Impact of the Flexner Report on the Health Care Crisis
Flexner
Alex Rourke
PCH 358
Flexner Paper
The Flexner Report from 1910 has had a huge influence on our current health care crisis. There were three main outcomes of the report. The first is that medical education in the U.S. and Canada is to become standardized. This had both positive and negatives outcomes. At the time there were a lot medical schools around that had no clear regulations. For instance medical students did not need to be college graduates. So there were most likely students in medical school who should not have been there. Also many of the schools themselves did not have laboratories to teach the students about dissection. While these positive changes ensured that our future doctors would be well trained, they also made is much more expensive to attend medical school which in turn decreased the number of doctors available to treat patients. The second outcome from the Flexner Report is that it established medical care as a market commodity. Defining a market commodity, as an item to be bought and sold for profit. The result is soaring prices, and medical care is often only available to those who can afford it. If medical care had been established as a social good, then all citizens would be eligible for a basic level of care, rather than only the rich. The third outcome from the Flexner Report is to grant sovereignty to the medical profession over the organization and financing of medical care. This meant doctors can order as many test as they want and charge as much as they want. While these powers were given to doctors with good intentions, the resulting adsorbent cost has crippled our health care system in America. (Barr, 2007) Universal Health care in the U.S. can work because the long term benefits far outweigh the short term cost. Most Americans agree that out current system of health care is broken, the debate lies on how to fix it. Many citizens are concerned that Universal Health Care would be to expensive, but
Alex Rourke
PCH 358
Flexner Paper
The Flexner Report from 1910 has had a huge influence on our current health care crisis. There were three main outcomes of the report. The first is that medical education in the U.S. and Canada is to become standardized. This had both positive and negatives outcomes. At the time there were a lot medical schools around that had no clear regulations. For instance medical students did not need to be college graduates. So there were most likely students in medical school who should not have been there. Also many of the schools themselves did not have laboratories to teach the students about dissection. While these positive changes ensured that our future doctors would be well trained, they also made is much more expensive to attend medical school which in turn decreased the number of doctors available to treat patients. The second outcome from the Flexner Report is that it established medical care as a market commodity. Defining a market commodity, as an item to be bought and sold for profit. The result is soaring prices, and medical care is often only available to those who can afford it. If medical care had been established as a social good, then all citizens would be eligible for a basic level of care, rather than only the rich. The third outcome from the Flexner Report is to grant sovereignty to the medical profession over the organization and financing of medical care. This meant doctors can order as many test as they want and charge as much as they want. While these powers were given to doctors with good intentions, the resulting adsorbent cost has crippled our health care system in America. (Barr, 2007) Universal Health care in the U.S. can work because the long term benefits far outweigh the short term cost. Most Americans agree that out current system of health care is broken, the debate lies on how to fix it. Many citizens are concerned that Universal Health Care would be to expensive, but
Bibliography: Barr, D. A. (2007). Introduction to U.S. Health Policy. (2nd ed.). www.medicinenet.com Flexner Report...Birth Of Modern Medical Education www.cdc.gov MMWR Vital Signs: Health Insurance Coverage and Health Care Utilization --- United States, 2006--2009 and January--March 2010