October 18th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: Consumers, Costs, Finance, Health Insurance, Healthcare reform, Pharmaceuticals, Physicians
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If you read nothing else this morning, please read Margaret Polaneczky, MD’s (aka “TBTAM”) excellent post that vividly summarizes our current health care reform efforts underway while offering insights as to what real reform should look like:
Real reform won’t happen until the American people take their seat at the head of the table and invite doctors, ethicists and healthcare experts (not industry lobbyists) to bring their best knowledge about what interventions are most important, most effective and most cost efficient. Then we can sort out our priorities (you can call it rationing if you want) and create a budget.
Only then we can begin to negotiate with third parties (insurers, Big Pharma, etc) to sell us what we need at the best price. That’s called competition, and it’s what American capitalism is all about, right?
The problem is, the American healthcare consumer (and I include myself here) still thinks someone else is footing the bill. Who that someone is, I don’t know. Maybe the rich. Maybe our employers. Maybe the Federal Government.
What we have yet to get is that there is no “someone else”. The deep pockets are our own pockets, and they are empty. Our tax dollars. Our pensions. Our companies going bankrupt from paying employee health care costs.
Until the American people get it that it is our responsibility to get our spending in line, and until our representatives have the guts to turn away the industry lobbyists and represent their constituents instead of their campaign bankrollers, we will continue to have uncontrolled health care spending.
… and that’s just part of it. Read the whole thing.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
October 17th, 2009 by Emergiblog in Better Health Network, True Stories
Tags: #bwe09, Blog World Expo, Kim McAllister, Medblogger, Medblogger Track
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First day of the general BlogWorld sessions and as usual, I came away with renewed energy, a plethora of ideas and a dramatically decreased bank account! No, not on gambling – I hit the Barnes & Noble on-site kiosk.
God, I love books!
But the highlight of the day? I met my Blogfather! Meet Hugh Hewitt, talk show host extraordinaire! I think if you did a “paternity” test on every blog online today, 75% of them would be related, in some way, to Hugh’s influence.
Blog World CEO Rick Calvert was interviewed by Hugh, and he mentioned the medblogger track! Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Emergiblog*
October 16th, 2009 by admin in Better Health Network, Health Tips, News
Tags: Campaign, Diet and Nutrition, Drinks, food, NYC, Obesity, Pouring on The Pounds, Weight Loss
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The city of New York is at it again…they were the first to ban trans fat and lead the fight for restaurant labeling of calories on menus. Now they have an ad campaign that is grossing some people out. Read more »
This post, Pouring on the Pounds: NYC’s New Anti-Obesity Campaign, was originally published on
Healthine.com by Brian Westphal.
October 16th, 2009 by MotherJonesRN in Better Health Network, Humor, True Stories
Tags: Cap, Education, Nursing, Questions, Students
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I felt like an antique this weekend thanks to some medical students on my unit. Why do students seem to get younger every year, and please don’t place the blame on my chronological age. I refuse to believe that I’m getting older. I forget how we got onto the subject, but somehow I told a group of medical interns that I graduated from a three-year diploma nursing program.
One of the interns innocently asked me, “What’s that?” I felt so old when he asked me that question that I expected a museum curator to come out of the woodwork and cordon me off with a velvet rope. I answered his question. They were fascinated that they were actually talking to an “old time nurse.” They had more questions:
Question: “How did you keep you nurses cap on?” Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Nurse Ratched's Place*
October 16th, 2009 by DrRich in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
Tags: ePatients, Government, Health Insurance, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Patients, Rationing, Tort Reform
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DrRich’s conviction that covert rationing is the engine that drives many (if not most) of the bizarre behaviors we see in the American healthcare system leads him to take positions on certain contentious issues that do not endear him to either his progressive or his conservative friends.
One of these issues is malpractice liability reform.
DrRich wrote about this some time ago (here and here), and as a result managed to alienate more than a few of his readers, especially the ones who are doctors. So if he were smart, DrRich would leave it alone. (After all, a lot of readers have long since forgotten precisely why they do not like DrRich, and merely harbor toward him a vague sense of unease and distrust. This, DrRich finds, he can live with.)
But a couple of things prompt DrRich to take up this topic once again. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*
