Amish Health Care the Problem

Amish Health Care

The problem with offering a governmental health plan that is focused on the Amish population, is that such a program is likely to be a waste of taxpayer dollars no matter how compatible it is. One of the reasons that this statement is true is that the Amish do not believe in subsidized government health care and are a fiercely independent and self-sufficient people.

A recent study gave evidence of the truth of this statement by finding that "no Amish women were in households that had received any government welfare support, social security, or unemployment in the past year" (Miller, Yost, Flaherty, Hillemeier, Chase, Weisman, Dyer, 2007, pg. 166). Of all the women surveyed for Miller's study, none had received any money from the government. This is very strong evidence backing the statement that creating a government health care program for the Amish population, would ultimately fail.

However, since the assignment is to create such a program, and no real taxpayer dollars will be spent in implementing said program, one method of doing so might be to consider an old-fashioned manner that might complement an old-fashioned society. What is being proposed are more home visits by doctors. After all it was not that long ago that home visits were the norm, not the exception. One recent report shows that "the proportion of home visits by NHS GP's has plummeted from 22% to 4% of consultations over the past 32 years" (GP, 2005, pg. 8) but that does not mean that in some cases it would not work as well, if not better, than the patient being transported to the doctor's office.

This is especially true if the patient is restricted to traveling by means much slower than the modern conveyances afford. Establishing a program to provide a doctor's care to the Amish population in order to facilitate health care would certainly be met with disdain and indifference, unless the individual(s) providing the care was familiar and comfortable with the Amish citizens, and vice versa. It would be essential therefore to address the very root of the issue, which is to supply an incentive to individual Amish young men and women to study medicine. Perhaps a program to provide the means for such pursuits could be developed with the input of members of Amish society. It would be necessary, therefore, to establish a rapport with the young people of the society in order to influence their choices in careers.

According to Miller, "the Amish are an invaluable resource for the study of the genetic basis for human disease" and are "quite open to research when they believe it benefits their community and others" (Miller, et al., 2007, pg. 163). Appealing to this openness might be beneficial to all concerned in regards to training a number of the Amish young people in the medical industry. If the Amish are sensible enough to understand how their community (and others) can benefit, then they are likely to also understand how the training of certain Amish young people can also be beneficial to their community.

The proposed health care program for the Amish would include, providing doctors that would travel to the Amish community for home visits.

Another aspect of the program would be to offer an advanced medical education to some of the Amish young people in order to establish local medical treatment centers managed and maintained by these same Amish individuals.

One of the health issues that might be more appropriately addressed by these local centers is the issue of non-appropriate advise being circulated among pregnant Amish women who, according to Miller, "often seek prenatal care from lay practitioners and female relatives" (pg. 163). One of the reasons behind such action is likely that they have no professional medical workers to seek such advice from. The closeness of their community provides them some sense of security but it is always nice to have professionals close at hand in case of any trouble. Miller's study shows that "pregnancy outcomes for Amish women are reported to be similar to those in the general population" (pg. 163) but one particular reason for Miller's study in the first place was the high incidence of "certain rare genetic diseases" discovered in certain Amish communities. This is an issue that, if studied, could lead to discoveries that would be beneficial to not just the Amish, but the general population as well. Since Amish individuals do not seek out medical advice from the medical industry, relying instead on layman and female compatriots, the issue could become much more serious than it currently is, unless the Amish women were treated by medically trained Amish citizens.