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Utah doctors say industry must share blame
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Astro | 2:58 p.m. Sept. 7, 2008
Taxes: What is the difference between paying higher taxes that the government,
which you have a part control over, spend on efficient health care or you pay
the insurance company to bank the profit first and then treat?
Availability: The less people allowed inside the system the higher capacity for those who do. If the Canadian and European systems require more waiting time for procedures, couldn't that be because more people benefit from it and actually be because the system is more effective?
Availability: The less people allowed inside the system the higher capacity for those who do. If the Canadian and European systems require more waiting time for procedures, couldn't that be because more people benefit from it and actually be because the system is more effective?
Commoner | 5:33 p.m. Sept. 7, 2008
Kudos to the doctors who have the courage to say that they "doctors"
are part of the problem. Hopefully they don't disappear. We need more men
and women in the medical community with their courage. Then maybe we can get
something done.
My last 3 hour visit to the emergency room cost approximately $1,000 per hour. That's absurd. Can anyone explain why? Not without help from courageous doctors like these.
My last 3 hour visit to the emergency room cost approximately $1,000 per hour. That's absurd. Can anyone explain why? Not without help from courageous doctors like these.
Comments continue below
kenny | 6:09 p.m. Sept. 7, 2008
I worked for a major health care system for a number of years. As a non profit
organization they were not concerned with expences and seemed to spend spend
spend.My department was outsourced to a for profit company and all of a sudden
things changed in our department.You could not even get a raise and all they did
was cut staff,etc.
Ridgerunner | 6:59 p.m. Sept. 7, 2008
Concerned about high health care costs? Two suggestions;
#1: live the word of wisdom.
#2:Ask your attorney who he has sued last?
#1: live the word of wisdom.
#2:Ask your attorney who he has sued last?
What would Sarah do? LIE | 8:20 p.m. Sept. 7, 2008
Sarah would CUT OFF assistance to parents of special needs chldren, just like
she did in Alaska.
Yet, she had the balls to say that she'd be the advocate for other parents of special needs children, because she has one.
Oh, yeah. Another lie. Sarah did NOT sell the Alaska jet on eBay. She had someone list it three times at a high price, and it didn't sell. SARAH ENDED UP SELLING THE JET TO A POLITICAL SUPPORTER (DONOR), WHO IS NOW SUING THE STATE OF ALASKA FOR $300,000 BECAUSE THE PLANE IS NOT FLIGHTWORTHY.
When will Sarah Palin Meet The Press?
Yet, she had the balls to say that she'd be the advocate for other parents of special needs children, because she has one.
Oh, yeah. Another lie. Sarah did NOT sell the Alaska jet on eBay. She had someone list it three times at a high price, and it didn't sell. SARAH ENDED UP SELLING THE JET TO A POLITICAL SUPPORTER (DONOR), WHO IS NOW SUING THE STATE OF ALASKA FOR $300,000 BECAUSE THE PLANE IS NOT FLIGHTWORTHY.
When will Sarah Palin Meet The Press?
Dear Jenny | 8:24 p.m. Sept. 7, 2008
Don't use big words, when you don't understand the issue.
If YOU want to keep your disabled preemie alive, PAY FOR IT YOURSELF! I don't think the taxpayers are responsible to pay for your baby, which would not have lived without high-priced INTERVENTION.
As for the Alzheimer's patients: do NOT diss my mother-in-law, who was kept alive while being medically tortured...and in the end, was begging to die anyway.
Are you wone of the people who believe that everyone should pay to keep brain-dead people like Terri Schiavo alive....when it was obvious that her brain was nothing but liquid?
Your Republicans make no sense.
If YOU want to keep your disabled preemie alive, PAY FOR IT YOURSELF! I don't think the taxpayers are responsible to pay for your baby, which would not have lived without high-priced INTERVENTION.
As for the Alzheimer's patients: do NOT diss my mother-in-law, who was kept alive while being medically tortured...and in the end, was begging to die anyway.
Are you wone of the people who believe that everyone should pay to keep brain-dead people like Terri Schiavo alive....when it was obvious that her brain was nothing but liquid?
Your Republicans make no sense.
Medical Professional | 9:05 p.m. Sept. 7, 2008
As a medical professional, we practice defensive medicine. I had a pt with neck
pain, headache, and a fever. The neck pain wasn't severe, nor was the
headache. The family reported a history of a viral illness in all the family
that cleared. This pt probably had the same thing. But, because the patient
said the magic words (headache, neck pain, fever), we had to do the full $10,000
work up. If we didn't and we missed a meningitis, then we would get our
pants sued off. Well, the patient had a viral disease that resolved days later,
nothing more.
Why don't the politicians talk about the problems of defensive medicine? That is the most important reason our health care is so expensive. Defensive medicine doesn't happen in Cuba, because doctors in Cuba aren't afraid of getting their homes taken away from them by a lawyer. They are able to practice medicine the way we are all taught (which we can't do here). It is a huge cost-saving measure.
The reason tort reform isn't discussed is because the single most represented profession on capitol hill is the law profession.
Why don't the politicians talk about the problems of defensive medicine? That is the most important reason our health care is so expensive. Defensive medicine doesn't happen in Cuba, because doctors in Cuba aren't afraid of getting their homes taken away from them by a lawyer. They are able to practice medicine the way we are all taught (which we can't do here). It is a huge cost-saving measure.
The reason tort reform isn't discussed is because the single most represented profession on capitol hill is the law profession.
Saudi Norm | 9:53 p.m. Sept. 7, 2008
Please do not assume that the United States is the only place where medical
tourism occurs. I know of many people who go to places like India and Thailand
for medical procedures. The quality is every bit as good as the United States
for many procedures at a fraction of the cost including airfare and lodging.
Also, Jenny, you absolutely missed the point of the 8:28 post. The author basically is calling for a discussion of the tradeoffs involved in trying to extend life for a few more years when a patient's quality of life may be questionable. If you really want to get into the moral aspect of the question as suggested by your name calling, think of what $20,000 saved in such a situation could do for your brothers and sisters in a less developed country. Put towards malaria prevention, you could probably save over 2,000 lives. Hardly the ramblings of a sick, eugenicist pig when put in that light is it?
Also, Jenny, you absolutely missed the point of the 8:28 post. The author basically is calling for a discussion of the tradeoffs involved in trying to extend life for a few more years when a patient's quality of life may be questionable. If you really want to get into the moral aspect of the question as suggested by your name calling, think of what $20,000 saved in such a situation could do for your brothers and sisters in a less developed country. Put towards malaria prevention, you could probably save over 2,000 lives. Hardly the ramblings of a sick, eugenicist pig when put in that light is it?
Powermongering AMA, FDA, ACS etc | 12:16 a.m. Sept. 8, 2008
The powermongers who control our system have driving off, harrased, quack
watched, and discredited much of what could help people in the alternative
medicine and health fields. They, the FDA, AMA, ACS, etc.insist on controlling
everything. Canada has recently opened the door for alternative medicine to be
practiced by their physicians. Everyone should read the book, THE CHINA STUDY.
No wonder we are having little success curing cancer. Our physicians do not know
how to treat it and the third world does a better job in dealing with it. Money
and Pride stand in the way in the good old USA. Cancer Centers of America
hospital system is doing a better job in treating cancer than many of the big
money Sloan Kettering, MD Anderson, types. It is because they open the door to
every conceivable known treatment known in the world that cures and helps cancer
patients. It is a sorry thing to watch a family member undergo treatment for
cancer here in the US when one knows there is much more available in the way of
help in other countries, including a dietary regimen, including alkalyzing our
bodies, to cure and prevent cancer.
Re: Paul | 9:49 a.m. Sept. 8, 2008
Thanks for pointing that out. You�re dead on. Most places
outside the U.S. don�t even bother with extreme preemies.
If other industrialized nations are so good, please explain to me why thousands
of Canadians and Europeans are sitting around in long lines waiting for services
we get here on a routine basis. There are many Canadians who hop over the
border to get imaging scans because they don�t want to wait
around for 6 months wondering if the lump in their head is a tumor. The truth
is, when people want high end healthcare, they�re coming
here. The majority of high end technology and the latest medical procedures are
being created here. The idea that are healthcare is junk is ludicrous.
We�re constantly trying to save people that other nations
wouldn�t touch. My grandfather had quadruple bypass last
year. In Canada and Europe, he is deemed too old for the procedure and would
probably be dead now.Given that choice, we forked over thousands of dollars to
buy him another decade or so with our family.
Jay | 10:30 a.m. Sept. 8, 2008
When the medical community spends more time worrying about their costs and
profits than patient care there is a problem. There needs to be a more balanced
approach. It took my doctors (all IHC physicians) THREE full years to diagnose
a problem because of internal policies that dictate what tests a patient gets
when. I am just happy that when they finally did diagnose the problem it cost
IHC insurance 7 times what it would have to treat the problem because of the
advanced stages of the problem at the time of actual treatment.
SLC gal | 11:26 a.m. Sept. 8, 2008
There are two major problems:
1 Legal - our doctors wouldn't have to charge so much for their services if they weren't paying out for malpractice insurance, which wouldn't be so high if it were needed less becuase more people were accepting that yes, accidents, and misdiagnois happen, and the doctor was taking responsibility for that incident instead of trying to sweep it under a rug.
2. Insurance- Health care insurance is very expensive - obviously. How much lower would our premiums be if everyone had health insurance. Like it or not when we pay Medical bills, we are not only paying for our own health care, we're paying what the hospital needs to survive becuase too many without insurance are being a deadbeat about their bills.
One solution - more clinics like Instacare. Clinics like these are typically more affordable, and take an enourmous burden off of hospital ER's.
1 Legal - our doctors wouldn't have to charge so much for their services if they weren't paying out for malpractice insurance, which wouldn't be so high if it were needed less becuase more people were accepting that yes, accidents, and misdiagnois happen, and the doctor was taking responsibility for that incident instead of trying to sweep it under a rug.
2. Insurance- Health care insurance is very expensive - obviously. How much lower would our premiums be if everyone had health insurance. Like it or not when we pay Medical bills, we are not only paying for our own health care, we're paying what the hospital needs to survive becuase too many without insurance are being a deadbeat about their bills.
One solution - more clinics like Instacare. Clinics like these are typically more affordable, and take an enourmous burden off of hospital ER's.
Everyone | 12:18 p.m. Sept. 8, 2008
There have been some great comments posted about this article. When it comes
down to it, everyone involved (which is all of us) needs to do their part. We
all need to practice that "ounce of prevention" to keep our bodies as
healthy as possible. We need to take sound advice from our physicians and
follow regiments that are prescribed. Doctors need to focus on treating
patients ethically, to the highest of their abilities...putting the patient
first. Hospitals need to fix the problem with hospital administrators who
dictate what care phyisicians will render to patients. Insurance companies need
to stop driving costs up and stop dictating what procedures will be affordable
in certain situations. Lawyers and the "jackpot" mentality patients
need to stop the runaway litigation that is crippling health care. Whether or
not the U.S. has the greatest health care in the world is not the main point.
We can always do better and what are you doing to make it that way?
Medical Malpractice Myth | 2:24 p.m. Sept. 8, 2008
I hate to interrupt the scare tactics, lies, and indiscriminate throwing of
lawyers under buses ... but what the heck:
Including legal fees, insurance costs, and payouts, the cost of medical malpractice litigation comes to less than one-half of 1 percent of health-care spending in the United States. (See Tom Baker's recent book, The Medical Malpractice Myth.)
Hate lawyers all you want, but I hope you know a good one when your turn comes up. A 1990 Harvard Medical Practice study indicates that doctors injure 1 in 25 patients, but that only 4 percent of these injured patients sue.
The doctors I know are rich and getting richer, med-mal insurance premiums notwithstanding. Don't go for the "blame the lawyers" head fake. Docs like the system well enough as it is, and it only gets better for them (and worse for consumers) the less they can be held responsible for negligent treatment of patients.
In the mean time, the real structural problems with the U.S. healthcare system go unsolved.
Including legal fees, insurance costs, and payouts, the cost of medical malpractice litigation comes to less than one-half of 1 percent of health-care spending in the United States. (See Tom Baker's recent book, The Medical Malpractice Myth.)
Hate lawyers all you want, but I hope you know a good one when your turn comes up. A 1990 Harvard Medical Practice study indicates that doctors injure 1 in 25 patients, but that only 4 percent of these injured patients sue.
The doctors I know are rich and getting richer, med-mal insurance premiums notwithstanding. Don't go for the "blame the lawyers" head fake. Docs like the system well enough as it is, and it only gets better for them (and worse for consumers) the less they can be held responsible for negligent treatment of patients.
In the mean time, the real structural problems with the U.S. healthcare system go unsolved.
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Sadly, this is the consequence of 'well intending' but unwise legislators. Just like well intended patriots who still advocate unwise defense and foreign policies.