October 18th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion
No Comments »
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 14th, 2009 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Humor
No Comments »
Imagine if lawyers had to bill like doctors:
Beginning July 1, 2010, under the Legal Billing Obfuscation Act of 2009, lawyers will receive their payments for services rendered after approval by a central US government Payment Distribution Authority (USPDA). To receive payment from the Authority plaintiff and defendant complaints must be coded and filed electronically using the International Classification of Legal Complaints, 10th edition (ICLD-10), copyright © 2009, American Bar Association and Legal Proceeding Terminology (LPT) codes, copyright © 2009 American Bar Association. The full publication of each of these codes will be available in print March 1st 2010 and in electronic form on DVD in July 2011.
To familiarize lawyers with the new coding scheme requested by the USPDA, a small sample for the complaint of “Spilling” is shown below: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
October 14th, 2009 by AlanDappenMD in Primary Care Wednesdays
No Comments »
I am approaching an important anniversary of my heart attack. Until then, I had missed but a single day of work due to illness since starting medical school in 1975. Even in the middle of the heart attack, I played an entire ice hockey game, slept a few hours, had a business meeting with a fellow doctor at Starbucks, and went back to the office to see patients. In retrospect, my actions could be labeled as folly, bravado, machismo, denial, and lucky. I accept all labels as true. Without a trace of shame I have shared this archetypal story with friends, and patients hoping that by laughing hard enough at me, I might prevent at least one person from dropping dead from stupidity. Read more »
October 13th, 2009 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Opinion
No Comments »
Health care reform has become a deeply political subject. And like other subjects that have become political, wading into them can be perilous.
Take two recent examples from the world of business to see what can happen.
In August, John Mackey, the CEO of the Whole Foods supermarket wrote an editorial in the Wall Street Journal on against the proposed health care reforms. From a policy perspective his views were within the mainstream. But from a political perspective he was sharply to the right of his customer base. The result? Whole Foods was hit with organized protests and boycotts. Mackey had greatly tarnished his personal “brand,” if not that if his company.
Another CEO did something similar just a few days ago. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
October 13th, 2009 by John Briley in Health Policy
No Comments »
If you still think we don’t need healthcare reform in the U.S., consider this: A 4-month-old baby is being denied health coverage by an insurer in Grand Junction, Colo., because the baby is too fat, the Denver Post reports. Details: The 4-month-old boy is in the 99th percentile for his age in height and weight. He is being exclusively breast fed by his mother and has grown from around 8 pounds 4 ounces at birth to nearly 17 pounds. Four. Months. Old. Pediatrician deemed him healthy. Parents are healthy and relatively fit, and also have a healthy 2-year-old boy.
And people say the government is going to destroy our healthcare system?
OK, let’s be reasonable: Chances are, once the wildfire of press around this spreads sufficiently the company will rescind its decision and offer this lad coverage. (And, for the record, he could be covered by the family’s prior insurer but the parents decided to shop around because that firm raised the family’s rates by 40 percent after the boy was born.) And, no, I don’t know of other cases where someone was denied coverage for the “pre-existing condition” of having been born hungry. So in the interest of fostering adult-level debate let’s acknowledge that this is probably a VERY isolated case and does not reflect the ethos of all insurers everywhere.
But still: A fat baby getting denied coverage is beyond ridiculous. Read more »
