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.

Computerizing Health Records

Google and Microsoft Look to Change Health Care

As we approach the 2008 election year we are bound to hear bold promises concerning health care reform. What do the people want? Lower costs and greater access. I have some suggestions:

1) Just as the linked article above shows, we need to computerize records and create a better infrastructure for sharing information. Such a system will help us better monitor our health and eliminate costly paperwork that is much too common in our hospitals.

2) Reform medicare. What exactly are our goals concerning medical care? Do we want all to have sufficient access and manageable payments? Then lets make a committed effort to allowed increased government funds to actually reach the end of the row! Elminate costly administration.