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

Forced immigration and the American dream: a physician’s story

Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD
Physician
May 22, 2024
Share
Tweet
Share

My grandfather was forced to immigrate from Japan to Canada in 1910. As I learned, he owned many sake factories in Japan, which were nationalized in a government takeover of certain businesses. Governments do that. The family was heavily burdened, and the government pressured them to move across the Pacific.

Over the next century, our family prospered under the Canadian government, with some family members coming to the United States.

One reflection of any government is the health care provided to its citizens. The United States is failing in life expectancy, caring for older adults, perinatal care, cost of medication and treatment, and equity in access.

Despite this country being a leading medical technology developer in the world, its health care ranking is worsening compared to other countries. Why?

Greed.

Instead of enhancing our nation’s health care, the medical-industrial complex of pharmaceutical manufacturers, hospitals, and insurance companies is reaching into the pockets of Americans to snatch their dollars.

For example:

  • Sickle cell anemia has been a scourge for many centuries, yet now a cure is available utilizing new scientific technology. However, only a few can take advantage because a one-time treatment costs $2 million per person.
  • There are newly developed DNA-altering mutation cancer treatments that can be $30,000 per month.
  • Your doctor is forced to fill out mounds of paperwork to receive “prior authorization” dictated by insurance paper pushers for you to receive evidence-based care.

Will insurance companies pay for these? “Denied!”

Many in California and even across the nation are happy to see the value of their homes increase. Remember, though, that this asset might make you a deep pocket and a future target of the medical-industrial complex, seeking new resources that they will force you to tap into.

We know that compared to other nations, we pay more than double for health care than any other country.

As quality health care around the world surpasses the US, we face the unenviable realization our children and grandchildren will face worsening illness as affordability is beyond their reach.

Author and historian Jon Meacham, in his recent book And There Was Light, chronicles emancipation and the life of Abraham Lincoln, “that progress comes when Americans recognize that all, not just some, possess common rights and are due common respect.”

Adequate health care should be an American right for all, emancipating us from the shackles the medical-industrial complex has intentionally bound us to. We, the People, can then prosper health-wise like other nations around the world.

Therefore, what can we do? Nationalize health care? But health care is different from sake.

Some will say it is another socialistic or communistic ploy for the government to control our lives.

ADVERTISEMENT

Well, maybe our capitalistic ways need some tweaking for our nation to survive. Blending in common sense may allow us to preserve a better future so no one has to move overseas.

My profession is predicated on the scientific theory of statistics and following trends in developing evidence-based medicine. It works. However, the medical-industrial complex’s greed will interfere with how science can be used to cure our society’s ills.

Therefore, let’s analyze our U.S. health care system for improvements and question the hidden faults.

For instance:

  • How much do pharmaceutical companies really invest in “research and development”?
  • What are executives’ salaries, compensation packages, and bonuses in the medical-industrial complex?
  • What does it really cost to manufacture a pill?
  • How much do these medical-industrial complex stakeholders pay and influence lawmakers to affect their special interests?
  • What right do insurance companies have to direct a doctor in your medical care, influencing the drugs, procedures, or end-of-life care you receive? What is their educational background to “deny” the medical care being rendered by your well-trained doctor?

Realize that these questions have been asked and gone unanswered for the past several decades to keep the sham going.

When I want to cure a patient with many problems, I focus on the most life-threatening ones. Our nation’s most threatening problem is the need for a fair, equitable, and cost-friendly health care system.

We might not need a government takeover of health care, and we don’t need to leave the country. But we must sit down as a nation and cure these problems without the influence of greed.

Gene Uzawa Dorio is an internal medicine physician who blogs at SCV Physician Report.

Prev

The truth about employee turnover: It's inevitable (and OK!)

May 22, 2024 Kevin 0
…
Next

How physician groups can beat private equity

May 22, 2024 Kevin 0
…

Tagged as: Public Health & Policy

Post navigation

< Previous Post
The truth about employee turnover: It's inevitable (and OK!)
Next Post >
How physician groups can beat private equity

ADVERTISEMENT

More by Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD

  • How doctors took back control from hospital executives

    Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD
  • Pope Francis dies at 88. What his care reveals about America’s failing hospitals.

    Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD
  • When saving lives leads to losing your own

    Gene Uzawa Dorio, MD

Related Posts

  • I was trolled by another physician on social media. I am happy I did not respond.

    Casey P. Schukow, DO
  • Asylum seekers: a snapshot from an American physician’s lens

    Madeline Cohen and Gauri G. Agarwal, MD
  • An American physician in Sweden. Here’s what he thought about its health care.

    Richard Young, MD
  • Why everyone needs a six-word story

    Alexie Puran, MD
  • The black physician’s burden

    Naomi Tweyo Nkinsi
  • Why this physician supports Medicare for all

    Thad Salmon, MD

More in Physician

  • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

    Patrick Hudson, MD
  • Why compassion—not credentials—defines great doctors

    Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib
  • Why Canada is losing its skilled immigrant doctors

    Olumuyiwa Bamgbade, MD
  • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

    Maureen Gibbons, MD
  • Why screening for diseases you might have can backfire

    Andy Lazris, MD and Alan Roth, DO
  • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

    Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD
  • Most Popular

  • Past Week

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • How community paramedicine impacts Indigenous elders

      Noah Weinberg | Conditions
    • A physician’s reflection on love, loss, and finding meaning in grief [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • A physician’s reflection on love, loss, and finding meaning in grief [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How fragmented records and poor tracking degrade patient outcomes

      Michael R. McGuire | Policy
    • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • How I learned to stop worrying and love AI

      Rajeev Dutta | Education
    • Understanding depression beyond biology: the power of therapy and meaning

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • Why compassion—not credentials—defines great doctors

      Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib | 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

Leave a Comment

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

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Why doctors are reclaiming control from burnout culture

      Maureen Gibbons, MD | Physician
    • How community paramedicine impacts Indigenous elders

      Noah Weinberg | Conditions
    • A physician’s reflection on love, loss, and finding meaning in grief [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
  • Past 6 Months

    • Why are medical students turning away from primary care? [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • Why tracking cognitive load could save doctors and patients

      Hiba Fatima Hamid | Education
    • Why “do no harm” might be harming modern medicine

      Sabooh S. Mubbashar, MD | Physician
    • Here’s what providers really need in a modern EHR

      Laura Kohlhagen, MD, MBA | Tech
    • What the world must learn from the life and death of Hind Rajab

      Saba Qaiser, RN | Conditions
    • How medical culture hides burnout in plain sight

      Marco Benítez | Conditions
  • Recent Posts

    • A physician’s reflection on love, loss, and finding meaning in grief [PODCAST]

      The Podcast by KevinMD | Podcast
    • How fragmented records and poor tracking degrade patient outcomes

      Michael R. McGuire | Policy
    • How New Mexico became a malpractice lawsuit hotspot

      Patrick Hudson, MD | Physician
    • How I learned to stop worrying and love AI

      Rajeev Dutta | Education
    • Understanding depression beyond biology: the power of therapy and meaning

      Maire Daugharty, MD | Conditions
    • Why compassion—not credentials—defines great doctors

      Dr. Saad S. Alshohaib | 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

Leave a Comment

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

Loading Comments...