LifeEthics
health care funding
Medicare fees tied to reporting
“Pay for Performance” (P4P, sometimes called “Pay for Play” by some of us who aren’t fond of the scheme) just got a huge boost from Congress. Expect to see more docs carrying computers equipped to run an “electronic medical record” (EMR) around the office. And don’t be surprised to see more solo and small group … Continue reading
Embryos, Dickeys, WARFs, and “rat poison.”
Maybe I should have called this column “I smell a rat.” All this fuss and bother that Sam Berger is making in today’s blog.bioethics.net “Guest Column” over the lack of federal funding of embryonic stem cells had me following links and searching Google half the night in an effort to decide whether or not Berger’s … Continue reading
Patient Navigator funding
The “Texas Insider” email newsletter gives us a “scoop” about funding for the Patient Navigator, Navigators are specially trained individuals who answer patients’ questions and allay their fears about diagnosis, treatment and insurance coverage. The program is modeled after successful initiatives such as the Harlem Navigator Program in New York City and the Washington Hospital … Continue reading
Creative Bookkeeping at Medicare
One more reason I do not want government-only healthcare. According to the “Medicare Learning News,” (a pdf document) no payments will be made to Medicare “providers” (doctors, hospitals, pharmacies, and the intermediate insurance companies with which the government contracts to “manage” Medicare) for the last 9 days of the fiscal year, September 22 to September … Continue reading
>Argument against government health care
>Should your access to medical care depend on your political or religious viewpoints, or even your criminal record? The UK healthcare system is used as an example by members of both sides of the government-payor medicine debate in the US. These discussions prove that – like the meaning of the universe and when life begins … Continue reading
The Joke’s On Us (healthcare finance)
From a fellow family physician, more reasons to avoid expanding centralized, government insurance: The Joke’s On Us as ALWAYS! Remember that 4.4% Fee Schedule Reduction we had to start the year from Medicare? Remember we were given that back through all the efforts of the AMA and AAFP? Forget about the fact that the fee … Continue reading
Massachusetts is about to go bankrupt
And run off all the business left in the State. More on that insurance scam plan from Massachusetts, this time from the USAToday coverage: The plan hinges in part on two key sections: the $295-per-employee business assessment and a so-called “individual mandate,” requiring every citizen who can afford it to obtain health insurance or face … Continue reading
Free equals fraud
I wish I could applaud the Massachusetts initiative to require everyone to have health insurance. I haven’t seen much to recommend the government as a responsible regulator of insurance or healthcare. Healthcare too easily becomes an entitlement that can be used in the way that circuses and bread were in old Rome: If you play … Continue reading
Why I quit being a “Primary Care Provider”
Over at FreeRepublic, they’re discussing this week’s New York Times guest editorial, “The Doctor Will See You for Seven Minutes,” by Peter Salgo, MD. I highly recommend that your read the op-ed at the NYT in full, and then the thread at FR. 3 years ago, I closed my office and went to work part … Continue reading
Humans are patented
Today’s Science Magazine reports on the implications of patent law on embryonic stem cell research. (Sorry, subscription only, excerpts below.) Somehow, there has not been much notice that the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF) was awarded the patent to human embryonic stem cells in 2001. “On 9 August 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush directed … Continue reading
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