http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010...47002_page4.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/08/05/60minutes/main6747002_page4.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody
I'm trying to get some solid, balanced facts about Medicare, and the Health Care Program, and what I keep getting is more and more biased hate and rage. Not very helpful, folks.
These forums attracted me because often they do filter out a lot of the kneejerk reactions - but not always. Maybe someone can start a new thread: Real ways to address health care costs.
I'm pissed as hell that my diabetes went undiagnosed for nearly SIX MONTHS while I was a member of Kaiser[/, even though I was starting to show symptoms and kept asking about it.
This shouldn't happen - and I'm not speaking as a humanitarian; it shouldn't have happened for business reasons. Blood sugar test not hard or expensive. Moral of the story, docs will listen to your first major complaint and address that, so the dots don't get connected. BTW up to half the people who have diabetes don't know it. I'm not saying it's right, just that it happens so plenty of docs miss it. To the extent we can inform ourselves - from quality Web sites, for example - we need to.
So, if we can get past the hate for the Right, and get into something that resembles fact and substance, what are the proposals?
I'm a bit of a ghoul but with a better name "death panels" might not be too far off the mark. Some 20 percent of people spend their last days in ICU. Though a majority of Americans say they want to die at home, 75 percent die in a hospital or nursing home. The system skews toward spending huge sums at the end of life when often supportive and much cheaper care is indicated.
Another reason: The sheer number of medical interventions is far higher than it used to be. Since Medicare reimburses by the procedure, once a patient is in a hospital there is high motivation to keep doing more tests, etc.
Another: Health insurance is a reasonable concept. But because we're thinking "insurance will cover it," we tend not to raise a stink about the $8 aspirin tablet on our hospital bill.
Another reason: The money that could go into providing care often goes instead to dispute resolution. Hospitals, trying for maximum reimbursement, fight insurers, who are trying to minimize costs.
Another reason: We're just not as healthy as we could be. Another: Fear of malpractice suits for fear something has been missed. Retiring debt on all the machines hospitals must buy to stay competitive. If you buy an MRI machine, you want to keep it busy cranking out billings for insurers.
Despite the fears and scaremongering surrounding "socialized medicine," it really is more efficient. The voucher plan or whatever just means more confusing stuff thrown at people trying to pick a plan. In my opinion vouchers won't create competition; they will create collusion.
OK, with all that rant, keep something in mind, much as we like to complain about fat cat doctors', much of the money we spend, public and private, is going to nurses, aides, medical technologists, physical therapists, nutritionists, and so forth. The dollars are not going into a black hole. The whole enterprise is keeping a lot of people employed, and while this may not be the optimal way to do it, the money isn't disappearing. Perhaps doctors and insurers are taking more than their fare share, I haven't seen a breakdown.
There must be a good book out there about all this stuff, any recommendations?
