I never paid a great deal of attention to politics, until I realized that health care had become politics.
I may be the last of a generation that learned, in medical school in France, that the responsibility of a doctor was to keep a record of cash transactions, something best done in a bound notebook with no pages ripped out, and only a single line to cross out errors, so that integrity would not be questioned.
The same year I entered medical school, President Richard Nixon signed the Health Maintenance Organization Act of 1973.
Wealthy industrialist Henry J. Kaiser, billionaire shipbuilder, and steel and aluminum magnate (as well as staunch Republican and major contributor to the Nixon campaign) was the first person to establish a “for-profit” hospital. Read more on Don’t Tell Me You Think Insurance Will Actually HELP…
Filed under Healthcare reform by on Oct 7th, 2011. Comment. 
Despite what some consider excessive education, I regress to using primitive expressions from a very deep and fairly primitive part of my brain when I’m frustrated. So excuse me a moment while I wail, “Oy Vay!” Thank you – I feel much better now.
You might wonder what brings such an expression to my lips. And you deserve an answer for faithfully continuing to read while I ventilate some steam.
Every discussion of public health care in this year which is winding down has been totally misguided – and I believe intentionally aimed at misleading the public. Read more on What Good Is Access Without Quality?…
Filed under Healthcare reform, News by on Dec 28th, 2010. Comment.
“Innovative Health Care Programs?”
This seems to be the era of backwards-definitions. “No Child Left Behind” means a diminished budget and fewer programs for child education. “Compassionate Conservatism” means cutting programs for the unemployed, the medical indigent and the hungry. “Strategic Defense” means a full-speed-ahead attack.
The “Innovative Programs” article talks about are mostly supplied by The Greenfield group, where improved medical care is provided if people fork in some cash to get it. Also “Harvard Vanguard,” who loves to be the first to do things.
Since there is nothing but Harvard hospitals on the reality TV show Boston Med, I wonder if the Harvard Public relations people have descended to some all-invasive biological state, to infiltrate all media, and to try to get us to believe that they do things medically and surgically that are more advanced than other providers. Read more on Walls and Barriers To Providing Health Care…
Filed under Healthcare reform, politics by on Aug 20th, 2010. Comment.
I’m often asked for my opinion of and reaction to our new healthcare reform.
My immediate reaction is to correct the concept that this legislation has anything to do with healthcare. It is more properly insurance reform.
I stopped accepting insurance payments in 1996. In the intervening years, I’ve successfully operated a cash-only practice and in the past few years have been drawn into coaching other doctors in how to operate such a practice and consulting with people who are tired of insurance tyranny.
The term bandied about in the recent debates about healthcare reform is “access.”
The talking heads — both media and governmental — claimed a large number of people were uninsured. I recall numbers in the range of 40 million, and I’ve heard such numbers debunked.
Read more on Access Is A Null And Void Concept…
Filed under Healthcare reform by on Apr 29th, 2010. Comment.
While so-called “Universal Health Care” can have tremendous advantages in the primary care field, it is totally unable to deal with specialized care. A case in point — and an all-too-common case — is cancer treatment. Time is of the essence when dealing with cancer, as the chance of recovery and survival is best if it is caught and treated early.
This video is not an isolated case. A very dear friend of mine could tell you a very similar story about her thyroid cancer and the frustrations of the Canadian Public Health system — but without the happy ending.
Filed under Healthcare reform by on Jan 30th, 2010. Comment.
There was one woman who gave me a bad time and to my knowledge, never did anything I recommended, although she came to see me for many months. As a matter of fact, I do not think that I ever figured out why she continued to see me for many months. It was back in my very first practice after I left academics, for I had left the “honor” that went with a University professorship thinking I could actually make some money.
I had walked into someone else’s insurance practice, and I was on all their panels, and I knew the patients would love me at least as much as they had loved her, for she was nowhere near as charming as I was.
Read more on Healthcare reform — Blame the doctors…
Filed under Healthcare reform by on Nov 24th, 2009. Comment.