Better Health: Smart Health Commentary

Advertisement

Does Your Parent Need Nursing Home Care?

December 10th, 2009 by Jon LaPook, M.D. in Health Tips, Video
No Comments »

Watch CBS News Videos Online

One of the great blessings of my life is that my 91-year-old father, whom I dearly love, lives in the apartment building next door.  After sixty-six years of marriage, he’s been living alone since my mother’s death last March. He is still sharp as a tack, as he might say.   Read more »

The Elderly Versus Healthcare Reform

August 25th, 2009 by KevinMD in Health Policy
No Comments »

One of the storylines in the health reform debate is how the Medicare population is fighting the current reform efforts.

It’s ironic, in a way, since if the status quo continues, fiscally sustaining current Medicare benefits will be a near-impossibility.

In his regular column, The New York Times’ Ross Douthat provides some insight as to the mindset of the Medicare recipient. He says, rightly, that, “At present, Medicare gives its recipients all the benefits of socialized medicine, with few of the drawbacks. Once you hit 65, the system pays and pays, without regard for efficiency or cost-effectiveness.”

When reformers talk about savings, it “sound[s] a lot like ‘cuts’” to the elderly, and hence, their apprehension. Arguments that many of the tests and treatments can be reduced without sacrificing quality of care will not resonate. With the prevailing mentality equating better care with more care, any attempt to introduce serious cost-saving measures will meet a determined resistance from the American public.

*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*

Real Cost Drivers In Healthcare: Prolonging The Lives Of The Elderly

August 3rd, 2009 by KevinMD in Better Health Network, Health Policy
No Comments »

Reducing health spending, as Congress is finding out, is difficult.

Some health economists have pointed to medicalization of common complaints, like erectile dysfunction and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, as one reason. Indeed, Dartmouth researchers, who are cited as favorites of the current administration, feel that an “epidemic of diagnoses” is what’s making us sick.

But, Darshak Sanghavi writes in Slate that this may be a red herring, and clouds what’s really driving up costs, namely, the amount we spend prolonging the lives of the elderly. He points to David Cutler, an adviser to President Obama, and his analysis that “it costs far more to prolong the lives of the elderly ($145,000 per year gained) than the young ($31,600), and the rate of spending on the oldest Americans has grown the fastest.”

None of the current health reform proposals target this, understandably, because it would be politically difficult to tell elderly voters that we need to spend less on their care.

And because of that, Dr. Sanghavi rightly concludes that, no matter what gets passed, “we’re just putting off the day of fiscal reckoning.”

*This blog post was originally published at KevinMD.com*