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TAG | Healthcare Reform
I have never been shy about expressing my opinion concerning healthcare reform. I have always said that I am a huge supporter of healthcare reform but not a supporter of the bill that was recently passed. It may be a good start but it has some serious flaws that I feel if corrected would free up lots of money to take care of the currently under served population.
Maybe it’s because of my past experience working in the emergency room but the waste and abuse of the system by some patients gets under my craw more than I can even express. If you spent a couple of hours as an observer in an ER you would be absolutely sickened by the way the system is abused by some. I recently sent an email to this effect to someone and got an interesting response. In fairness to all I decided (with her permission) to print her response.
I am fortunate to be a friend and student of a nice lady named Nora Johnson. She is a medical billing advocate. In other words, she scours medical bills for mistakes and saves patients thousands of dollars. You may have seen her on CBS News, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Smart Money Magazine, and the list goes on and on. This lady is no slouch. In addition to a top notch education, her experience and resume make her an expert. And like one of the television commercials of the past says, “When she talks, people listen.”
I appreciate Nora allowing me to print her words of wisdom. She did not write this for publication and I did not check for spelling or grammar so read it for content only.
| “From a non-physician standpoint, but one who is involved in the daily plights of patients who can’t afford healthcare, permit me to share my perspective.
I have no love for healthcare insurance providers. I view them as subscribers to the modern day Machiavellian business philosophy of ‘profit justifies the means’…or ‘profit makes right’. It doesn’t take much of an intellectual leap to deduce why 45 million Americans can’t access the health care system…and why a substantial portion of the ‘have nots’ rely on Emergency rooms. It is a fact that Emergency rooms are the lowest or no-profit revenue centers for hospitals. It is also a fact that some patients abuse the privilege of accessing emergency rooms. What is completely overlooked by critics are the millions of uninsured people who, when diagnosed with cancer or other major illnesses, cannot afford chemo or radiation or any type of continuing treatment. Emergency rooms do not provide ongoing treatment for chronic diseases. I have talked with too many people who fall between the cracks in our current system. Too rich for Medicaid or charity care, and too poor or sick to afford astronomical premiums. The cannot cough up $200 thousand dollars IN ADVANCE, to pay the likes of MD Anderson or any cancer hospital for the first series of treatments. I believe these people constitute the majority of these 45 million uninsured…or under-insured. And, even if they don’t, are the rest of us willing to consign their plights to——you don’t deserve to live? From their perspective death is their reality, and potential life saving treatments are a privilege of the wealthy, or the lucky who have health care coverage through employment. I can hear the refrain——-let ‘em get jobs and work like the rest of us! Don’t be too cocky about your coverage through employment. This too is vanishing as self-insured companies are breaking under the cost burden, downsizing staff, outsourcing to the rest of the world, limiting employees to part time thereby escaping the mandate to provide health care coverage, decreasing coverage in general, and shifting more health care costs to the remainder of the employees. What about those folk who worked hard all their lives, and took the promise of early retirement and continuing health care coverage till Medicare kicks in, only to find their employers determined at some later date, that a good way to cut costs was to eliminate coverage for retirees? By now, many of these folks between 50 and 65 have conditions that virtually eliminate them from Blues, United, Cigna, Aetna, (BUCAs) coverage…or maybe if they can pay $3K a month for premiums. Even then, the BUCAs will do what they can to disqualify and deny these insureds from coverage——–after accepting months/years of premium payments. We cannot be so naive to imagine that the private profit making sector is going to care about anything or anybody other than profits. Hospitals are huge profit making businesses, and not-for-profit hospitals are even worse! I know how these bandits bill!! I know how they demand full payment from the uninsured when virtually 95% of their patient load doesn’t have to pay even half for the same services. So count them out of caring for non-paying patients, or doing the right thing because profit trumps compassion and responsibility. Does this mean that Obamacare is the answer? No, it is only a beginning, and one full of holes; the most glaring of which is the healthcare profit mongers are still in control, and do not have meaningful sanctions to counter their new and creative ways to deny claims payment. The health of our nation cannot be consigned to monolithic entities that worship the profit gods. Obama missed the boat by not having a government agency compete with the BUCAs. Yeah, yeah, that’s socialism———-as is Medicare, Social Security, Medicaid, etc. For those who denounce socialism, please forgo your Medicare and Social Security and put your money in the same bag with your righteous indignation. What is true and evident is that our population of 45 million uninsured/underinsure Americans have made no progress, were denied healthcare and have died within the last few decades that subscribed to various economic policies, beginning with the trickle-down theory to business’ self-regulation. Now that’s a hoax promulgating the fox guarding the hen house theory that many bought into, excepting perhaps, the have-nots. If you are poor (http://www.partnershiptoendpoverty.org/PovertyGuidelines2009.pdf, ) sick, unable to access health care to survive, lost your home and believe that Obamacare or a dose of socialism will ruin our country, stand up and be counted. …I can’t hear you! If you don’t qualify, what is your responsibility to your countrywomen and men? Said better by many: “Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members; the last, the least, the littlest.” How will America be judged?” I told you. Whether you agree with her or not…this is one smart lady. If you are interested in a CBS story with Nora here is the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=huOcg9uN5pw bjmdjd Material modifications since posting: none |
access to care · health · Healthcare Reform · Nora Johnson · underinsured · uninsured
I said that I wasn’t going to comment anymore on healthcare reform but some numbers just out are fairly telling and I thought you might want to hear them.
According to Kaiser Health News a USA Today/Gallop Poll due out tomorrow says that the President and congressional Democrats have their work cut out for them in trying to convince their constituents that the healthcare reform bill will help them and their families. The poll of a little over 1,000 adults revealed that 50% of those polled said that the bill was a bad thing and 47% said it was a good thing.
The Miami Herald reported that a Mason – Dixon Polling and Research poll concluded that only 34% of Florida voters support the bill while 54% are against it.
It will be interesting to see how the Democrats try to sell the new healthcare reform bill when they get home. I think they realize that there could be some tough times in the voting booths this coming November. bjmdjd
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Gallop Poll · Healthcare Reform · Mason-Dixon Polling and Research · Miami Herald · USA Today
When I started this blog I didn’t promise that I would never get political or that occasionally there wouldn’t be a personal rant of some sort published. But I simply refuse to lower myself to the level of those who try to make everything partisan and resort to name calling. I’m afraid that I would need to do both of those things to adequately discuss my feelings about the passage of the healthcare reform bill. Not about healthcare reform which I support but about passage of the healthcare reform bill. Therefore, I won’t do it. It’s been talked to death anyway. bjmdjd
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Frankly I’m so disgusted that I just don’t have anything to say right now! I had plenty to say (not about reform) but I’ll have to wait until tomorrow. bjmdjd
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Well it appears that healthcare reform may come to a head next week. President Obama has said that he wants a vote on March 18th before he leaves for an overseas trip. Majority Leader Senator Harry Reid has sent a letter to Minority Leader Mitch McConnell outlining the Democrats plan to use the much talked about budget reconciliation plan to pass healthcare reform. That means that they can pass it with a simple majority vote rather than the 60 votes needed for a supermajority to prevent a Republican filibuster. The Democrats no longer have the needed 60 votes due to the election of a republican to replace the late Senator Edward Kennedy.
To complicate matters the day before Senator Reid sent his letter the 41 Senate Republicans signed a letter condemning the use of the reconciliation process to pass a partisan bill that represents one sixth of the economy. They say that the Senates “Byrd Rule” prevents the use of reconciliation to do anything other than revise the federal budget.
It’s heating up and we may all have our answer next week. It doesn’t seem to matter to many in Washington that it appears that the majority of Americans want healthcare reform, just not the one that they may be getting ready to vote on. bjmdjd
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Healthcare Reform · reconciliation process · Senator Harry Reid · Senator Mitch McConnell
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Healthcare IS Expensive!
No comments · Posted by bjmdjd in Healthcare Reform, Medical Related News
All the talk now is how expensive healthcare has become and the costs seem to be rising every day. The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has released some numbers that are staggering.
Below are the estimated direct and indirect 2010 costs (in billions…that’s with a “B”) in the United States for the five most expensive diagnostic groups:
- $324.1 billion Cardiovascular Diseases
- $225.2 billion Digestive System
- $177.7 billion Mental Health
- $175.4 billion Nervous System
- $172.9 billion Injury and Poisoning
As Healthcare Reform possibly looms in our future it’s important to remember what the real numbers are! bjmdjd
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health · healthcare is expensive · Healthcare Reform · National Heart Lung and Blood Instutute · wellness
Well, I was correct but I’m sorry I was! The Healthcare Summit was a complete waste of time and C-Span broadcast resources. The only thing that I got from it was that the Democrats told everyone that they were going to pass the current bill no matter who opposes it!
As for me I’m sick on my stomach! You can read the details somewhere else (if you have the time to waste and the stomach for it)! bjmdjd
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The big televised While House health summit with the president and congressional republicans and democrats will be held this coming Thursday. Due to the fact that I fully expect this event to be a disaster and not accomplish anything, I just don’t have the stomach to write about it. Sorry. Maybe I’ll be wrong and later this week I can write about what a success it was. bjmdjd
Material modifications since posting: none
If you look on the right side bar of this page you will see under my blogroll a blog that I titled “Interesting Doctor’s Blog.” Dr. Toni Brayer has outdone herself in a blog she posted 2/3/10 entitled “Beleagred Health Care Providers.” I liked it so much that I’m posting it here in its entirety. Enjoy! bjmdjd
I went to my physical therapist yesterday for knee treatment and we talked about the fact that Blue Cross is cutting their reimbursement to the point that the cost of providing care will not even be covered. All I could do was lament with him and listen. One insurer even told him (the owner of the business) to just “make the sessions shorter and don’t give as much care.” As if that is how it works…”You get little money..so just do a little”.
Clearly the insurance intermediaries, who never actually see a patient or deliver any care, haven’t got a clue how this whole health thing works. They are happy with mediocre doctors that cut time and care. Those doctors (and physical therapists) run mills, but the insurance companies are happy with them. Quality and quantity of time are not rewarded, and in fact are punished in the health care environment we have.
He asked me if Primary care had any problems like that. I felt like screaming “Aren’t you reading my blog?”. Or more to the point…why doesn’t the entire population know that access to a primary care physician will become as rare as swimming with dolphins. It will depend upon how much money you have to buy concierge/retainer medicine. Where you live will play a role. If your community has a large multispecialty clinic like Kaiser or Sutter Palo Alto Medical Group, you may have access.
Doctors in training are flooding away from general Internal Medicine, Pediatrics and Family Medicine in droves. Only 2% of medical students plan to go into primary care. It used to be over 50%. A recent Jim Lerher report discussed the reasons. We’ve been talking, talking, talking about it for years but things have only gotten worse, not better.
The whole premise of health care reform ensures that everyone has access to good quality care. Every nation that provides good, quality access has a strong primary care base that is the foundation. Primary care is valued by the government, the payers, the population and even by the physicians.
We have it all backward. It is time to revamp the system from the bottom up. Frankly I don’t care if we get one more multimillion dollar robot to assist in a rare surgical procedure or one more new ” next generation” imaging scanner until we can rationalize how we pay for care.
We have not yet begun the hard work to bring costs under control because there are too many pigs at the trough. One of my favorite teachers (you know who you are, Ed) said “you can’t clear the swamp until you get the pigs out of the way”.
We have a lot of pigs to move aside so more people can get to the water.
Blue Cross Blue Shield · health and wellbeing · Healthcare Reform · primary care doctor shortage
In several of my posts I have mentioned that I felt that one of the main problems that needs to be dealt with as we approach healthcare reform is the shortage of primary care physicians. There is a shortage of these doctors now. Who is going to see the approximately 46 million new patients who suddenly have health insurance?
I want to post various articles as I come across them that addresses this issue. Todays comes from the South Bend Tribune and was an opinion written by a physician.
http://www.southbendtribune.com/article/20100128/Opinion/1280356/-1/googleNews bjmdjd
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health · Healthcare Reform · shortage of primary care physicians · wellness
