“My holy Name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel.  I will not let My holy Name be profaned anymore, and the Gentiles will know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel.”

Ezekiel 39: 7

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Healthcare in the U.S. Needs a Complete Overhaul

I am not advocating socialized medicine, but if you do some digging, you will discover that the U.S. healthcare system isn’t all it’s cracked up to be.

Doctors in the U.S. make many times more than doctors in other countries. They aren’t better doctors, but they are a lot richer than doctors in other countries.  As a result, many people in the U.S. are attracted to the medical profession for the wrong reason, and we have some terrible doctors.  We have some great doctors, too, but the bad ones stand out.

Patients beware.

My best friend is a University of Virginia Medical School doctor.  He tells me that about 50% of U.S. doctors should not be practicing medicine.  He’s not just whistling Dixie.  He knows what he’s talking about.

See “The problem of doctors’ salaries”.

The cost of healthcare per capita in the U.S. is much higher than the cost of healthcare per capita in other countries.  We don’t have better healthcare, but we have more expensive healthcare.

People who say that the U.S. healthcare system is the best in the world are wrong.  It’s the most expensive healthcare system in the world.

See “The average cost of healthcare in 21 different countries”.

Doctors in the U.S. over-prescribe drugs. We don’t need and shouldn’t be taking many of those drugs.  I’m sure there are kickbacks from the drug manufacturers for doctors who do the prescribing.  There is something fundamentally wrong with a system that rewards doctors for prescribing drugs that their patients don’t need.

See “Overprescribed: High cost isn’t America’s only drug problem”.

A Case Study: My Experience with Israeli Doctors

In 2016, I went to an Israeli doctor in Jerusalem to get a prescription refilled. She refused to refill it unless she examined me and determined that I needed it.

I said, “Okay, examine me.”

She did, and she didn’t give me a “once over lightly” exam. It was a complete physical with blood work.

I was a walk-in, no appointment.  The whole thing took 45 minutes from the time I walked in until the time I walked out.

The prescription that I wanted her to refill was for an antibiotic for diverticulitis. I had never had any “diverticulitis” problems until after a routine colonoscopy in 2013. After that colonoscopy, I had nothing but problems.

My gastroenterologist at the time, the guy who performed the colonoscopy, told me it was diverticulitis. I could not convince him that it was anything else, but I tried. He kept prescribing antibiotics even though they were not working.

When the Israeli doctor completed her exam, she talked to me about the results and gave me a report in Hebrew and English for my U.S. doctors.

She said, “You don’t have diverticulitis, but you do have a problem. You need a CT scan. I’ve written you a prescription for a CT scan. Give it to your gastroenterologist in the U.S. When he gets this, he’ll have to give you a CT scan. If he won’t, get another doctor.”

I decided to get a new gastroenterologist.  I did some digging and found a great doctor in Greenville, SC. The gastroenterologist who gave me the colonoscopy in 2013 was in Athens, GA.

When the gastroenterologist in Greenville saw the results of my CT scan, he called me immediately and said, “You need to pack a bag and come to the hospital. There is a room waiting for you. We need to perform surgery right now.”

My gastroenterologist in Athens had punctured my colon during the colonoscopy in 2013. For 3 years, he was prescribing antibiotics for the problem.

Antibiotics won’t fix a punctured colon. My small intestine had gravitated over to seal off the puncture. That’s automatic. We are wonderfully made.

Over time, my small intestine fused with my colon where the puncture occurred. That was the problem I had been living with for 3 years. A part of my colon and a part of my small intestine had to be removed. I was walking around with a time bomb in my gut that could have exploded at any time. That’s what the Israeli doctor told me and that’s what a CT scan revealed.

Then, she said something that took me by surprise.  She said, “Did you know that you have a heart murmur?”

I said, “No.”

She said, “Well, you do. I think you have aortic stenosis, but you will need an echo cardiogram to be sure. I’ve written you a prescription for an echo cardiogram. Give it to a cardiologist when you get back to the U.S. You need to do it right away.”

I had no idea what aortic stenosis is. It was May at the time. I told the doctor, “I have a physical in December. I think I’ll wait until then.”

She said, “NO! That’s the first thing you should do.”  She was adamant.

Katie was there. When she heard the tone in the doctor’s voice, she perked up. There was no way I could avoid seeing a cardiologist at that point.

As quickly as I got back to the U.S., I did some digging and found a great cardiologist. He looked at the report from the Israeli doctor, listened to my heart, and said, “I can detect a slight murmur, but I don’t think it’s aortic stenosis. We’ll do an echo cardiogram to be sure.”

A few days later, my cardiologist gave me the results. I expected him to tell me that it was not a serious problem. Instead, he said, “You do have aortic stenosis. In 2 to 5 years, you will need open heart surgery to replace your aortic valve.”

In January 2019, I had open heart surgery.

My visit to the doctor in Israel in 2016, the visit that took 45 minutes from start to finish to complete, revealed 2 things that my doctors in the U.S. had missed, and I have been getting physicals every year for my entire adult life. Her results contradicted my gastroenterologist’s results. She was right, and he was wrong.

Because I’m not an Israeli citizen, I had to pay the full freight for my 2016 doctor visit. It cost me $150.

That’s peanuts. Each year, my physicals in the U.S. cost many hundreds of dollars, close to a thousand dollars, and my U.S. physicals had not detected 2 things that could have killed me.

Conclusion

U.S. healthcare isn’t the best in the world, but it is the most expensive.

Healthcare in the U.S. needs a complete overhaul.

Those aren’t political talking points.  They’re facts that are supported by irrefutable evidence.

Switching Gears

In 2016, I did not want to go to the doctor in Jerusalem. That takes time, and I didn’t want to spend my time in a doctor’s office.

But Yahweh wanted me to go.  He said so, and He wouldn’t let up.  For several hours, I wrested with Him until He finally won.

As it turns out, going to the doctor in Jerusalem in 2016 was essential.  If I had not obeyed Yahweh at that point, it may have cost me my life, and I didn’t have a clue.

Yahweh knows what He is doing.

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“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)

See “His Name is Yahweh”.