Obama & Health Care

The New York times ran an interesting editorial on health care that got me thinking about health care reform again.

First of all, Obama spoke to the AMA today. The reaction was chilly. Obama's proposed changes to malpractice, electronic health records, and anti-smoking legistlation were met warmly. However, the push for health cost savings was met with ice cold stares. So why the resistance from the AMA?

Fortunately, the NY Times expanded on this and provided an explanation. Essentially, health cuts really hurt physician salaries because they get less money for doing the same thing. Does this idea need to be expanded? Probably not.

So what is the solution? I think we need to simplify the system. I think materials and procedures should have a consistent cost and a clear system of billing. Is this possible? If so, it would provide a clearer picture as to how Obama's plan would change things. Because I think right now, everything is just speculation. We don't know how physician compensation would change. We don't know how our costs will change. Everything is a step in the dark.

Hopefully, President Obama will continue to make more steps to inform us about his proposed changes. I will be listening carefully for any numbers that he reports. So if you're interested tune in June 24th for Obama's "Health Care Town Hall" on ABC.

League tables and the NHS | Top of the class | Economist.com

League tables and the NHS | Top of the class | Economist.com

Is it wrong to provide National Health Care? It seems many on the right wing, and some on the left, say "Yes". However, what is the logical reasoning behind it?

Most of the time the answer to this question comes in the form of "long lines" to health care and then "poor quality" of health care when you get there. However, America is continually ranked lower than developed countries with single-payer health care systems. My question is then, why do seemingly most Americans dislike single-payer health care? Are the people making these reports biased? I can't honestly give a completely researched opinion on this matter, however, I can say that I truly do believe that no one should have to be burdened with the cost of medical attention so much that it leads to longterm debt. It should be a cost shouldered by the public. Profiteers and corporations should have no place in treating people in dire illness.

Canadian Health Care

Well, as many around me know I'm majoring in Political Science, Canadian, and want to be a doctor. One of the topics that comes up a lot is Canadian health care. I just want to provide an interesting article about Canadian health care and jsut say this. The Canadian health care system has been great for my family and I've never heard any horror stories unlike ones that you sometimes hear in America. At the same time however, I want to acknowledge how fantastic the health care in America is also.

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Canadian survival advantage

Devereaux said the Canadian public is barraged by people who argue that the solution to problems in the health-care system is to move toward two-tiered medicine and for-profit health-care delivery.

He said the researchers in the meta-study wanted to provide facts that can be used to make decisions about the system, instead of the debate being steered by beliefs and ideologies.

Researchers began by asking the question: Are there differences in death and disease rates in patients suffering from similar medical conditions treated in Canada versus those treated in the United States?

Overall, 14 of the 38 studies showed better outcomes in Canada, while five favoured the United States. The other 19 studies showed equivalent or mixed results in the two countries.

"What it [the study] shows is that despite an enormous investment in money, we do not see better health outcomes [in the U.S.]," Devereaux said.

"And importantly, where our two systems do diverge is that America has a mixture of private insurance in terms of the funding for health care whereas in Canada we have medicare system for hospital and physician services.

"The medicare system allows us enormous efficiencies in terms of cost-saving relative to private insurance."

Some explanations for the results include the fact that U.S. health care has administrative inefficiencies that public funding — without multiple competing insurance companies — eliminates. Canadians also save on prescription drug costs because drug prices are controlled.

Few uninsured patients in the United States, who probably suffer the worst quality care, were included in the studies examined.

Devereaux said the Canadian health-care system has problems and needs improvement, "but certainly using medicare funding and not-for-profit delivery is the best way to actually maximize health outcomes and in a cost-effective manner."