“Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, working together is success.” Henry Ford
services are held up or completely impeded. Families find themselves with a lack of guidance, understanding, and hindered social/financial support needed to help their loved ones. The fundamental human right to be healthy and receive comprehensive healthcare of which oral healthcare services are a part of is unattainable to a majority of people in our first world nation. Human illness should never be about profitability hiding behind the veils of investment, non-profit, and marketing. An article released early in 2022 mentioned that CEOs of non-profit hospitals made eight times as much as the average workers with some making as much as sixty times the annual salary of average workers at their institution.1 In the year leading up to the pandemic the United States led the world by spending 1,126 dollars per capita on pharmaceutical costs, more than twice the amount spent in other first-world nations.2 This amount represents a steady 15-year growth from 2004 of almost 70% in drug costs.2 In a two-decade period from 1996to 2016 healthcare and dental care, spending have risen significantly, where dental spending went up 27%, while healthcare spending for the same period Dr. Tyrone Fernando Rodriguez increased by 60%.3 Chief Editor, JHDA So what do we have to show for all of this spending? How do we rank as a nation? In analyzing the top eleven economically developed nations, looking at five Interdisciplinary health, the multidisciplinary health areas: access to care, care process, administrative care team, interprofessional collaboration, and many efficiency, equity, and healthcare outcomes…we were other phrases have been used to describe the condition in last place.4 Yes, the mighty red, white, and blue is at of having health practitioners working together to the bottom. David Blumenthal, MD, President of the improve or even optimize health. Interdisciplinary Commonwealth Fund, states, “what this report tells us healthcare embraces the vast is that our healthcare system is knowledge, training, and experience not working for Americans, from various professions that can “ The fundamental human particularly those in lower come together to help solve challenges who are at a severe right to be healthy and incomes, with innovative, efficient (through the disadvantage compared to elimination of redundancies), and receive comprehensive citizens of other countries. And compassionate care. In being involved they are paying the price with with different craniofacial teams healthcare of which oral their health and their lives.”4 around the country seeing firsthand healthcare services are a So many areas must be redrawn how social workers, geneticists, in this bloated healthcare/ speech pathologists, otolaryngologists, part of is unattainable to a dentalcare machine. Areas in pulmonologists, oral maxillofacial majority of people in our need of immediate change exist surgeons, plastic surgeons, such as: controls for first world nation. ” neurosurgeons, occupational/physical skyrocketing insurance costs, therapists, behavioral therapists, worsening infant mortality/ nutritionists to name a few can come morbidity, increasing wait times for care, wide together. The children at the epicenter of care having variations between medical and dental insurance these congenital conditions are part of a broader family expenses and reimbursement for patients and providers, unit that needs guidance, prevention, treatment, and increased drug costs, and promoting access to care support to see through the lifelong commitment while campaigning, however, placing barriers to care involved. This same philosophy is what should be at legislatively for the head, that is restrictions on oral the heart of optimal health care delivery that embraces health and mental health services. oral health as a key pillar to this taking place. Too often Our nation provides its citizens, with limited access to because of legal bureaucracy, regulation, and insurance healthcare but ample access to disease promoters such industry constraints the avenues that help the flow of
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