May 10th, 2010 by EvanFalchukJD in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Health Tips, Opinion, Research, True Stories
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I [recently] gave a speech at the Midwest Business Group on Health’s (MBGH) 30th Annual Conference. The MBGH is one of the country’s leading organizations on healthcare, and its members include the leading innovators and thought leaders on healthcare in America. It was a privilege to present to them.
I spoke about why healthcare just isn’t a consumer business in spite of all of the effort to turn people into healthcare “consumers.”
At Best Doctors, we have a closeup view of what happens to people when they try to find their way through the healthcare system. It’s not a pleasant picture. Healthcare consumers –- if you can call them that –- are often lost, confused, frustrated, alone. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at See First Blog*
May 10th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, True Stories
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Yesterday a much-anticipated package arrived in the mail containing a documentary film directed (and acted) by a young emergency room physician, Ryan Flesher, M.D., and produced by a former clinical social worker, Nancy Pando, L.I.C.S.W. The film is called “The Vanishing Oath.”
As background, the film is a 3-year project born in 2007 just before the great U.S. healthcare reform debate began. Over 200 hours of interviews were conducted to explore a simple question:
Why Dr. Flesher had grown to hate medicine. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
April 14th, 2010 by Davis Liu, M.D. in Better Health Network, Health Policy, Opinion, Research
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In a few years, every American will be required to have health insurance. As a result, the 32 million people currently uninsured will seek out a personal physician. This role typically is filled by a primary care doctor, like an internist or a family physician.
While passage of the healthcare reform bill affirmed the belief that having health insurance is a right rather than a privilege, the legislation falls short on building a healthcare system capable of absorbing the newly insured.
Universal healthcare coverage is not the same as providing universal access to medical care. Having an insurance card doesn’t guarantee that individuals can actually get care. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Saving Money and Surviving the Healthcare Crisis*
April 12th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion
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Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, suggests we watch Massachusetts for what might be coming with healthcare reform:
Things are playing out just as one might predict in the Massachusetts small business and individual insurance market. The Insurance Commissioner turned down proposed rate increases, the state’s insurers appealed to the courts, and now they can’t write policies.
Perhaps more concerning is what Dennis Byron, a commenter on Mr. Levy’s blog, says about insurance exchanges:
I care because I am one of those who has been cancelled by my insurer (Fallon), solely, I believe, because I am an individual, have been told to go to the exchange, but the exchange does not work. This is a perfect example of why you don’t want the guys that run the registry running your healthcare.
If nothing else, this exposes the risks inherent to mandating unproven policy initiatives on a national scale that have yet to be even worked out in a single state.
*Sigh*
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
April 12th, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, Health Policy, News, Opinion, Research
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Educating individuals about the costs of healthcare could save money and lead to a more efficient use of the healthcare system, report policy researchers at Tufts University School of Medicine and Boston University School of Public Health.
You mean that people, when faced with facts about cost (and their end of it), choose the less-costly option? When did this start? Oh, yeah — we do it all the time — except in medicine, where our costs will bankrupt the country.
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
