that aren’t worth two cents in BOTH western and eastern practices, but the insurance industry has done a poor job of regulating what practices are worth the money and which are not. For instance, if you can get an insurance company to pay for preventative treatments, you’re a fricken genius. Most preventative medicines (such as cholesterol medicine and the such) aren’t even administered until after there is a problem. My sister in law was not allowed the continuous insulin pack (for the life of me, I cannot remember what it is called, but it continuously monitors sugar levels and administers insulin when needed). She wanted this device because she is young and by controlling the ups and downs with sugar early on, she vastly prolongs her life span. Would the insurance pay for this? Hell no! What did she have to do? She had to eat crappy food and feel like total dirt for months (where normally she is super good about her diet) so that she could go back to the doctor and be told that she is really sick so that she could be approved for the damned thing. Now if everyone who was severely diabetic had one, think of the cost savings of complications down the road? It is totally insane.

So in summation, I don’t think intrinsically that western medicine is any worse or better than eastern. I think they are apples and oranges and they both have their benefits. The key factor however is the administration of the healthcare. If eastern style practices were covered by your neighborhood HMO, I suspect access would be crappy, the co-pays would be out of this world and your acupuncturist would be rushing through patients in minutes rather than hours in order to keep their practice open for business. It is a sad state we are in. I totally agree that they rush you in and out, but the more I hear and read, the more I am convinced that this is out of necessity and not because they do not care or do not want to spend more time. The problem lies with how we pay for healthcare and who is in charge of what we pay to our doctors, for our drugs, and for procedures and therapies.