October 22nd, 2009 by Happy Hospitalist in Better Health Network, True Stories
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I was at the pharmacy today picking up some goods. We indicated to the pharmacy tech our cash paying status. The nice lady behind the counter explained that the drug company had a discount plan for cash paying customers that do not submit a claim to their insurance company. We had to promise not to submit the claim and not to sell the medication on the internet for which we obliged. Then we had a seat and waited.
In the next 30 minutes I had the opportunity to listen to several customers blow up in a fit of rage about why their insurance company wasn’t covering this or that. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at A Happy Hospitalist*
October 21st, 2009 by DrRich in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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This past weekend, AHIP – the American Health Insurance Plan trade group – seemed to turn at last against healthcare reform. For nearly a year the AHIP stood silently by, and indeed often made noises in support of the administration’s reform efforts, despite being cast by reformers as the chief villains of American healthcare. Then suddenly, a few days ago AHIP released a study produced for them by Price Waterhouse Cooper which concluded that healthcare reform (at least as advanced by the Baucus Senate Finance Committee) would result in massive increases in insurance premiums for Americans.
Becoming an apostate has always been far worse than being a mere infidel, and the AHIP action (seen as a act of betrayal and not merely an expression of opposition) has invoked the wrath of the powers that be. Democrats and progressives everywhere have quickly responded. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Covert Rationing Blog*
October 18th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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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 16th, 2009 by DrRich in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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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*
October 7th, 2009 by DrRob in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
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Dear Mr. Obama and all of you congress folks:
I know you have been arguing about how to fix our system (and it really does need fixing). I know there is not much you can all agree on. I know it wasn’t all that much fun to face those yelling people at the town hall meetings. The press hasn’t been nice, and the polls aren’t good either. You guys are having a rough go of it.
So I am going to do you a big favor.
What you need right now are some quick wins – some things you can do that will make people happy quickly, and things that can be done without much cost. This is low-hanging fruit that can be picked without a high ladder; it is fruit that will sweeten things and make swallowing the more bitter pills a little easier. Here is what you need to do first:
1. Allow Medicare Patients to Use Drug Discounts
Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Musings of a Distractible Mind*
