In Healthcare,
It’s 10 to 1 Against Us
To the editor:
Imagine for one minute that the repair shop to which you take your car has 2 mechanics who work on the cars, but 20 people who work in the office making appointments, creating work orders, et cetera. How much would it cost to get a simple tune up or oil change? Now imagine that this situation existed in the healthcare field.
Surprise! You don’t have to imagine, that’s the reality in American healthcare. There are now 10 healthcare administrators for every doctor: “The ratio of doctors to other healthcare workers is now 1:16, up from 1:14 two decades ago. Of those 16 workers for every doctor, only six are involved in caring for patients—nurses and home health aids, for example. The other 10 are in purely administrative roles.” [https://www.healthline.com/health-news/policy-ten-administrators-for-every-one-us-doctor-092813].
Ten administrators for every doctor. Think about that. Say it out loud. Say it again. Ten-to-one. I can’t say this enough. Neither can you. Pass it along, everywhere, to everybody. And say it loud.
None of the current healthcare “reform” proposals addresses this problem. None. And the problem affects Everybody. Yet not long ago the executive director of the state Democratic Party told me that healthcare was not a hot topic for voters as candidates on the campaign trails.
If true, we have to make it a hot topic. Ten to one. Tell people. Tell everyone you know. And please, tell your legislators over and over again until they really understand how disastrous this is.
— Lee Russ
Bennington, Vt.
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