Going in to see and hear Trudy Lieberman speak I didn't know very much about the American Health Care System, even with the constant coverage in the media over the U.S. government shutdown over the debt ceiling and what the Affordable Care Act, which has been given the name, Obama Care.
"Trudy Lieberman is a past president of the Association of Health Care Journalists in the U.S and she is visiting four Canadian cities this fall as a Fulbright Scholar and guest of the Evidence Network.".
During her speech she explained some of the differences between the Canadian and American systems.
She also specifically outlined some of the problems inherent in this system and how it has been making it harder for individuals without full time employment, who aren't receiving government support, to get health insurance.
She mentioned how there are people in America who may have health conditions like asthma (I have asthma), and how their policies will not cover these health conditions.
She also spoke about how these people often have to pay high insurance rates along with a high deductible.
The reason for this is that they don't have anyone to 'share the risk' when they go it alone with their health insurance.
The more people there are in a health plan, the more people there are to share the risk with.
With universal health care, Canadians share the risk with all other Canadians.
People in the U.S. who receive health coverage as a benefit of full time employment, share the risk with all of their fellow employees.
Much of her speech focused on how the media covers health care.
She was not happy with the press coverage of the Affordable Care Act. Her biggest complaint with it was that it didn't do enough to explain what it was to the public.
Another complaint she had was that she saw the press as a follower, when before, they used to go out and 'find the news'.
Balance was also a major subject she addressed. She was openly critical of what she referred to as 'he said, she said' journalism.
She did not feel every side or opinion deserved equal weight. The weight something was to be given was to be based on its validity.
A final major topic she discussed was 'the source', and she was very critical of every press agency relying on the same few, selected experts, especially when she wasn't sure of the authority that some of these so called experts had in their field.
She also spoke about not letting one person's story speak for everyone, especially if that person's story is not the typical story of everyone.
In such cases it was very important to remember that evidence should always be presented in the proper contexts in order to give it weight.
(more to come)
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