Weather It Is (Swings)

Good Afternoon:

This week is one of swings in temperature and humidity.  There's a bit of a breeze, but the high humidity is making for even higher Heat Indices.

This is a time of transition, but it is also a time when there is a chance of precipitation (not much), and there are -- on average -- about half as many extremely hot days as August.  This information was taken from "the Climate of Israel: Observation, Research, and Application."  However, it is a bit dated: summers now seem to last longer, and October is no longer really the start of the rainy season.

Last week was hard for me.  I spent most of the week cooped up in a room with no access to the outside. When you starve a weatherman of the weather, then what becomes of him?

I was in a hospital room at "Asuta" Ramat Chayil, Tel Aviv.  I had the good fortune to be there because I was able to buy private insurance when I came to Israel years ago (and we've had outside help: the joke "how do you make a small fortune in Israel? Start with a large fortune" really refers to those who family members who live outside Israel).

Everyone says you must choose your doctor and the best technology, but the key to good health care is the recovery, and this requires timeliness (responsive nursing care), cleanliness (to reduce post-operative infections), and privacy (the ability to rest/sleep in a quiet setting).

Unfortunately, our previous health Minster from Yesh Atid (Yael German) enacted statutes and/or legislation making it much more expensive for Israeli citizens to buy private insurance.  So, it is much more difficult for Israelis to obtain the services I recently received at Asuta. She claimed that the changes would "turn back the clock:" reducing spending on private insurance while increasing spending on public spending."

Her idea to improve public services at the expense of private services by spending more on public services makes simple sense.  But, in health care, nothing is simple!  Israelis were/are buying private insurance because public service (while very good at primary care) is not very good at secondary care (it's a miracle that Israelis have such a long life span despite this care!).  Why wasn't/isn't very good -- because there is no incentive to be better, and our representatives don't want to spend the money to make it so.

But even more important: when she writes to turn the "clock back" it ignores the technological advances first introduced in the private hospitals.  It is these technological advances that made an make possible better outcomes, and it is the private health care system in Israel that sets the "yard sticks" for the public hospitals.  We can all have equally bad care, or most of us can (hopefully) have good care -- but it won't happen unless private care is encouraged for Israelis, and not just for tourists.

Barry Lynn