Comments on: Preserving the profession

By: Colorado Health Insurance Insider » Health Wonk Review - July 12, 2007

Colorado Health Insurance Insider » Health Wonk Review - July 12, 2007 — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 23:45:51 +0000

[...] Medical Rants gives his view on Michael Moore, national health care, and the medical profession in Preserving the Profession. “We do not have a perfect health care system, but I still believe that the proposed [...]

By: gmm

gmm — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:46:25 +0000

. When the governmentâ€™s budget impacts health care, then we have an externality
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With all due respect, then what does one call an HMO’s decision not to pay for treatment that a doctor deems necessary, but they say was not? How is governmental interference different than managed care micromanagement and denial of claims?

By: JaneMarieMD

JaneMarieMD — Wed, 27 Jun 2007 02:29:38 +0000

A single-payer or “Medicare for All” plan that is administered by the government and funded by taxes will be government-run health care. I think, Ms. Isaacs, you may be splitting hairs in the end. The way that healthcare is financed absolutely affects how it is delivered. I’m not sure the distinction you are trying to make is important (other than perhaps to keep the discussion dispassionate).

By: Caryn Isaacs

Caryn Isaacs — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:02:51 +0000

I am the creator of the “Follow the Money” chart for health care system reform, which has been used by many including Al Gore and others to make their point about how we could better use our health care dollars. The problem with Mr. Moore and others proposals is they are using the same mis-information-dis-information as their opponents, which inspired me to make up the charts in the first place, back in 1992. My purpose at that time was primarily to educate doctors about how health care is financed and delivered. Without understanding the difference between health care delivery and health care financing we cannot begin to change either. A single payer plan (or Medicare for All) suggests only a new way of financing health care and does not in any way change the method of health care delivery. In plain language – it is not government run health care like a socialist program, it is simply one price ruling fits all such as our current taxation system.

By: doc2

doc2 — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 09:57:49 +0000

For Pity’s sake, the Cubans couldn’t provide health care for Fidel Castro. They had to import docs from Spain.

By: Albert Fuchs

Albert Fuchs — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 18:31:16 +0000

A reasonable and politically viable path to reform is in Dr David Gratzer's book The Cure. It's mandatory reading for anyone who cares about healthcare reform. And DB is right. There is no product or service that ever improved after the gov't became the only provider.

By: julie

julie — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 16:20:10 +0000

I think it’s the insurance companies that need to be retooled not the medical field. As a nursing student and someone who has been in the medical field for a long time I think that we are a nation of medical advances but as someone who does have insurance but is denied certain things because of the red tape I get frustrated! It’s the insurance companies!!!!

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 15:06:27 +0000

Physicians have convinced people that the current system is horrible, with their “crisis” states and such. So now the public is considering alternatives. Physicians haven’t offered any alternatives, it seems, other than tort “reform”, which does little for the average patient.

If you don’t want what Mr. Moore’s proposing, you better come up with some comprehensive solutions yourselves. You can’t tell the public everything is horrible and then complain when they select the only proposed solution out there.