for you obama supporters...and for everyone else.
i wanted to throw you some meat to chew regarding the direction our country should possibly be headed in terms of the health care industry.
this guy's insights are sharp and poignant. he is often irreverent and certainly sure of himself. however, he speaks much common sense. this isn't too say i agree with every word he speaks, but much of what he says is common sense.
don't worry, we won't dwell on this topic too long before i post more cute kid pictures or pictures of the california beach, but give this article and others he has written a try.
perhaps 'the one' may not look so salvific afterall...
18 comments:
first
first as in, "first rate article paul."
thank you stevie. i figured you would agree with me on this one.
Good link.
I printed and am posting on my office door.
nice matty.
panda is a great writer and always makes me laugh/happy when i read his stuff.
Interesting article. I always hesitate to reply on some of your more political insights. Would love to hear your thoughts if this would happen...
http://www.slate.com/id/2187034/?GT1=38001
christene: it's an interesting thought. i dont't think either candidate would go for it. there are too many unknowns, like americans feeling betrayed and congress pushing through a new ammendment. which candidate would sign on for the last year of the term? these two both want it all. they won't settle for second. i think it will be a battle all the way to the convention...
Are you against people having health insurance? Or just against the people who get treated for unnecessary things without paying?
my favorite phrase to ever show up on this web log: "or another meat-head cowboy Republican we will probably get stuck with." well put. obviously a fan of space odyssey 2001.
allan: i think a lot about you when i post about health care in america. there are a lot of problems with the health care system, and i don't know the best way to solve it.
at no point have i ever thought, or would panda bear say, that you have anything in common with “homeless opportunists who will take and take all of the government freebies.”
panda works in downtown new orleans and i work in downtown riverside. it is not uncommon to have people call the ambulance for a sprained ankle, or a headache because they didn't want to spend money on gas, or they knew that bringing the firetruck, fire medics and emt providers wouldn't cost them anything. they realize that strong young men will come into their home and pick them off their couch and wheel them through the doors of the ER--shortening their wait time and decreasing the energy it takes to see a doctor. they don't pay for the ride later when they aren't making money, paying taxes and don't worry about a credit report. there are many, many stories about this certain mind set where patients in the ER it all with minimal/no personal responsibility. this is a destructive mindset and is not sustainable. this is not a mindset that you have ever had or lived.
i've been on threads around the blogs where pretty pictures are painted of other countries whose national healthcare system works well and people live without the worry of going to a doctor for primary care. i want that for our people here. i think all people should have access to basic care.
as panda says, primary care is not expensive. preventive care is not expensive. even with fair compensation to primary care physicians you aren't shelling out big-time cash for imaging studies, surgeries etc.etc.etc. many common problems can be cared for with generic medications, or diet changes, or lifestyle changes or any number of less-expensive remedies. this type of preventive care is the backbone to a working healthcare system.
there are lots of problems and costs in the US system however. we are pioneering the latest and greatest drugs, imaging technologies, surgical technologies, EMS technologies and the list goes on and on. foreign countries buy our leftovers. they buy the used imaging technology, they only use the generic drugs seven years after they come out and pay pennies for them. even with brand-name drugs they are paying pennies on the dollar compared to what us citizens are forced to pay. rationing care and wait times for live-saving treatments are the rule--not the exception. they sucking off the money and the system that americans are pouring their hard earned cash into. They then pad their cost to infant mortality ratios to pawn their systems off as far superior to ours.
until americans say that we're okay with 9-4 care with old technology and no cable tv in the hospitals and old scanners, less than the greatest images etc. etc., we may not our system run on the budgets that foreign countries boast.
it is not economically feasible to say we will maintain the care that is given now and that we will pay substantially less into the system and we will produce better care. we may be able to cut pork here and there and re-structure money spent on the most lucrative sectors of the health-care market.
there is a lot of pork in the system. there is a lot of money to be made at GE and pfizer and Kaiser Health Plans etc. these companies are in the business to make money bottom line. i believe that excesses can be cut and that we can provide a basic level of care to all people.
however, i think in order to progress cutting edge advances, we still need to invest in and incentivize corporations to push forward.
there is power in customer service. there is power in competition. all weekend i rounded on 4+ veterens, all with life-threatening heart disease. active lesions in their coronary vessels that could have killed them at any moment. they were all waiting the weekend since the cardiologists at the VA don't work weekends. time is muscle and these guys--bless their hearts--were waiting it out.
when michael hurt his finger, we had insurance and the surgeon new he would be reimbursed well. he left his family dinner at 7 pm to come look at michael's finger, scrubbed in, operated and had michael fixed and done by 10 pm.
would the weekend made the difference for michael's finger? who knows? maybe the vioin or piano would have been out of the question, but we would certainly be able to find a multitude of other option to have a full and productive life.
i don't know the answer, and i hate the feeling of not going to the doctor because of the cost of the co-pay or the medicines (i have had those unpleasant feelings at times this year with the kids co-pays and medicines etc.)
however, my experience is that, government run, bureaucratic institutions incentivize complacency. sure, every government institution has powerful examples of heroism, courage and conviction. i believe those powerful examples come from uncommon and good people that rise above complacency. however, for each courageous and heroic act, you have ten people waiting in line at the DMV or unable to get off hold at the courthouse because the incentive is by the hour, not for results...
there are no easy answers, but the answer is not simple and i don't want to see the medical system in america turn out like the social security system has in the last 50 years since the US congress got to try that little 'social experiment' that hillary was touting at the last debate i watdched...
sorry for the length on that last comment. and for all the run-on sentences, typos etc. when my mind races, my writing suffers:)
Argue with me about the copay while you order the two pizzas for dinner on your cell phone.
Or, send the picture of the new baby paid for by the State of Utah (medicaid) on the new camera cell phone paid for by the State of Utah (food stamps, housing money and social security disability.)
you see it too in downtown spanish fork pops.
there is a disconnect between the tax-paying citizen that is making enough to prevent entry onto the medical welfare roles, but less than fully adequate to sustain insurance for their family. this hardworking group of americans are they to whom my heart goes out.
these are people i see in the icu who are pooling their extended family together to scrap together the money to pay the 20% their insurance won't cover. bankruptcy and defaulting doesn't even cross their minds as they plan to pay every penny.
there aren't easy answers, and it's too easy to paint stereotypes on all sides of the issue. however, making a personal investment in your health is never the wrong answer. disability insurance, life insurance, health insurance etc. the insurance companies may be contributing to the problems, but living in america without these safeguards is irresponsible...
did i make it through that whole diatribe without mentioning trial lawyers..?
cap their potential earnings at 10% of the jury award. cap the plaintiff's earnings future earning losses + 10%. expand tough, comprehensive moderator panels with moderators who truly know medicine and can clean up systemic errors like what done in the air-traffic-control industry.
patient advocacy and change should be the focus. not john edwards-type circus act. edwards argued as the 'fetus in the womb' in one of his last cases tried before a jury where made a tidy sum was made suing an OB/GYN who delivered a baby and salvaged a child's life who would have otherwise died 20 years ago. the child's quality of life was next to nothing, but john edwards came away a richer man and little change was made in the system for the child...
dad r: it bears repeating that you are of a different stripe from the examples given of the disconnect found in segments of society.
your situation is a conundrum and would be difficult under any health care system. i am obviously on your side and feel you have paid dues in your life (literally and figuratively)...
Dad... I'll take care of your requests for kiddo pictures... all in good time...
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