Let's face it, in America today we don't have a health care system, we have a sick care system.
Interpretation
The quote critiques the American health care system, suggesting it emphasizes treating illness rather than promoting overall health.
Tom Harkin's quote highlights a significant concern regarding the American health care system, emphasizing that it primarily focuses on addressing health issues after they arise, rather than fostering preventive care and holistic wellness. This perspective argues for a paradigm shift towards a system that prioritizes health maintenance and disease prevention, rather than merely responding to sickness.
In practice
In a discussion about health care reform, one might quote this to emphasize the need for a preventative approach.
Let's face it, in America today we don't have a health care system, we have a sick care system. We wait until people become obese, develop chronic diseases, or become disabled - and then we spend untold hundreds of billions annually to try to make them better.
If you look at three diseases, the three major killers, HIV, tuberculosis and malaria, the only disease for which we have really good drugs is HIV. And it's very simple: because there's a market in the United States and Europe.
We have now just enshrined, as soon as I sign this bill, the core principle that everybody should have some basic security when it comes to their healthcare.
In Paris, AIDS was dismissed as an American phobia until French people started dying; then everyone said, 'Well, you have to die some way or another.' If Americans were hysterical and pragmatic, the French were fatalistic: depressed but determined to keep the party going.
Health care historically has been a very siloed field that's organized around medical specialties - urology, cardiac surgery, and so forth - and around the supply of these specialty services. The patient is the ping-pong ball that moves from service to service.
Women's health is not a niche issue - it impacts everyone in some way. That is why a collective effort to improve awareness and understanding of menstrual hygiene is key to closing the gender health gap.
Low-income people, racial or ethnic minorities, pregnant women, seniors, people with special needs, people in rural areas - they all have a much harder time accessing a dentist than other groups of Americans.
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