I've started reading Mike Critelli's "Open Mike" blog. His insight into health care issues is excellent. Mike was CEO of Pitney Bowes. I know him personally, and he is very, very intelligent. Here's a link to his blog. The most recent one is on dialysis and Medicare.
http://www.mikecritelli.com/
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Showing posts with label health care. Show all posts
Cement for Spine Fractures May Not Work
Here is another real-world example of how the health care industry forges ahead with new treatments and technology that drive up costs, while never knowing how well they work. This is why health care has become so expensive that many of us can't afford it.
A study of the cement used for spinal fractures shows that it may work no better than a placebo. Rest and pain killers work just as well. To learn more, read about the study in the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/health/research/06spine.html
A study of the cement used for spinal fractures shows that it may work no better than a placebo. Rest and pain killers work just as well. To learn more, read about the study in the New York Times.
Studies Question Using Cement for Spine Injuries
Research into effectiveness of a procedure in use since the 1990s comes as the Obama administration calls for assessing how health care money is spent.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/06/health/research/06spine.html
Health-Care Questions
I listened to Obama last night, and he was so persuasive. Then I thought back to what I'd read about the details of the health-care overhaul in the Wall Street Journal, and I went back to having doubts.
My biggest problem is what the plan will do to small and growing businesses, burdening them with more taxes, penalties and mandates. It will also place a greater burden on the poor working class, forcing them to purchase insurance they can't afford. That is what has happened to my daughter, who is a part-time nursery school teacher in Massachusetts. The state will not approve her application for state-paid insurance because she currently has personal insurance, but she can't afford her premiums. If she drops her insurance, she has to pay a fine to the state. Her employer doesn't cover her. What a mess! Not only that, her insurance in Massachusetts is twice what it was in Connecticut because the insurers in MA must take everyone. Our federal insurance will be a mess like this.
Meanwhile, how can new and small businesses grow or simply stay in business with the sudden new burdens of paying for expensive plans or paying fines? What will part-time workers do? Pay a fine and stay uncovered? How does that help anyone? What will the plan do to people who are aging, laid-off, retired and not covered by Medicare? Can they afford insurance under the new plan?
I went looking for answers in The Wall Street Journal. Good reading. But it didn't make me feel any better.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124812571962066393.html
My biggest problem is what the plan will do to small and growing businesses, burdening them with more taxes, penalties and mandates. It will also place a greater burden on the poor working class, forcing them to purchase insurance they can't afford. That is what has happened to my daughter, who is a part-time nursery school teacher in Massachusetts. The state will not approve her application for state-paid insurance because she currently has personal insurance, but she can't afford her premiums. If she drops her insurance, she has to pay a fine to the state. Her employer doesn't cover her. What a mess! Not only that, her insurance in Massachusetts is twice what it was in Connecticut because the insurers in MA must take everyone. Our federal insurance will be a mess like this.
Meanwhile, how can new and small businesses grow or simply stay in business with the sudden new burdens of paying for expensive plans or paying fines? What will part-time workers do? Pay a fine and stay uncovered? How does that help anyone? What will the plan do to people who are aging, laid-off, retired and not covered by Medicare? Can they afford insurance under the new plan?
I went looking for answers in The Wall Street Journal. Good reading. But it didn't make me feel any better.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124812571962066393.html
Doctor Shortage Endangers Seniors
Seniors have Medicare, so they have health insurance. But it's getting harder and harder for them to find primary care physicians. The same thing is going to happen to the rest of us as more and more of the general population gets health care coverage. There just aren't enough doctors because the pay isn't good enough. The New York Times ran a terrific article on the problem yesterday. I'm pasting a synopsis and link below.
I know this is a problem because my own doctor is struggling with the low payments from insurers. My daughter, who lives in Massachusetts, has told me stories of the doctor shortages brought about by the universal coverage that state has instituted. In Massachusetts, you're fined if you don't have health insurance. People who can't afford insurance must apply for it from the state. (It's like Medicaid.) But my daughter's friends who wound up with Mass Health coverage can't find doctors who will take it. They are going without.
This same problem is likely to hit the whole country if we have universal coverage. Medical school is expensive, so there are fewer doctors who want to become primary physicians where the pay is lower than it is for specialists.
So what should we do? I believe our country should subsidize doctors who will become primary care physicians, particularly ones who go out to serve the under-served. We need something like the Teach for America plan, only for doctors. I'm also hoping that lower salaries and bonuses and fewer jobs in finance will draw the best and brightest into medicine and science. I was so sad to watch my kids' classmates who were brainiacs in math and science all flock to Wall Street instead of the sciences. (Although one went to Google in marketing after majoring in chemistry at an Ivy League School.) The financial incentives simply have to change, or we will be paying more and more for medical care and getting less and less.
This will really affect the growing population of seniors adversely.
From the New York Times -- Health / Health Care Policy
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/health/policy/27care.html
I know this is a problem because my own doctor is struggling with the low payments from insurers. My daughter, who lives in Massachusetts, has told me stories of the doctor shortages brought about by the universal coverage that state has instituted. In Massachusetts, you're fined if you don't have health insurance. People who can't afford insurance must apply for it from the state. (It's like Medicaid.) But my daughter's friends who wound up with Mass Health coverage can't find doctors who will take it. They are going without.
This same problem is likely to hit the whole country if we have universal coverage. Medical school is expensive, so there are fewer doctors who want to become primary physicians where the pay is lower than it is for specialists.
So what should we do? I believe our country should subsidize doctors who will become primary care physicians, particularly ones who go out to serve the under-served. We need something like the Teach for America plan, only for doctors. I'm also hoping that lower salaries and bonuses and fewer jobs in finance will draw the best and brightest into medicine and science. I was so sad to watch my kids' classmates who were brainiacs in math and science all flock to Wall Street instead of the sciences. (Although one went to Google in marketing after majoring in chemistry at an Ivy League School.) The financial incentives simply have to change, or we will be paying more and more for medical care and getting less and less.
This will really affect the growing population of seniors adversely.
From the New York Times -- Health / Health Care Policy
Shortage of Doctors an Obstacle to Obama Goals
One proposal -- to increase Medicare payments to general practitioners, at the expense of high-paid specialists -- has touched off a lobbying fight.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/health/policy/27care.html
Longevity Revolution
Did you know that Americans gained an extra 30 years of life during the 20th Century? This phenomenon has been dubbed the "Longevity Revolution" by Robert Butler, and it has huge implications for the health care system, which Butler calls "a mess."
At a lecture at the USC Davis School of Gerontology, Butler spoke about longevity, which is the topic of his new book,The Longevity Revolution: The Benefits and Challenges of Living a Long Life. The most frightening thing he said, in my opinion, is that our children are eating such bad diets that they may live shorter lives than their grandparents. It gives us all something to think about.
To read more about Butler's talk, go to: http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/16275.html.
At a lecture at the USC Davis School of Gerontology, Butler spoke about longevity, which is the topic of his new book,The Longevity Revolution: The Benefits and Challenges of Living a Long Life. The most frightening thing he said, in my opinion, is that our children are eating such bad diets that they may live shorter lives than their grandparents. It gives us all something to think about.
To read more about Butler's talk, go to: http://www.usc.edu/uscnews/stories/16275.html.
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