Through the many years of my life, I have seen a stream of medical advances that sometimes are truly miracles. Newly-developed antibiotics saved my father’s life and maybe my own in the 1930s. Mandatory inoculations at schools for typhoid and smallpox essentially wiped out these scourges in a short time. We gladly took our little ones to a pediatrician for DPT shots, then measles vaccines. We rejoiced when they got protection from polio. Surrounded by superb health care professionals, I came to know and mostly understand all sorts of illnesses and treatments well into the 21st century. Lately, some things just don’t make sense to me.

I will start with medications which crowd TV, not like personal injury lawyers, but close enough. The names for medications are strange, a jumble of letters featuring X, Y and Z. The results are as unfamiliar as Sanskrit and appear to be unpronounceable, but the lab coat-clad actors do so by substituting y for I, etc. I heard that the naming of new drugs had been assigned to a federal agency. That sounds about right.

After telling viewers about what a new medication will do, the announcers list a lot of potentially serious complications. Often, the list is long and concludes with death. Most of these side effects are worse than the original malady, especially death. Why anyone would opt for such drugs is beyond my grasp.

“Tell your doctor” viewers are advised. About the medication in question? I do not place myself in the hands of stupid, uninformed doctors. About existing medical conditions? They know. They have a library of files on me, often in their hands. I fill out reams of information to go into these computerized files every time I see a new doctor. All of these warnings have one purpose – to protect against potential lawsuits.

As a Medicare recipient, I am puzzled and often annoyed by the flood of TV ads on that subject. Medicare is basically a type of federally -mandated health insurance – likened to Social Security – into which individuals and employers pay until retirement or permanent disability. Without frills or complications, care providers – physicians, nurses, hospitals, all designated entities – are paid out of Medicare funds to provide whatever treatment is possible for ill or injured persons who are eligible.

But there are problems. New sorts of services not covered by existing rules emerge. Retirees and disabled care recipients live on for decades, drawing down Medicare funds and developing new health issues. Administration of claims and payments has become complex and time-consuming.

A huge management system has arisen at interstices between patients and caregivers. Obviously, it extracts money from the patient to provider formula. For years we have been bombarded by TV commercials and letters to reexamine our Medicare options and switch to another system, basically another management system. The time is in the fall prior to and during to the open enrollment period. Now it seems to be all year. There are commercials for people who want to tell us what to do.

I don’t understand why people from certain zip codes apparently can get better deals than others. Since the purpose of the ads is to get people to switch from one management system to another, there must be a lot of money at stake to pay for all of that advertising. Is that money being diverted from patient care to provider cases or from the national Medicare fund?

Medicare is in drastic need of repair. The first step is simplification, including making things now available in Advantage plans, etc., part of basic coverage and doing away with co-pay and out-of-pocket pay. Simplify the program and its administration. Find out how much management systems are making in case their piece of the cake is too big.

How to pay for increased costs? Remove the ceiling on how much people are required to pay into Social Security and Medicare. Higher incomes will put money in the pot quickly and over the long haul. Empower Medicare to negotiate prescription drug prices, an important part of the growing cost of health care.

I am confused about other changes in modern medicine. Decades ago, there was some debate about socialized medicine. We were warned that it would lead to increased costs, especially in taxes. We were warned that it would take a long time to get appointments with doctors. We were warned that we might not be able to choose our preferred doctors. So, we decided against socialized medicine.

Unfortunately, costs have risen. Particularly since COVID, wait times have increased; even emergency rooms are bogged down by demand. Some HMOs (health management organizations) require use of physicians and hospitals in their system and, if your employer has a contract for coverage by one of these, your choice is to comply or pay your own way. Fortunately, my personal connections in the medical community help me find good doctors and reasonable appointment schedules. Incidentally, I have looked into how well socialized medicine is working in Canada and Great Britain. Surprisingly, not too shabby.

Roger G. Branch Sr. is professor emeritus of sociology at Georgia Southern University and is a retired pastor.