Primary Care Physicians: An Endangered Species

A recent Health Care Blog Post explains the looming crisis in primary care. Some background: great health care systems are anchored by primary care physicians (PCPs), the generalist doctor whom your family depends upon for standard medical care. The PCP must have a workable basic knowledge of nearly all medical specialties and be able to [...]

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You Get What You Pay For…

As predicted, the “universal” health plan introduced by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is more expensive than the politicians thought it would be.  The tab could run $619mm for the state’s fiscal year, $147mm or 20% over-budget – according to this health blog post on the Wall Street Journal’s website.
What’s the answer to this problem?  Well, [...]

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Another Shot at the Government

Two posts ago, I attacked Medicare. In my last post, I pointed out how budget cuts have all but destroyed the effectiveness of the U.S. Food & Drug Administration. In this post, I’m going to talk about the U.S. Department of Agriculture, in another chapter about what happens when citizens entrust their health [...]

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Comments on the High Cost of Health Care

An interesting New York Times editorial sums up the key issues surrounding the soaring costs of health care in America. A number of ideas about possible causes and solutions are mentioned, and their known pros and cons discussed. The notion of consumer directed health care is mentioned, among other subjects, and some possible limitations are [...]

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Quaid Twins Needed a Less Human Solution…

According to planecrashinfo.com, the largest single cause of airline fatalities is “pilot error,” at 45%.  Studies by Boeing have pegged the number as high as 70%.  All other causes make up slivers of the remaining proverbial pie chart.  The conclusion to be drawn is that the single weakest link in any complex system we rely [...]

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Wal-Mart and Health Care

There’s an interesting article in the NY Times about some of the changes Wal-Mart employees will be seeing in health benefits.  The purpose of my post isn’t to praise or trash Wal-Mart or its employment practices. The fact of the matter is, Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world, and with over 1.4mm employees, [...]

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Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) Making Progress

Two recent studies conducted by CIGNA and HealthPartners, a Minnesota-based health plan, show that people with Consumer Directed Health Plans (CDHPs) – the kind that are coupled with an HSA or HRA, paid about 4% less in medical expenses than those with traditional HMOs and PPOs.  Additionally, CIGNA showed that overall medical costs in the [...]

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Selling Your Kidney???

A Wall Street Journal article today discusses the crusade of Dr. Arthur Matas, a Canadian-born transplant surgeon who is arguing that people should be able to sell a kidney to someone who needs it, in a government-regulated market. The ethical implications of commoditising human organs are very complex, and there are arguments on both sides. [...]

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Concierge Physician for Gen-Xer’s and Gen-Yer’s

Being a simple-minded person, the best metaphor I can think of for what I’m about to describe is this: “concept car.” This is where a car manufacturer showcases radical thinking and new technology by developing a machine full of ideas, many of which will make it to market in a real car. Take for example [...]

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Steve Case endorses consumer driven health…

Steve Case, co-founder and former CEO of America Online, has exited AOL and made his new passion consumer-directed health care.  Steve started a company called Revolution Health, and blogs regularly on the company’s site.
In a recent post entitled “Sicko,” referring to the Michael Moore documentary film, Steve outlines why consumer driven health care can help [...]

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