In the popular Hasbro® board game of LIFE™, the rules are simple and clear: the game is over when all players have retired. Whoever has accumulated the most wealth wins.

But what exactly does it mean to “win” when playing the “game” of healthcare?

As members of society, we are expected to play by the rules. These rules tell us that our choices have clear consequences and that the outcomes are our own to deal with.

But what happens when we find out that our choices were made in the context of thinly veiled lies, traps, or deals?

What if the game is rigged to favor certain consequences, creating consistently undesired and unexpected outcomes, even for those who are following the playbook to a “T”?

SHARKS IN THE WATER

Some of the players in the game of healthcare have inserted themselves in what used to be a wholesome game played only by patients and physicians. These sharply dressed sharks (who have never practiced medicine a day in their lives but control over 80% of every dollar spent in the US) play by their own set of rules. Many have earned a reputation as bottom feeders, with razor-sharp teeth (which they aren’t afraid to use) and eyes that pierce through dark, murky waters, focused only on wealth and profit. These sharks are functionally spineless, with vertebrae made of weak cartilage instead of the strong bones that support the backbones of patients and physicians. They may have a place in the vast ocean, but practically speaking, in today’s healthcare milieu, they terrorize everything and everyone they come in contact with. Physicians, nurses, and other members of the healthcare team are choosing to leave the open seas to avoid having to deal with the sharks, leaving poor patients to fend for themselves.

NO LIFE JACKETS FOR PATIENTS

We are all playing a game where the published rules are inherently unfair to most of the players. This is especially true for United States veterans who are promised a form of “universal” or “guaranteed” healthcare coverage when they enlist to serve in the military. It turns out, however, that their medical bills are only covered if their medical issues are deemed service-related. An Emergency Room visit for an acute illness (with its typically ridiculously inflated charges) is often completely denied, and patients are straddled with unpaid and unpayable medical debt, and often sent to collections.

These are individuals who choose to dedicate their lives to military life and follow a hard-trodden path of service for our country. They sacrifice greatly, sometimes literally losing their lives and limbs, to protect without question and with conviction. They are promised that if they serve their country, then their country will serve them. Only they come to find out that their country has limits, and these limits result in them being abandoned, trying to keep their heads above water.

PHYSICIANS as PAWNS

What about doctors, who choose to devote their lives to caring for others? The road to medical school and beyond requires an almost 3-decade commitment (sometimes longer) that involves deferred gratification and tremendous financial debt. Physicians for centuries have understood that this assignment is one that requires great personal sacrifice, but have nevertheless chosen to play the game. They take an oath to put others before themselves. What happens, though, when– mid-game–doctors realize that they are being stifled and way-laid by the great Machine of Commerce that prioritizes profits over patients?

HEALTHCARE HEROES TO THE RESCUE

The medical debt of veterans is just ONE of the many problems in healthcare, but one that helps to shine a light on the magnitude of the problems that MANY patients and physicians face today.

The issue of medical debt for veterans prompted Physician Outlook to join forces with Jerry Ashton to bring more attention to the plight of veterans plagued by astronomical medical debt. Jerry, a Navy veteran himself and former bill COLLECTOR-turned-DEBT FORGIVER (who remains on the board of www.RIPMedicalDebt.com, the 5013C charity that was his brainchild) has given Physician Outlook Magazine (and its supporters) a unique opportunity to tackle the game of healthcare head-on.

Jerry is co-founder of www.LetsReThinkThis.com (LRT), an organization that uniquely casts a SEARCHLIGHT on “real-life” change agents whose solutions are yet to be discovered. Ashton identified Physician Outlook as having the potential to do tremendous economic and social good through the magazine’s goal of “taking back Medicine one issue at a time.” Physician Outlook uses art and storytelling to highlight the beauty of the physician-patient relationship, and by so doing, it engages physicians and patients from all walks of life into becoming “accidental activists.”

Famous cartoonist Vic Guiza masterfully brought the healthcare game to life as a vibrant comic strip, and LRT is launching a tailor-made “awareness campaign” to bring in the needed capital and awareness to Physician Outlook Magazine.

THE FINISH LINE: #EndVetMedDebt #VeteransMissionPossible

Jerry Ashton and LRT’s goals are lofty: to eradicate veteran medical debt AND to alleviate the pain and suffering of veterans who find themselves sadly contemplating suicide. Issues in healthcare are complex, and many cannot be solved overnight, but the Veteran Medical Debt issue is one that COULD actually find a resolution. All we need to do is to literally “rally up (AND around) the troops.”

I encourage all of our readers to visit www.EndVeteranMedicalDebt.com and www.VeteranMissionPossible.com to find out how YOU, too, can get directly involved.

Sadly, the issues of medical debt and suicidality are problems for a very large portion of our nation’s civilians as well.

By working with LRT with Jerry Ashton at its helm, I know that we can discover and deploy some innovative “out-of-the-box” bipartisan solutions that will not only help our nation’s veterans but will also give us the unique opportunity to extrapolate and apply lessons learned for our nation at large. ☤