Whatever the VHA’s Flaws, Private Healthcare’s Worse [ez_date] This post is a follow-up to my last post on the troubled Veterans Health Administration (VHA), which is under renewed scrutiny following revelations of patient treatment delays that were concealed to make some VHA services look better and generate bonuses for select administrators. This has created sufficient […]
Obamacare’s Unspoken Risks
Obamacare’s Better Access is a Double-Edged Sword Now that the initial deadline for health insurance enrollment under Obamacare’s mandated coverage requirement has passed, maybe we can all take a breath to consider what achieving its initial 7 million enrollment figure really represents. Its opponents have a lot riding on derailing Obamcare, one way or another […]
Obamacare Critics Focus on the Lawn While House is Burning Down
Both Obamacare & Its Critics Miss the Big Healthcare Picture A recent column at CommDigiNews caught my attention as it seemed to be one of the less inflammatory broadsides against Obamacare. That this is noteworthy reflects the level of discourse on America’s most divisive political issue. Written by a college professor, it was thankfully short […]
If Only Obamacare Empowered Patients – Part 2
What Obamacare 2.0 Might Mean for REAL Health Reform [ez_date] Part 1 of this post explored three things Obamacare fails to do that would empower patients to be smarter consumers of expensive and often dangerous medical services. Part 2 explores how these and related measures would help us get a better handle on healthcare spending […]
If Only Obamacare Empowered Patients
What If Obamacare Really Did Something About Patient Education & Empowerment? The patient-oriented elements of Obamacare have largely to do with free screenings that are often double-edged swords – likely to promote as much unnecessary treatment as true life-saving interventions. What Obamacare doesn’t sufficiently address – and what true healthcare reform requires – is the […]
Obamacare’s “Bronze” Dead-End: Hidden Prices
Obamacare Bronze Plans Ask Consumers to Shop for Prices They Can’t Find One of the biggest obstacles to Obamacare’s success as healthcare reform isn’t a faulty website or the cancellation of junk health plans, but lack of consumer access to hospital prices. Without it, price competition among hospitals will remain an elusive goal. And without […]
Obamacare’s Core Failing Is Its Timidity
A Bigger, Bolder Obamacare Was Needed A recent article at MedPage Today reported on an expert discussion about Obamacare’s critical need to repair its online portal at healthcare.gov so those Americans wishing to purchase qualified health plans on the exchange can do so by December 1st. This would leave them only two weeks to secure […]
Can Low -Tech Medical Breakthroughs Save Obamacare?
What’s Peanut Butter Got to Do With Obamacare? I tweeted this morning about a report of how a young medical researcher at the University of Florida demonstrated that a peanut butter test of patients experiencing cognitive decline was able to help predict Alzheimer’s Disease. This low-tech breakthrough got more retweets than usual, which prompted me […]
Medicare-For-All: Our Sick Healthcare System Requires Radical Surgery
Medicare-For-All a Distant Hope As we near the major phase of Obamacare’s implementation in 2014, there’s no shortage of carping critics from the right hell-bent on stymieing it at every turn. This despite early signs that it’s working to lower insurance premiums in states that have embraced it. What does this political intransigence in the […]
Wishful Thinking On Healthcare Reform
Healthcare Reform Won’t Come From Within America’s doctors are being exhorted to assume healthcare reform leadership roles in expediting payment reforms and system transparency. In considering why I find this so unlikely, I remembered a tactless comment I made back in my days as a regional health planner when presenting my case to a state […]
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