Ethics Response 3

G. Chulaki

Medical inequity is an incredibly passionate topic of mine. Since I worked in the

health care field, specifically with elders and disenfranchised strata of society, as well
as recipients of so called benefits or entitlements.

My area of expertise for a while was Medicaid. In Colorado, I must say that it has
changed a lot recently. Since I have slowly tapered my activities in the field over the
last five years, I have come to realize that Medicaid as we know it in Colorado, is
vastly different from Medicaid in other states. Certainly it is not in the last place.
Certainly, it has its benefits its upsides. However, it is curious to note that in the past
two years, my grandmother has gone from living with my mother to an independent
living facility and she receives Medicaid but with a certain waiver does not seem to
exist in this area.
She can go to several medical appointments which are not covered by insurance and
pay out of pocket and in return subtract whatever the sum is from the rent of her
home. It is like donors matching money raised at a fundraiser for her to go to an
appointment. So let's say that she can go to enough medical appointments, including
homeopaths and osteopaths. To cover her entire rental costs, I want to say that this is
not medical inequity as I like to see it from the perspective of the other people that
I've seen in her situation, she is an outlier and Black Swan.

I have experienced some cases where I believe that there have been benefits provided.
In some cases, Medicaid and other welfare program recipients are provided for
reasonably well, so long as they have family that can keep up to date with the
different eligibilities that they may have. And so long as family has the ability to go to
bat for their family members. This is all fine and dandy but in practice, it doesn't work
most of the time. A lot of home bound chronically ill, debilitating debilitated people in
disenfranchised areas do not have family that they can call upon.

Perhaps it is there, and a daughter, or niece or a brother maybe living near walking
distance even. But the system relies upon quite a bit else to go right before a lot of
people receive quality, compassionate care, which is not simply milking insurance.

One of the biggest issues I see with Chinese medicine is how expensive it is,
especially in this area. My vision has always been to provide care to those who cannot
afford it with the understanding that there is an equal exchange of value. So the
patient receives a deserving quality of care, which they can fully integrate and digest
and feel nurtured with
these are a couple of ways of looking at it.

In terms of educating the public about modalities that may be more effective and
equitable in any given situation.

Their mileage may vary, but they should be aware of and have access to Chinese
medicine, and complementary alternative medicine modalities.
Ethics Response 3
G. Chulaki

This isn't always the case, because most people that don't have the money to have
tried it themselves or don't have a close family member or friend, who have received
it and could refer them by word of mouth, do not know about acupuncture at all. And
what they do know maybe actually about dry needling because it was offered them or
someone close to them covered by insurance and it wasn't cost prohibitive.

I was very curious to me that education is so limited for the elderly, for whom it may
not have been common knowledge and a so called generational divide.

Additionally, there is not a clear way to provide education without giving it away for
free for people that don't have money for it. Certainly, within the Denver Housing
Authority, I have struck up relationships and nurtured relationships over years with
management and social work contacts.

My goal has always been to provide education about alternative medicine, as well as
to connect the community with resources especially when schools like CSTCM
provide free treatments for veterans for an entire month out of the year. For a time I
was actively campaigning for Denver, to seek that kind of treatment, especially if it
didn't break the bank of someone who couldn't otherwise have afforded it.

Thankfully, there are grants and angel investors and other financial instruments,
especially one forms of self sustaining ministry, which aims to offer this type of work
and education in a single package. This is absolutely doable. And we have a
responsibility to team up even for an hour a week among our profession, provide the
outreach and the resources to those otherwise would not be able to afford an average
of 100 or more dollars per session.