Health Provisions Slipped into Stimulus Package

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Really we need to build a health care system that works for ALL of us.

A libertarian friend of mine claims that the US will have a UHC model within 10 years because business will demand it.

Awmom is dead on accurate. We are spending 1 dollar in 4 on CEO compensaton and profit. This is at least 350 BN/year. An unlegislated tax on every businessman and worker in America.

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The KEY is "academic" .....a liberal slant of society. You may not like conservatives, but we can present an equal number of "charts" to dispute everything you said.

My point all along has been that we can and must do better with our health care finance system. We spend way too much on administraton and not nearly enough on prevention and care.

One of the reasons to use academic sources is to study a problem and develop approaches based on "what works."

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

We have MANY threads on universal healthcare.

THIS is the first post of THIS thread.

Politicians to decide what treatment doctors can provide based on $$$

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_mccaughey&sid=aLzfDxfbwhzs

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H,

Sorry if I drifted the thread. I was responding to some of the other issues raised. The rationing distortion about UHC was rased repeatedly and my wonky self responded to the allegations....

HM2...

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.

the stimulus bill will destroy american health care

ridiculous, right?. but that has not stopped the likes of rush limbaugh, senator coburn, a former lt. governor of new york and miscellaneous right wing radio talk show hosts and fox news from making some outrageous charges about two relatively benign and wonky features of the stimulus bill:

1) funding for modernization of health care information and

2) funding to do research into what medical treatments work and what do not....

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/linda-bergthold/the-stimulus-bill-will-de_b_166584.html

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
Your statement that the offices would look the same implied that medicaid/care would say 'no' just as much as a private insurer. That's a fairly bold claim. If that's not what you meant, I apologize.

I accept your apology.

My comment referred to the bureaucracy that exists in government health care plans to the same or greater extent that it exists in private insurance. If you don't believe me, just help your parents wade thru their Medicare statements and try to reach a live person by phone, mail or e-mail to assist you. I'm still handling claims for a relative who died 2 years ago. I was not discussing approvals or denials and have no idea how you came to that conclusion.

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Electronic health records save lives and dollars..

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
I accept your apology.

Sorry! I accidentally responded. This thread is NOT about healthcare plans.

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The $1.1 billion earmarked for comparative effectiveness research remained in the bill that President Obama will sign. The House conferees also insisted on keeping the phrase "comparative effectiveness" throughout the authorizing language, removing the Senate's insertion of the word "clinical." The report language did note its removal was "without prejudice."

However, the conferees do not intend for the comparative effectiveness research funding included in the conference agreement to be used to mandate coverage, reimbursement, or other policies for any public or private payer. The funding in the conference agreement shall be used to conduct or support research to evaluate and compare the clinical outcomes, effectiveness, risk, and benefits of two or more medical treatments and services that address a particular medical condition.

We saw a perfect example last week of how comparative cost-effectiveness analysis can be coupled with comparative clinical-effectiveness analysis to provide useful guidance to health practitioners, patients and payers faced with a confusing array of alternatives in one particularly crowded area of health care: colon cancer screening. CMS made a preliminary decision not to pay for virtual colonoscopy.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/13/health/policy/13colon.html?scp=1&sq=colonoscopy&st=cse

CMS concluded, based on a comparative cost- and clinical-effectiveness analysis conducted by AHRQ, that taking its costs into account, virtually colonoscopy made no sense either medically or economically. Not all comparisons merit a cost-effectiveness analysis. When one drug, device, surgery or other medical technology is clearly superior to another, then the U.S. health care system, which operates without cost controls, pays for it. This legislation reinforces that approach.

Yet as anyone with even a passing familiarity with the medical science and medical economics literature understands, comparisons are rarely black and white. Most medical technologies only help a fraction of patients. Most medical technologies have some risks associated with their use. Comparative cost-effectiveness analysis is an important tool for accurately evaluating those benefits and risks.

Source: GoozNews

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Specializes in NICU Transport/NICU.
"You Liberals" LOL I love it ;-):yeah:

Would you prefer Socialists? How about whining little babies? How about Drain On Society? Better yet, why don't you take your mind off of your Wealth Envy and listen to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJdu-HCyGZE&feature=related That basically sums up the reason why our president is who he is and where this country is heading.

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I work in dialysis which is extremely costly. Some of my own comments:

1. Is it cost effective to start dialysis on a 97 y/o?

2. Should a pt who has had one renal transplant which failed due to his cocaine abuse, be allowed to receive another transplant?

3. Should a pt who refuses to stop smoking and take their HTN meds, be allowed to have a transplant?

I see such an abuse of our system it is staggering.

All you say is worth examining.

However, how dishonest and NOT TRANSPARENT is it of OUR lawmakers to pass a HIDDEN healthcare bill without reading it, allowing the public to know about it, and allowing NO discussion of it? How dishonest is it to proclaim a crisis that must be acted upon without ANY scrutiny of what is in this bill and claim it to be "stimulus". Is that the way to reform healthcare? It is hypocritical and goes against the very fiber of our republic. CHANGE? This is just more corruption.

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