Hello! My name is Abigail Nobel. I grew up in the countryside of Michigan, the oldest of 9 siblings on the leading wave of the homeschool movement. Dinner meant debates over theology and the finer points of grammar, frequently interrupted by farm animal birthing events and fence-defying escapades.
College 1 made my lifelong dream of being a nurse a reality. 25 years and two specialty certifications later, I left the increasing frustrations of real-life Obamacare to study political philosophy at College 2. I wanted to get at the foundations of things, and Hillsdale helped me do that. All the while, I read everything I could find on Obamacare and made connections from first principles to patient care to health policy.
No doubt about it. Healthcare is in trouble, and those of us in the middle of it are in the best place to do something about it. The can-do attitude of American settlers , home-schoolers, and generations of healthcare professionals, is needed now more than ever. If we care about our patients, if we want excellent health care in our own old age, it is time to become advocates — to care for the heart of healthcare.
Care = patients + professionals.
At our time in history, the add-ons to care …
[forms, regulations, laws, procedures, lobbies, corporations, third-party payers, bureaucracies, agencies, programs, certifications, licenses, accreditations, mandates, subsidies, carve-outs, credits, exemptions, HIT, and more mandated forms and regulations]
… have nearly obliterated patients and professionals from the picture.
“Can we do that?” has replaced the American can-do attitude of the caring professions. You have probably seen or felt for yourself the hopeless timidity that has replaced the confidence Americans once felt when accessing care.
Entering the professions has become prohibitively regulated and expensive. Staying in is an unconscionable nightmare, and professional flight is rampant.
But this is still America. We know our stuff as professionals, and as patients. In our hearts we know what we want, and the best way to get it is still free enterprise: the proven, time-tested way to abundant choices, lower prices, and prosperous good health.
Care = patients and those who give care. That’s the answer, in a nutshell.
Inserting anyone else into that equation adds cost and complexity to our lives. After a certain point, that cost and complexity outweigh any financial security, physical safety, or other benefit we had hoped to gain.
The bad news is, we are passing that point in droves. Healthcare is a headache, and we all know it. We hear the stories, we dread the day it may hit us as it has hit others.
The good news is, we’re catching on. We don’t have to stay where we are. Wonderful innovative successes are popping up all over America, giving patients affordable care and returning to physicians the joy of their profession. I will share their stories here, to inspire more patients and professionals to strike out in a positive direction.
I will also target Michigan’s legal and regulatory barriers to care in order to reduce outside costs and return control to those most intimately involved. I will be reporting back to you here with details of my activity in Lansing.
Would you like to join me–
- at a Healthcare Forum in your area?
- by assisting free market healthcare with targeted support?
- by following the Dewdrops of Health with Abigail blog?
I look forward to hearing from you. Thanks for stopping by!
Abigail RN
Thank you for your good question.
I oppose eugenics.
To solve this problem, it is first important to realize that healthcare prices are badly inflated. The hurdle of paying for care has been falsely elevated by many factors, but especially government subsidies and excessive regulations. Tackling those root causes brings the problem of unaffordable care down to manageable size. In addition, just asking for a cash/prompt pay discount will often reduce prices 50% or more.
The best answer to disability and poverty care is community. Americans give massive amounts to charity every year in financial as well as time/skill contributions and hands-on care. When needs are made known and split up into manageable portions, great things happen. People love participating in great things! We see this especially with families who care for elderly and disabled relatives, but also in good neighbors, church members, and committed volunteers of every type. Individuals can do what government programs cannot: voluntarily give from the heart. It’s “love thy neighbor” in action, including “tough love” when needed for healthy lifestyle changes. And it works.
Do you advocate eugenics? Since many very sick people have conditions that preclude them from earning the kind of salary/benefits required to fully insure them, it would seem like there isn’t market pressure to provide health insurance/ drugs for really sick people since it won’t be possible. Ergo, I don’t know why companies would do it, and companies before the ACA *didn’t* do it. So it seems like natural selection or eugenics are the only alternative.
Thank you, Barbara!
This is all very good, Abigail! Your plan to include legislative updates regarding healthcare in Michigan is awesome!
This is great Abigail! I am honored to be a part of seeing this blog go places. May your faithful labor bring much fruit for the Kingdom!
love the site!
love
fadwa