What we have in the United States is not so much a health-care system as a disease-care system.
Interpretation
The quote criticizes the focus of the U.S. health care system on treating diseases rather than promoting overall health.
Edward Kennedy's quote suggests that the United States' approach to health care emphasizes responding to illnesses after they occur, rather than implementing preventative measures or promoting wellness. This perspective highlights a systemic issue where resources are allocated to treating diseases instead of fostering a health-centric culture that prioritizes prevention and holistic well-being.
In practice
In a discussion about health reform, this quote can highlight the need for a shift towards preventative care.
Immigrant families have integrated themselves into our communities, establishing deep roots. Whenever they have settled, they have made lasting contributions to the economic vitality and diversity of our communities and our nation. Our economy depends on these hard-working, taxpaying workers. They have assisted America in its economic boom.
We know the future will outlast all of us, but I believe that all of us will live on in the future we made.
With Barack Obama, we will turn the page on the old politics of misrepresentation and distortion. With Barack Obama we will close the book on the old politics of race against race.
Regulation has gone astray. . . . Either because they have become captives of regulated industries or captains of outmoded administrative agencies, regulators all too often encourage or approve unreasonably high prices, inadequate service, and anticompetitive behavior. The cost of this regulation is always passed on to the consumer. And that cost is astronomical.
We want to support our troops because they didn't make the decision to go there... but I don't think it should be open-ended. We ought to have a benchmark where the administration has to come back and give us a report.
Individual faults and frailties are no excuse to give in - and no exemption from the common obligation to give of ourselves.
The power of community to create health is far greater than any physician, clinic or hospital.
I recommend the same therapies for all humans with HIV. There is no reason to believe that physiologic responses to therapy will vary across lines of class, culture, race or nationality.
Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times.
A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.
I am living proof that if you catch prostate cancer early, it can be reduced to a temporary inconvenience, and you can go back to a normal life.
The unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to peaceful death) that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will or knowledge. And to do this in such a way as to help him gain independence as rapidly as possible.
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