Health after Oil will occasionally offer reports from
practitioners who are aware they are working in health systems that are
unsustainable and in need of transformation. We begin this
series with two practitioner accounts of reactions to the implementation
of President Obama’s recently Supreme Court upheld health legislation.
The first is by Dr. S., a psychotherapist in a rural setting. She
discusses the possible implications of the Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The second post is by Michael Bennett, a nurse, commenting on how the
ACA has overlooked the issue of ecological sustainability. Dan Bednarz,
Ed.
I reasoned if I established mental health services here in this rural community when the health system/economy was still running, then as the collapse unfolded I would be able -in this localized setting- to offer my services in whatever alternative socioeconomic system of exchange emerges. While there is still no local psychiatrist here, over these past six years I have been able to establish a successful private practice. This has been made possible by 1) advertising in the local community newspaper, 2) working hard to get into as many insurance networks as possible so that people with insurance can see me and 3) offering a sliding fee scale for clients without insurance.
Read more: http://healthafteroil.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/reports-from-health-care-practitioners/
Obama’s Affordable Care Act as Prelude
By Dr. S.
As a solo mental health practitioner in a remote rural California
community, I’d like to share my experience with what is happening along
the way to the collapse of our health care system. I opened my private
psychotherapy practice in this rugged and remote area of California in
2006 because it was a community where there were no locally based
full-time practitioners. Residents who needed mental health care were
either foregoing treatment or driving an hour each way for their
50-minute hour of talk therapy or their 10-minute “med check” with a
psychiatrist.I reasoned if I established mental health services here in this rural community when the health system/economy was still running, then as the collapse unfolded I would be able -in this localized setting- to offer my services in whatever alternative socioeconomic system of exchange emerges. While there is still no local psychiatrist here, over these past six years I have been able to establish a successful private practice. This has been made possible by 1) advertising in the local community newspaper, 2) working hard to get into as many insurance networks as possible so that people with insurance can see me and 3) offering a sliding fee scale for clients without insurance.
Read more: http://healthafteroil.wordpress.com/2012/07/16/reports-from-health-care-practitioners/
No comments:
Post a Comment