A modest proposal to save Social Security

"Being uninsured means foregoing necessary care, especially preventive care, which annually causes the premature deaths of at least 50,000 people." [Joe Conason, RealClearPolitcs]


“There are simple solutions - just not easy ones.” Ronald Reagan

I'm still puzzled

Well, by a lot of things, but especially this (at least this morning). Why is it that the Pope's ruling on condoms is being brayed about the universe and parsed within an inch of its life, while his much more significant position on healthcare is virtually ignored?

it's almost as if ... as if... the media and the bloggers were not serious or something.

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Opinions on health care

Glenn Beck's take:

"We have a right to health care, really? God doesn't give health care. Man provides health care. So how can it be a right. If you are endowed by your Creator with certain unalienable rights, how can a God-given right be health care, unless Jesus comes down and starts to open up a clinic and heal us himself? There cannot be a right to health care, because the rights come to God."

And Pope Benedict's:

Access to adequate medical attention, the pope said in a written message Nov. 18, was one of the "inalienable rights" of man. [...]

The pope lamented the great inequalities in health care around the globe.... Because an individual's health is a "precious asset" to society as well as to himself, governments and other agencies should seek to protect it by "dedicating the equipment, resources and energy so that the greatest number of people can have access."

Don't know the effects of this last opinion.

though I hear some hold his opinion about God to be more authoritative than Beck's.

Premature report of a death

I think the wish was father to the thought, as so often in politics.

Now comes the fun part.

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Tort reform and medical reform

My friend Budweiser and I get together about every three months for deep discussions of politics, wars, cars, and a few other things (never gossip or family news, to Carmen's frustration). Budweiser, who is a legal aid lawyer, has a bee in his bonnet about tort reform and medical care: he hates trial lawyers like the late John Edwards who specialize in tort cases, especially medical malpractice.

I thought he was a bit irrational about it until I read this from a reader of Andrew Sullivan's site. He says that he is a liberal, working for an insurance company researching doctors and malpractice. If you take his self description at face value he knows what he is talking about and certainly seems to have the facts and figures. It's enlightening in several aspects. Here is just one:

As much as the trial lawyer lobby tries to dispute the facts, physicians did indeed flee Illinois in 2002 and 2003 after the judicial climate turned completely poisonous. There was a period in 2004 and 2005 where there were only 4 Neurosurgeons practicing in the entire state because several fled to Indiana, where there is an elaborate system of caps and state-funded malpractice insurance. The cost of malpractice insurance in Indiana is about 75% less than Illinois, and claims frequency and severity is a tiny fraction of Illinois'.

And here is another:

my company, after we initiated an elaborate Risk Management program a few years ago through which insureds could receive discounts for attending seminars, improving office procedures, electronic medical records, etc., claims frequency dropped by 28%. The program encourages fewer unnecessary tests and instead stresses improved record keeping, patient tracking, etc. Most "failure to diagnose" claims (the most common type) are the result of poor record-keeping, not failure to run additional tests.

So now I will listen to Budweiser with new respect the next time we meet at Tank's Taproom, down in that unnamed port city to the south.

I knew it! It's a health food!

Chocolate.

It's not just for self-indulgence anymore.

Carmen will be so happy - she's already had one heart attack so should take double the dose.

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Cure for the Health Care Problem.

McCain adviser has simple, sure fire solution to health care. Next time you or your family need care, give it a try.