Medical doctors are internationally infamous for their undecipherable writing, which could work as a trope for the traditional understanding of the way information flows in the relationship between patient and medical institutions: we are regularly left in the dark not just about the name of a specific medicine we just have been prescribed, but frequently we barely understand clearly how the whole system that takes care of something as essential to us as health really works.

The procedures that policymakers and lawmakers in the U.S. must undergo to devise a health care system that ideally benefits all and at the same time is profitable for insurers, hospitals and other institutions are extremely complex. But that complexity has also become an impediment for the public to weigh in on the discussions. The highly obscure language that comes with policy proposals in health care is leaving people out of the loop on decisions that will have a great impact on how their health will be taken care of.

The question becomes how people can participate or even just understand that language in order to acquire more power in the discussions around such sensitive issues. For Hispanics living in the U.S. that is a fundamental question. Since many of them are not familiar with the structures of health politics and environments, and often the processes inside those structures are built without taking them into consideration, Hispanics need to overcome many communication barriers before getting a clear understanding on how health care works and how they can profit from it.

Sadly, the current government’s political tendency is marked by reducing spending on strategies that facilitate minorities’ access to information about health care coverage. If that tendency continues, the communication between state institutions and Hispanics, particularly those with less resources, will become more and more precarious.

A whole other realm of problems regarding communication in health care systems has to do with medical data administration. There are major limitations in how that highly complex data can be shared among the different actors of those systems. Due to legal instruments such as the HIPAA law there are extensive limitations on how medical information can be managed. The current dilemma is one where patients must overcome many bureaucratic procedures to access their own personal information.

Health care systems are structured in a way that makes either patient-to-doctor or even doctor-to-doctor communication a very slow and complicated process. It is undeniable that something as sensitive as medical information should be closely protected, but there is a need to create systems that can combine security with a more dynamic shareability. For years, financial institutions have been developing systems where there is a high data accessibility (for example, through online banking) combined with strong protection systems.   

In the future developing more comprehensive communication strategies will be essential if we want to keep moving toward an affordable and accessible health care system. Due to ongoing medical discoveries and expanding fields of interest, health care will become even more comprehensive and nuanced, and people should be able to take an active part in that knowledge. The complexity of medical data administration calls for an urgent response that makes it more accessible to all, regardless of cultural level or proficiency in different languages and terminologies.

On the other hand, the current government has an outspoken interest in the failure of the Affordable Care Act without providing alternatives that won’t affect people with less resources, and the ways of building that failure often goes through obscure legislations. As patients, people should have the opportunity to participate in the discussion of their health policies and decisions, and new and more effective communication forms are going to be essential for such opportunities. •