Sunday, September 2, 2012

Daily Kos: what health care and education have in common

Daily Kos: what health care and education have in common:


what health care and education have in common

is that neither can be addressed in isolation
I am writing this as a result of watching Melissa Harris-Perry this morning, where she had a focus on issues of health care -  an overall shortage of doctors, a specific shortage of primary care physicians, the costs of getting the necessary education versus the returns one can get (in certain practices), and problems of geographical distribution of physicians.
But what also was mentioned is that much of what is being addressed in medical treatment are issues outside of medicine - the conditions of housing (asbestos, lead based paint, and to which we can add vermin and insects), the lack of appropriate nutrition, and we could also mention lack of air conditioning and lack of heat.
These are issues of poverty.  These are issues of inequitable distribution of resources.  This is barriers to those who might want to provide necessary services.  These are issues of policy silos that cannot fix issues in