The health care system

The health care system in the United States is broken. Proposed fixes abound. But in order to fix the system successfully we must first understand how, why and where it's broken.

Imagine you have a sore knee. You go to see an orthopedist. The orthopedist asks you how the injury happened, how severe the pain is, in what way does it hurt (burning, sharp pain, aching etc.). The orthopedist pushes and pulls your knee into positions you never thought possible. The orthopedist may order x-rays and/or an MRI of your knee. Only after all information from these diagnostic steps has been assembled does the doctor fully understand the problem. Only then can he or she make a diagnosis and prescribe a treatment plan.

Health Care Problems is dedicated to gathering information for the same purpose the orthopedic surgeon gathers information: to make possible diagnosis and treatment of a problem. Unlike the doctor, however, HealthCareProblems.org does not attempt diagnosis or prescription. That's left to the reader. Health Care Problems does the first part of the surgeon's job. It collects information and assembles it for study.

You can participate in two ways. First, you can share your experiences of shortcomings with the current health care system. Your writing will be identified only by your state and your occupation. No other identifying information will be displayed. Second, you can use the information collected on the site to explore how and where the existing health care system fails. Armed with that knowledge, you can more accurately determine ways to fix or rebuild the current system (remember, in a democracy we are all responsible for diagnosing and fixing systems that don't work).