on the OTher hand

Unfortunately like religion, politics is a very touchy subject.  Occupational therapy, like everything else in life is dramatically affected by politics.  What concerns occupational therapist the most politically is universal healthcare reforms in the United States.  The majority of occupational therapist and their services are paid by private insurances, Medical and Medicare (government services).  Only the wealthy could afford to hire an occupational therapist privately. The current bill of an OT is approximately $45-$55/hour (in California).  Being that OT therapy is a series of sessions over a lengthy time, you can see, this can become a heft bill, especially for those with permanent disabilities, who may require OT for their entire lives.  

OT is also an excellent source of preventive medicine.  For example, an Occupational Therapist may work on a patient’s persistent back pain by teaching strengthening skills of the person’s related back muscles.  Further the OT is helping the person prevent crippling back problems in the future.  Unfortunately, this type of therapy is the last type to qualify for insurance or government covered OT services.  The extreme cost of such preventative healthcare treatment is not critical and insurance companies are not willing to pay for it.  What this all boils down to is, how much Federal or State funds will be provided to the healthcare system in order for OT’s to continue providing therapy services for all patients.

I am not one to talk much about politics, but being that the elections are creeping up on us, I do think that the United States is well prepare for, and needs to have a woman president for a change.  As for the healthcare system, Hilary Clinton is well aware of the country’s situation and that something needs to be done in order to improve the deficient system that is currently in place.  As she states on the webpage: http://www.todaysseniorsnetwork.com/new_bills.htm, “I think we need to take a deep breath as a country and ask ourselves, we’re spending more than everyone else and we’re not insuring everyone and we’re underinsuring millions”.  It sounds like Hilary Clinton is in favor of, and prepared to, a Universal Healthcare System.  This is definitely something this country desperate need of.  In the Occupational Therapy system this would help the general population have access to therapy sessions if need be, regardless of the severity of the patient.  As for now it is only the elite who have access to private insurance or have a disability covered by the state insurance agencies, those are the ones who receive Occupational Therapy, when so many millions of others could be benefiting from therapy sessions.

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