Recently on an internal company mailing list, a coworker asked for recommendations for a primary care physician. From a list of perhaps hundreds of members, there was only one response. It wasn’t a recommendation but a cynical “good luck.” His doctor “sucks,” he says. The surprising thing is that no one seemed to disagree.

I shop for a doctor the way I shop for a greeting card: I look for the one that’s the least terrible. There’s always a long wait to become a new patient with a doctor and once you do there’s no guarantee you’ll like that doctor. Many I’ve seen would rather pull out the prescription pad than spend any time figuring out what’s really wrong. Medical knowledge has continued to increase but so has the depersonalization of the patient. How did healthcare get so broken?

I’m still griping about my health insurance premiums going up considerably – not because I’m not healthy but because I have the gall to actually use my health coverage. What if as a patient I was instead rewarded for taking care of issues before they became bigger ones? Wouldn’t that be in everyone’s best interest?

Yessiree, America has the best healthcare in the world. Keep telling yourself that until it seems true. Even when you’re “lucky” enough to have coverage the best you can hope for is something that doesn’t suck.