"let's take a look at the health care news that's transpired" in the past four weeks, atul gawande, a general surgeon at [color=#394b6b]brigham and women's hospital and a staff writer at the new yorker, writes in a new york times opinion piece. he cites the recent news that [color=#394b6b]daimlerchrysler[color=#394b6b]sold off its chrysler division to [color=#394b6b]cerberus capital management in order to escape the company's health and pension liability costs. "the deal meant that the costs of our job-based health insurance system ... have so broken the automaker's ability to compete that giving it away became the smartest thing daimler could do," gawande says.
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meanwhile, a 2006 survey by the [color=#394b6b]american college of emergency physicians highlighted the fact that "emergency rooms everywhere are drowning in patients," according to gawande. he also notes a recent [color=#394b6b]commonwealth fund[color=#394b6b]study comparing health care in the u.s., australia, canada, germany, new zealand and britain showing, among other things, that half of u.s. residents said they chose to forgo medical care in the past two years because of cost, twice the proportion in the other countries.
gawande writes, "none of this news, however, did more than lift a few eyebrows. so this is the picture of american health care you get after watching for a few weeks: it's full of holes, it's slowly bankrupting us and we're kind of used to it." he concludes, "that leaves two possibilities: (1) we've given up on the country; or (2) we're just waiting for someone else to be in charge. i'm pulling for no. 2 (gawande, new york times, 5/26).
I truly was not aware that big cities are able to train and schedule sufficient firefighters to do the job. Where I live we have amazingly heroic firefighters and paramedics working together to save lives and property.
I applaud the volunteer firefighters!
I know many allnurses.com members volunteer nursing skills through religious or charity based organizations in many countries including mine. Free clinics and such. MANY volunteered after Katrina and Rita.
Is anyone working with an organization to expand this for people who fall through the cracks?
I know it is very difficult for our Free Clinic to arrange for hospitalization and specialists when needed until it becomes an emergency.
Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.
My paternal grandfather was one of the founding firefighters of a volunteer fire company: started with storing buckets in friend Gus old chicken coop in 1920's................confirmed his story with Gran. His name is on plaque outside fire company today.
My brother and his oldest son have continued the tradition.
Our health system had grant monies and set up program to link those without insurance to Philadelphia area providers with reduced discount; closed when unable to secure second grant. In it's place, a free Medical Office set-up. It's run by hospitalist director and staffed by interns and residents ---wildly successful in past 4 months. ER has 4 spots daily to send patient for next day follow-up visit. Financial aid staffer meets with everyone to see if qualify for Medical Assistance or other health program and get all children signed up for PA's Cover All kids program. She's been praised for typing letters for those with low literacy and language barriers.
We've found quite an immigrant population moved into the West Philly area from Africa and SE Asia, so program boon to provide healthcare and keep pts out of ER. My homecare agency provides free follow-up care for those discharged without insurance from our health systems 5 hospitals ---wrote off $1.5 million last year.
Will be lobbying in Harrisburg Tuesday re Medicaid cuts.....2nd visit in a month to support changes in healthcare legislation Governor behind.....and tell legislators what happens to patients when Medicaid is cut.
Unfunded gov't liabilities that sap from economic growth is bankrupting America. It is the GOV'T with a 8.8 Trillion dollar debt.
So, lets' just throw some more in. Lots more. In fact, lets triple that debt. A trillion here and there isn't real money. Right? Fine. Just don't claim that would do anything but further exacerbate the bankrupting of America.
The penchant to let Uncle Daddy care for us all suffers from the tragedy of the commons. If you remove the limits on demand, you must either create unlimited supply or find other ways to curb demand. Those other ways include rationing and outright restricting care.
There is no free lunch. And, there is no such thing as free, gov't healthcare. Universal healthcare will be nothing more than gov't restricted healthcare. You will pay. Only, under Uncle Daddy, you don't just pay with dollars (taxes); you also pay with limited access.
No thanks. I have premier healthcare now. I'll keep what I got. And THAT is why gov't restricted healthcare will never pass. You can convince Americans to help out those less fortunate. Sure you can.
What you cannot convince the 85% of the public that has insurance to do is to screw it up in order to help that 15%. If you doubt that, at all, ask Hillary what happened with HER healthcare reforms in '93.
The public didn't buy that bill of goods then, and they won't buy it in 2008. Don't expect gov't restricted healthcare anytime soon. If you are serious about wanting reform, you need to look at reforming the system we have.
This is the CEO of the company that caused me pain, disability, and deprived patients of my nursing care with their authorization waits and intimidation of my doctors:
What does he do that is worth millions of dollars a year?
They were our carrier and then became Oxford. They have an awful reputation for just lowering reimbursement rates to docs.
We were out of pocket thousands last year because my husband has several problems that require a lot of follow-up and monitoring. Every time he went to a doctor, who we GOT OUT OF THEIR DIRECTORY, the claim was denied because the practitioner had been dropped.
I'm now working solely for health care and gas. There's no f/t spot available - I can thank the union to which I must belong for locking the facility into being unable to create new jobs outside of the contract - and last week, after bennies and union dues, I took home $149.
Gee. Wonder why there's a nursing shortage. And that the US ranks way low in terms of first world nations' health.
Maybe we should also look at what we spend on people in their last year of life. I love my folks, but my God, we're allowing fear of litigation from peoples' denying children to force us to keep chronically ill demented vegetables alive. It's really sad, for the patients and our society. Death happens.
This research was conducted by the California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee’s research arm, the Institute for Health and Socio-Economic Policy, based on a comprehensive analysis of publicly available and custom data sets from the Center for Responsive Politics.
"These staggering sums have a crushing impact on policy and are drowning out the voices of patients and other ordinary Americans who can’t begin to match the financial clout of the big drug companies, insurers, and other healthcare industry giants," said CNA/NNOC President Deborah Burger, RN.
The avalanche of cash has a direct impact on healthcare policy in Washington and influences positions on healthcare reform taken by candidates for public office, asserts CNA/NNOC.
"That political influence produces huge financial benefits for the healthcare industry," Burger noted. They include blocking bills to protect patients from HMO, hospital, or nursing home abuses, provide greater public oversight of insurers, or permit the re-importation of cheaper prescription medications from Canada or Europe.
pickledpepperRN
4,491 Posts
Thank you NRSKarenRN and DarrenWright!
I truly was not aware that big cities are able to train and schedule sufficient firefighters to do the job. Where I live we have amazingly heroic firefighters and paramedics working together to save lives and property.
I applaud the volunteer firefighters!
I know many allnurses.com members volunteer nursing skills through religious or charity based organizations in many countries including mine. Free clinics and such. MANY volunteered after Katrina and Rita.
Is anyone working with an organization to expand this for people who fall through the cracks?
I know it is very difficult for our Free Clinic to arrange for hospitalization and specialists when needed until it becomes an emergency.