My summertime question for our readers

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Sunday, August 4. 2019

My summertime question for our readers

When and why did "medical care" become "health care"? It has been a puzzlement to me. When I first heard the term, I thought "What?!?"

Is it just euphemisn, or something more?

Posted by Dr. Joy Bliss in Medical at 15:29 | Comments (21) | Trackbacks (0)

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Seems like a reasonable evolution to me, toward something simpler to say and understand, and arguably broader in meaning.

I mean, we used to say "horseless carriage", "motor car", "automobile", now it is almost universally "car".

Or to some, "the Rolls". :-)

#1 peacelovewoodstock on 2019-08-04 16:25 (Reply)

Hear, hear... working in the psychiatric field for 30 plus years, I've wondered what this meant and why others in psychiatry would not feel (because isn't all about FEELINGS? - insert puking emoji) disconcerted by this change.
What I am finding is the emphasis on Nurture rather than Nature (in my opinion, we need to look at both) has changed the face of all the sciences whether hard or soft... Working with the criminal population for 19 years I've seen this "Health Care" encompass everything from a broken body part to a scratch, with an encouragement of dependence on Government. e.g. Inmates will state they are "Suicidal" to get into a medical/psychiatric program right before they parole to be eligible for SSI.
"Health Care" at work.

#2 Christen on 2019-08-04 16:50 (Reply)

There is a health industry or sub-culture. If you look in a bookstore you will find a section on health. There is a belief that readily available access to medical care will improve your health. This is true for some health problems and not true for others. But I think what happened goes back to the 60's and the idea that there was "healthy" living and unhealthy living and then it was further morphed to suit a political end; i.e. the idea that the poor didn't have sufficient access to medical care and it negatively impacted their health and this became shortened to health care.

IMHO most serious health problems cannot be helped by medical care. If you get any of the serious cancers you are going to die. It is a common and promising myth that the doctors can give you a few more years but I think all they can really do is take more of your and your insurance companies wealth before you succumb to the inevitable. Some would quickly point out that sometimes the "cure" works and people with serious cancers recover. This is true and seems to also be true if you have no medical treatment for the cancer. Just one of the many inexplicable things about health and illness.

#3 Anon on 2019-08-04 16:51 (Reply)

Health care is what you (should) do "before" in an effort to head off those illnesses and other situations that "afterwards" will require medical care. The emphasis is on preventive action by individuals rather than remedial action by medical professionals. "Health care" is, by some remarkable coincidence (lol), where the profit objectives of insurance companies intersect with the best practices of medicine.

#4 Agent Cooper on 2019-08-04 17:04 (Reply)

Agent Cooper, I think that you're half-right. You are correct in saying that Health Care is supposed to preempt Medical Care by providing Preventative Medicine. But studies have shown that Preventative medicine (besides vaccines) has very little effect. And the preventative medicine that does work doesn't get used. I'll give you a couple of examples. You may not believe that these examples are true, but they are:

1. In 1955 Dow Chemical introduced a new spray-on clear plastic coating for children's teeth. The coating had to be reapplied every few years; but it completely eliminated cavities and tooth decay. The coating worked perfectly. Too perfectly, in fact. Many Dentists got angry and demanded that it be removed from the market. So Dow removed it from the market. If it were still available, most people would go through life without a single cavity, or root canal, or crown.

2. In 1960, researchers working under the direction of the F.D.A. discovered that children need much, much, more calcium than they receive naturally. But they aren't supposed to start taking it until after puberty. When the kids are given a calcium supplement starting at age fourteen, they developed bones that were twice as strong as normal. This resulted in fewer broken bones, and fewer back problems as the subjects entered old age. But strong bones mean that old people won't need to go to the hospital as much.

Agent Cooper: I know what you're thinking. The world can't possibly be that evil. But it can. Money talks.

#4.1 Ron B Liebermann on 2019-08-05 01:29 (Reply)

Dental sealants are available

https://www.webmd.com/oral-health/guide/dental-sealants

#4.1.1 Cmyk on 2019-08-05 09:11 (Reply)

The point is that kids are supposed to get their teeth sealed as standard procedure; just like getting vaccinated. And they are also supposed to get calcium supplements as standard procedure.

#4.1.1.1 Ron B Liebermann on 2019-08-05 11:53 (Reply)

Your health is something personal and self-directed. Medical care, on the other hand, is rather obviously something provided to you by somebody else. All these calls for universal healthcare as a human right are meant to disguise the fact that it's not "your" healthcare, it's imposing an obligation on somebody else to provide for your medical care. Just as entitlement programs are never properly referred to as charity, it establishes a principle that simply by virtue of your being born everybody else has a duty to take care of you.

#4.2 Jerryskids on 2019-08-05 11:19 (Reply)

Is it about sales? I'd rather buy health than deal with disease.

#5 BD on 2019-08-04 17:06 (Reply)

I prefer to refer to it as an economical method of ushering me out. Not economical, pain free or compassionate....more a hurry up and leave.

#6 Judith on 2019-08-04 19:07 (Reply)

It's rebranding to benefit many who want a piece of an enormous pie. Medical care is easily understood, "Health Care" benefits all the grifters and hanger-ons sucking money from the big pot. Think of the administraticrats, insurance behemoths, health consultants, EHR/IT techbots, and thousands of other parasites.

Most importantly, it provides cover for politicians playing their corrupt games.

#7 Hal Dall MD on 2019-08-04 19:11 (Reply)

It also is intended to broaden payments from medical/surgical care to closely aligned ancillary services(PT, OT, etc. a good thing), to alternative practices (chiro/naturopath/acupuncture) and now on to a cloud of other services, from music therapy to gym memberships to mass-marketed back brace scams.

Politicians love to say American "Health Care" costs soooo much more than in other countries, but few national health systems include such (for most of them) noncovered items in their accounting. So then, here is my bill to "fix" your "Health Care".

#8 Hal Dall MD on 2019-08-04 19:44 (Reply)

I use "medical services". Word choice is important.
Leftists are much better than conservatives at this.

#9 itsatax on 2019-08-04 21:00 (Reply)

In many other countries and languages it's been that for decades.

And with the department of health running the stuff through Obamacare, is it any surprise it's now such in the US as well?

#10 JTW on 2019-08-04 22:29 (Reply)

Probably because the UN bureaucratese on human rights refers to the "right to health" and not "right to medical care", words matter.

#11 the fat tomato on 2019-08-05 07:18 (Reply)

The two terms have certainly become increasingly conflated.

I've always taken health care to mean the idea of programmes and policies designed to encourage the maintenance of health while medical care refers to the specific application of medicine to illness and injury.

By way of analogy, consider a treadmill routine as health care but treatment for a sprained ankle or pulled leg muscle as medical care.

#12 JJM on 2019-08-05 08:37 (Reply)

My doc says, healthcare is what you do for yourself. Medical care is what the doctor does for you. Simple. Need to understand and appreciate the difference. 'Healthcare' goes back to the use of HMOs, when medical care became a philosophy of maintaining health when, in practice, it meant even more medical care and less individual responsibility for one's health.

#13 Peter Lorenzi on 2019-08-05 10:24 (Reply)

Health is a personal condition, not a commodity or service you can buy, therefore you can't insure for it. It's like so called life insurance. If you buy life insurance and then drop dead, the insurance company can't replace you life. However, if you have lots of life insurance your heirs will be very happy.

#14 Ray on 2019-08-05 11:58 (Reply)

In my field, we went from talking about mental illness to using the phrase mental health. It was supposed to reduce stigma by being more inclusive - heck, everyone could use more mental health. It doesn't mean you've got an illness. It was also supposed to be more positive sounding. This may be based on that very American heresy that saying things makes them more likely to be true.

If it makes people more likely to come in for treatment for serious illnesses, I suppose it is a good thing. Yet I think it may also encourage people to come in for less serious illnesses, or no illness at all. I think it also takes our focus in public hospitals and MHC's off the more serious illnesses that were our original job. Lastly, there is something a little dishonest about it. When the government and advocacy groups talk about "health care," they aren't talking about what you do yourself, no matter what we think the word should mean. They mean doctors, nurses, physical therapists, counselors, etc, who cost money and are going to perform a service.

#15 Assistant Village Idiot on 2019-08-05 22:15 (Reply)

It's all a con. We are lied to about what is healthy and what is not, our access to professionals is extremely limited, and actual services are provided to 1) the rich, and 2) the parasites.

The third leading cause of death in this country is professional incompetence. Semantics really don't matter to those of us who are locked out of professional medical/health care because it's become nothing more than a mafia grift.

I rely on old wives tales and home remedies because there's no other option. I'm not a welfare parasite, not a union member, not a government employee, and not wealthy. And it's my misfortune to be stuck in Massachusetts.

#16 Gene on 2019-08-06 20:12 (Reply)

"Healthcare" is a fake term that justifies non-medical care for those favored by the "Party", such as improved diet, remedial education, sex reassignment therapy, endless therapy for gambling, video game "addiction", homelessness, obesity, etc.

"Medical" has a limited meaning. "Health" is defined by the "Party". It is a follow-on from "Slo-Joe's" comment about preferring "truth" (of the Party) to facts. Any dysfunctional behavior justifies "Healthcare", lots and lots of expensive "Healthcare".

I bet you thougt it had something to do with carbs or cholesterol in your diet....

#17 Mike-SMO on 2019-08-14 03:34 (Reply)

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Sunday, August 4. 2019

My summertime question for our readers