Betsy McCaughey recently gave an excellent presentation on the debate regarding health care reform. It comes in three segments. All those interested in the topic will find it illuminating.
She offers in the third part an interesting proposal for the states to issue debit cards to enable the uninsured to purchase health insurance:
I have had one experience with "Comparative Effective Research" under TriCare. Thank Goodness my family has been healthy! with no major medical needs. In all these years we have only had two needs for hospitalization: in 1976 my daughter had eyes surgery and again in 1977 to correct a "wandering eye" (this surgery was done by a military doctor in a military hospital). And in 2002 I needed a gall bladder operation. The military has gone out of the direct provider of health care above the Primary care level. Meaning I had to go to a civilian doctor to have my gall bladder removed. TriCare refused to pay for the surgery because it wasn't on their list of allowable procedures. I left the doctor's office and went home to try and figure out how I was going to get the money for this operation. My gall bladder was what the doctor called "rotten" I was in big time pain. The next day after the doctor's office kept trying to get thru to TriCare that I needed the surgery they finally agreed because the person handling my case put the operation under another "approved" procedure which was repairing a hernia. I had a small hernia so while the doctor was repairing my hernia he also removed my gall bladder.
I hope never to have to go thru this again. And I am sure the doctor gets really aggravated with having to waste time and money trying to treat his patients. BB
Posted by: Brenda Bowers | June 12, 2009 at 01:17 PM
One more thing: there will be far more paperwork and doctors having to go thru what my surgeon did in order to perform the operation I needed under a government run program with the Comparative effective stuff to deal with.
I recent had experience of a sad kind with this burden on doctors. My Primary Care Provider Dr. Donald H gave up his practice. We were so happy with Dr. H. He took the extra time and really listen to his patients. And from other doctors I always heard the comment that he is "very good" and "you have one of the best". Well we knew that!
Dr. H gave up his private practice and is now working for Hospice. The reason: the hassle with insurance companies over what he could and could not do was a large part of why he left I heard from another doctor who had help train Dr. H and knows him well. BB
Posted by: Brenda Bowers | June 12, 2009 at 02:39 PM
Brenda, the comparative health research in all likelihood would be used by a quasi-governmental agency to determine what treatments will be offered, and what treatments will not be. All the health plans would be squeezed to incorporate the input of that particular agency.
And the doctors themselves would be squeezed to participate in the new public insurance plan. In fact, the Kennedy bill requires that all physicians participating with Medicare also participate with the new public insurance ObamaPlan. Coercion is the method.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | June 12, 2009 at 08:49 PM
Yes Joe, and that is TriCare today. Thank goodness the person my surgeon's insurance specialist was talking to was someone in the system who also felt the system was stupid and allowed the subterfuge.
So how many doctors are going to stop participating in Medicare? That is, until the Obama/Kennedy Insurance Company drives all the private companies out of business and the doctors who are left still practicing are coerced into taking their medicare patients back and accepting all the workload and low pay. Then how many medical schools will start losing students and need to be bailed out by the government? And then.....
And the beat goes on! BB
Posted by: Brenda Bowers | June 13, 2009 at 05:01 AM
Brenda, the medical schools would attract a lower quality of applicant. (BTW, that may be happening already).
I suppose you might have doctors who refuse to participate in the "system", who will be available to see patients-- if they can survive economically and legally outside of the system. And then you would have some accepting Medicare and the public insurance option, but perhaps with delays for patients to get in to see them.
And it is not inconceivable that physicians and facilities later would be forced to participate with Medicare and the public insurance option. For general hospitals, they are "forced" already to participate with Medicare because of the realities of the demographics they must serve to be viable.
Posted by: Joe Guarino | June 13, 2009 at 10:55 AM
Well, here is the road map of where the Congress is looking to go on our health care, and it doesn't look good. This report is from the Obama/New York Times, so you know it will be much worse than described here. We are in deep doo-doo.
"Republicans, who had no role in developing the bill, denounced it as a blueprint for a vast increase in federal power and spending."
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/health/policy/20health.html?_r=2&partner=rss&emc=rss
Posted by: Stormy | June 20, 2009 at 10:36 AM