Skip to content
  • About
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Book
  • Careers
  • Podcast
  • Recommended
  • Speaking
  • All
  • Physician
  • Practice
  • Policy
  • Finance
  • Conditions
  • .edu
  • Patient
  • Meds
  • Tech
  • Social
  • Video
    • All
    • Physician
    • Practice
    • Policy
    • Finance
    • Conditions
    • .edu
    • Patient
    • Meds
    • Tech
    • Social
    • Video
    • About
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Book
    • Careers
    • Podcast
    • Recommended
    • Speaking

Why Obamacare wouldn’t have worked anyway

Erica G. Jarrett, MD
Policy
March 13, 2017
Share
Tweet
Share

Pause with me for a moment and create an image in your mind of the quintessential healthy person. What do you see?

I picture someone who is slim and agile. They probably bike or walk to work and engage in daily exercise. They cook for themselves, use fresh vegetables and few processed foods. They find satisfaction in their career and home life, mange stress well and devote time to meaningful hobbies and recreation.  They have stable relationships with family and friends and have a spiritual life that brings depth and purpose to all that they do.  And they don’t take any medication.

The Affordable Care Act, despite its merits, was doomed because it failed to acknowledge that health, and more specifically affordable health, has little to do with access to a physician.

By prioritizing access to medical doctors, our nation has insisted on perpetuating a disease-centric model.  Perhaps this was intentional, after all, it is far more lucrative for any involved in the business of healthcare to treat long-term consequences of preventable chronic illnesses, rather than to actually prevent them.

If the incoming administration wants to try a new approach to both cut costs and improve the health of an average American, there are plenty of helpful and cost saving places to begin.

Our government can restrict the types of foods which can be purchased on government assistance, limiting them to fresh, high nutrient dense foods, which would allow us to stop spending millions of taxpayer dollars on chips, soda, and other nutritionally void items.

We can restrict advertising these same high-calorie low nutrition foods to children.

We can offer incentives for the development of public transportation systems which allow for shorter or less stressful commutes and require more folks to walk as part of their travel to work.  We can create new and enforce existing bike lanes, require that every road has a sidewalk, and encourage urban areas to develop and maintain hike and bike trails.

We can promote workplace wellness programs which offer incentives to employees for spending part of their day exercising, meditating and learning about nutrition, or offer discounts on gym memberships.

We can teach gardening and cooking in every school, continue to improve the quality of school lunches, and restrict the sale of candy and soda on school grounds. We can institute these same policies in all public institutions.

We can provide tax breaks for organic farms and offer subsidized insurance for their crops. We can encourage cities to change zoning policies to allow for urban farming. We can bring mobile farmer’s markets to communities that are not within walking distance of a grocery store.

We can pay a true living wage focusing on the needs of marginalized groups like farm workers and day laborers. We can insist on adequate vacation, maternity leave and on-site child care. We can restrict shift work and night schedules or allow for more time off for those who work overnight.

We can implement a tax on high sugar foods and sodas that provide no nutritional value and are strongly correlated with chronic disease.

ADVERTISEMENT

If all this sounds impossible, it shouldn’t. It was not long ago that rates of diabetes, obesity and a myriad of other chronic illnesses were almost non-existent. Even today there are many communities in the U.S. and around the world where most people enjoy good health.  A true Affordable Care Act is not only a good idea, it is necessary and we are at just the time and place in history to make it a reality.

Erica G. Jarrett is a family physician who blogs at Liturgy of Life.

Image credit: Shutterstock.com

Prev

Stop judging: Sometimes terminating a pregnancy is necessary

March 13, 2017 Kevin 14
…
Next

How to shift focus on America’s health

March 13, 2017 Kevin 2
…

Tagged as: Obama, Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
Stop judging: Sometimes terminating a pregnancy is necessary
Next Post >
How to shift focus on America’s health

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Erica G. Jarrett, MD

  • Why this physician stopped prescribing birth control

    Erica G. Jarrett, MD

Related Posts

  • Supporters of Obamacare should consider this Trump proposal

    Robert Laszewski
  • Why do people hate Obamacare?

    Julie Rovner
  • So much for repealing and replacing Obamacare. What’s next?

    Brian C. Joondeph, MD
  • Obamacare prices are rising. But not for the reasons you think.

    Peter Ubel, MD
  • Why this physician teaches health policy in medical school

    Kenneth Lin, MD
  • The confusing policy surrounding the buprenorphine X-waiver

    Julie Craig, MD

More in Policy

  • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

    Holland Haynie, MD
  • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

    Dave Cummings, RN
  • Healing the doctor-patient relationship by attacking administrative inefficiencies

    Allen Fredrickson
  • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

    Trevor Lyford, MPH
  • The CDC’s restructuring: Where is the voice of health care in the room?

    Tarek Khrisat, MD
  • Choosing between care and country: a dual citizen’s Independence Day reflection

    Kathleen Muldoon, PhD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

      Dave Cummings, RN | Policy
    • How digital tools are reshaping the doctor-patient relationship

      Vineet Vishwanath | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in every emergency department triage [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why PSA levels alone shouldn’t define your prostate cancer risk

      Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD | Conditions
    • How to handle chronically late patients in your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Reframing chronic pain and dignity: What a pain clinic teaches us about MAiD and chronic suffering

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • Why medicine must evolve to support modern physicians

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician

Subscribe to KevinMD and never miss a story!

Get free updates delivered free to your inbox.


Find jobs at
Careers by KevinMD.com

Search thousands of physician, PA, NP, and CRNA jobs now.

Learn more

View 8 Comments >

Founded in 2004 by Kevin Pho, MD, KevinMD.com is the web’s leading platform where physicians, advanced practitioners, nurses, medical students, and patients share their insight and tell their stories.

Social

  • Like on Facebook
  • Follow on Twitter
  • Connect on Linkedin
  • Subscribe on Youtube
  • Instagram

ADVERTISEMENT

  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • Why timing, not surgery, determines patient survival

      Michael Karch, MD | Conditions
    • Why health care leaders fail at execution—and how to fix it

      Dave Cummings, RN | Policy
    • How digital tools are reshaping the doctor-patient relationship

      Vineet Vishwanath | Tech
  • Past 6 Months

    • Forced voicemail and diagnosis codes are endangering patient access to medications

      Arthur Lazarus, MD, MBA | Meds
    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How President Biden’s cognitive health shapes political and legal trust

      Muhamad Aly Rifai, MD | Conditions
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • The One Big Beautiful Bill and the fragile heart of rural health care

      Holland Haynie, MD | Policy
    • The hidden health risks in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

      Trevor Lyford, MPH | Policy
  • Recent Posts

    • Why point-of-care ultrasound belongs in every emergency department triage [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why PSA levels alone shouldn’t define your prostate cancer risk

      Martina Ambardjieva, MD, PhD | Conditions
    • How to handle chronically late patients in your medical practice

      Neil Baum, MD | Physician
    • Reframing chronic pain and dignity: What a pain clinic teaches us about MAiD and chronic suffering

      Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD | Conditions
    • How early meetings and after-hours events penalize physician-mothers

      Samira Jeimy, MD, PhD and Menaka Pai, MD | Physician
    • Why medicine must evolve to support modern physicians

      Ryan Nadelson, MD | Physician

MedPage Today Professional

An Everyday Health Property Medpage Today
  • Terms of Use | Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy
  • DMCA Policy
All Content © KevinMD, LLC
Site by Outthink Group

Why Obamacare wouldn’t have worked anyway
8 comments

Comments are moderated before they are published. Please read the comment policy.

Loading Comments...