Day 4 of 206- reading the Senate Health Care Bill

Pages 52-64
Section 1102 Reinsurance for Early Retirees
Gives federal money to insurance plans to cover part of the cost of insuring people who retire early from their job.

In other words, people who stop working at age 55 can receive Medicare-type coverage, but not exactly.  You must have a job that provides health insurance, and then if [...]

Day 2 of 206- reading the Senate Health Care Bill

Pages 30-40
Section 2717 “Ensuring the Quality of Care”
This phrase alone makes me shudder.  What makes government think it can “ensure” quality of care?  So far it has been unable to do so with the plan it does run, Medicare.
Says that the government will establish “reporting requirements” whereby health plans will have to show that they [...]

The Best Article on Health Care Reform I Have Read So Far

This week’s New York Review of Books features an article by Jerome Groopman, MD, author of one of my favorite books on the practice of medicine, How Doctors Think.  In the article, Dr. Groopman explores the idea of “comparative effectiveness research” and the role it might play in our health care system if a reform [...]

The "Million Med March"

Today I attended the Million Med March held in cities across the US and here in Chicago.  It was sponsored by Docs 4 Patient Care, a grassroots organization of physicians, healthcare professionals, and concerned citizens who want to reform health care while preserving the integrity of the patient-physician relationships we enjoy in this country.  I [...]

Does Your Doctor See Dollar Signs in Your Kid’s Throat?

If you watched President Obama’s press conference Wednesday night, you may have come away with the impression that doctors are often thinking about how much money they can earn from your illness as they make decisions about your health care. Here are his comments from the transcript at CBS News:
“Right now doctors a lot of [...]

More thoughts on health care reform

I am not an economist; I do not claim to understand the complexities of the health care market, nor can I accurately predict how the proposed health care legislation will impact our nation’s health care industry. However, many aspects of the proposed reforms make me uneasy.

More thoughts on health care reform

I am not an economist; I do not claim to understand the complexities of the health care market, nor can I accurately predict how the proposed health care legislation will impact our nation’s health care industry. However, many aspects of the proposed reforms make me uneasy.

1) Creating a centralized oversight committee in Washington puts [...]