Archive for February, 2008

Why We Can’t Do Cardiac Screening In Athletes

Friday, February 29th, 2008

DB has put up an interesting post today about the need to do cardiac screening in athletes. He points us to an article in the New York Times that describes an athletic screening program now in place at the University of Tennessee. According to the Times,
Cardiologists and other heart experts say that the […]

Posted in Healthcare economics | 2 Comments »

Black Market Medicine - Staying Off the Grid (2)

Tuesday, February 26th, 2008

In a previous post, DrRich made a (more or less) tongue-in-cheek suggestion that our healthcare system is now presenting American physicians with a brand a new business opportunity - Black Market Medicine. Doctors operating in this new, blacker healthcare sphere would offer their patients “off the grid” healthcare services, that is, clandestine medical care. […]

Posted in New business models for healthcare | 5 Comments »

Why the Colette Mills Dilemma Won’t Happen Here

Wednesday, February 20th, 2008

The January 27 issue of the Sunday Times of London tells the tragic story of Colette Mills, a 58 year-old British woman who lost her battle with the National Health Service (NHS), and as a consequence appears doomed to lose her battle with breast cancer.
After her initial treatment for breast cancer, Ms. Mills was […]

Posted in Wonkonian Rationing | No Comments »

FamDoc Likes Fixing American Healthcare

Monday, February 18th, 2008

DrRich is gratified by the very favorable review of Fixing American Healthcare posted last week by FamDoc. According to FamDoc, DrRich “goes where few other authors on healthcare reform/transformation can go.” FamDoc also points out that the book “gives us a blueprint for getting out of the mess, and (DrRich’s) solution starts […]

Posted in Fixing American Healthcare | No Comments »

Capitation and Ratting on Patients

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

Recently the Wall Street Journal Health Blog reported that California Blue Cross, in reaction to “getting slammed by everybody from Arnold Schwarzenegger to Hillary Clinton,” has agreed to stop sending letters asking doctors to help them find patients who failed to disclose medical conditions on their health insurance applications, so the Blues could cancel their […]

Posted in Gekkonian Rationing, Primary Care in America | 4 Comments »

How to Think About the Obesity Dividend

Sunday, February 10th, 2008

An article published last week in the Public Library of Science Medicine Journal has created tremendous buzz in the media and the blogosphere. This article compared the lifetime cost of healthcare (beginning at age 20) for obese individuals and for smokers to the lifetime cost for non-smokers who maintained a healthy weight. Naturally, […]

Posted in General Rationing Issues | 8 Comments »

Why Health Insurers Will Support Hillary Clinton

Monday, February 4th, 2008

As Hillary Clinton’s plans for American healthcare resolve into sharper relief, it is becoming clear that her plans dovetail quite nicely with the increasingly desperate needs of the health insurance industry. And, in contrast to 1993 (when the insurance industry initially supported her reforms, until getting a look at the monstrous volume of regulations she […]

Posted in General Rationing Issues | 2 Comments »