Archive for the “Medicine” Category
No, the Obama Administration will simply enter the medical marketplace and train more doctors.
Good luck with that.
Obama administration officials, alarmed at doctor shortages, are looking for ways to increase the supply of physicians to meet the needs of an aging population and millions of uninsured people who would gain coverage under legislation championed by the president.
The officials said they were particularly concerned about shortages of primary care providers who are the main source of health care for most Americans.
One proposal — to increase Medicare payments to general practitioners, at the expense of high-paid specialists — has touched off a lobbying fight.
Family doctors and internists are pressing Congress for an increase in their Medicare payments. But medical specialists are lobbying against any change that would cut their reimbursements. Congress, the specialists say, should find additional money to pay for primary care and should not redistribute dollars among doctors — a difficult argument at a time of huge budget deficits.
Some of the proposed solutions, while advancing one of President Obama’s goals, could frustrate others. Increasing the supply of doctors, for example, would increase access to care but could make it more difficult to rein in costs.
Every socialized plan by the Obama Administration and every argument for universal care leads to the main question: Who is going to pay for this?
Unless you ration the care like the United Kingdom’s National Health Service, bureaucratize care and have government price controls, universal health care is simply too expensive for the government to provide. Even with that the NHS provides abysmal care with horror stories at least once a week in the U.K. press.
Now, the Obamacare advocates are worried about the number of primary care physicians. They might want to address the question as to how many doctors will continue to practice if they radically change the health care system in the United States?
Technorati Tags: Socialized Medicine, Obamacare
Tags: Obamacare, Socialized Medicine
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+++++Update+++++
Question & Answer Swine Flu in the United States and Mexico
Further information: CDC’s swine flu page and the initial report published earlier this week.
You know, Flap had Influenza A over Christmas and ended up in the hospital for over 4 days.
This swine flu epidemic is serious business. And, there is NO vaccine yet available.
A strain of flu never seen before has killed up to 60 people in Mexico and has also appeared in the United States, where eight people were infected but recovered, health officials said on Friday.
Mexico’s government said at least 20 people have died of the disease in central Mexico and that it may also have been responsible for 40 other deaths.
Mexico reported more than 1,000 suspected cases and four possible cases were also seen in Mexicali, right on the border with California.
The World Health Organization said tests showed the virus from 12 of the Mexican patients was the same genetically as a new strain of swine flu, designated H1N1, seen in eight people in California and Texas.
“Our concern has grown as of yesterday,” U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention acting director Dr. Richard Besser told reporters in a telephone briefing.
Global health officials were not ready to declare a pandemic — a global epidemic of a new and deadly disease such as flu. “So far there has not been any change in the pandemic threat level,” Besser said.
But the human-to-human spread of the new virus raised fears of a major outbreak and Mexico’s government canceled classes for millions of children in its sprawling capital city and surrounding areas. All large public events like concerts were suspended in Mexico City.
Close analysis showed the disease is a never-before-seen mixture of swine, human and avian viruses, according to the CDC.
Most of the Mexican dead were aged between 25 and 45, a Mexican health official said, in a worrying sign. Seasonal flu can be more deadly among the very young and the very old but a hallmark of pandemics is that they affect healthy young adults.
Mexico has enough antiviral drugs to combat the outbreak for the moment, Health Minister Jose Angel Cordova said.
The WHO said the virus appears to be susceptible to Roche AG’s flu drug Tamiflu, also known as oseltamivir, but not to older flu drugs such as amantadine.
The last “FLU” pandemic was in 1968 when the “HONG KONG FLU” killed around a million people around the world.
The “SWINE FLU” is an Influenza “A” Virus and is designated H1N1. It has DNA from birds, pigs and human viruses.
The Centers for Disease Control is working on a vaccine.
Related Links:
Stay tuned…….
Technorati Tags: Influenza A, Swine Flu, Tamiflu
Tags: Influenza A, Swine Flu, Tamiflu
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The government run National Health Service in Britain is now sending its own hospital staff for private medical care. (Via Ed Morrissey)
The money was used to bring in physiotherapists to help workers recover from muscular-skeletal injuries at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds.
Bosses said it prevented them from leapfrogging NHS patients and enabled them to return to work more quickly.
However, the private treatment, which amounted to £12,116 for 271 appointments over the past year, was described by critics as “shocking”.
Mark Wallace of the TaxPayers’ Alliance said: “Their staff should have to wait like everybody else.
Well, the hospital staff are NOT stupid. They desired timely care which with the NHS and all socialized medicine schemes does NOT happen.
Britain has been struggling with their National Health Service for years and dentistry is slowly evolving into a private system.
America’s private health care system has plenty of detractors but send Americans to Canada or Britain for a while and they will see a stark contrast between accessible care and rationed care.
Technorati Tags: NHS, Socialized Medicine
Tags: NHS
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The link to the video at the WSJ is hereAn interesting trend in medicine that Flap is also seeing in dentistry. The days of the solo family practitioner in medicine or dentistry are thankfully over.
• New Generation: Young doctors are pushing to balance work and family life.
• Changing Medicine: Practices are adapting by creating new, more flexible schedules.
• For Patients: Doctors may be less exhausted, but also less familiar.
In dentistry there are more group practices with specialists “in house.” Patients will receive more coordinated multi-discipline care. Often, the junior associate dentists relieve senior partners of “on call” duty.
But, since dentistry is NOT hospital based, a group practice model to replace baby-boomer solo general practices may be slower to evolve.
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Cox & Forkum: Checkup
FOX News: John Edwards’ Universal Health Care Plan Would Make Regular Checkups
Mandatory.
Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards said on Sunday that his universal health care proposal would require that Americans go to the doctor for preventive care.
“It requires that everybody be covered. It requires that everybody get preventive care,” he told a crowd sitting in lawn chairs in front of the Cedar County Courthouse. “If you are going to be in the system, you can’t choose not to go to the doctor for 20 years. You have to go in and be checked and make sure that you are OK.”
‘NHS should not treat those with unhealthy lifestyles’ say Tories
Failing to follow a healthy lifestyle could lead to free NHS treatment being denied under the Tory plans.
But heavy smokers, the obese and binge drinkers who were a drain on the NHS could be denied some routine treatments such as hip replacements until they cleaned up their act.
Those who abused the system – by calling an ambulance when a trip to the GP would be sufficient, or telephoning out of hours with needless queries – could also be penalised.
The report calls for a greater emphasis on the “citizen’s responsibility” to be healthy and says no one should expect taxpayers to fund their unhealthy lifestyles.But heavy smokers, the obese and binge drinkers who were a drain on the NHS could be denied some routine treatments such as hip replacements until they cleaned up their act.
Those who abused the system – by calling an ambulance when a trip to the GP would be sufficient, or telephoning out of hours with needless queries – could also be penalised.
The report calls for a greater emphasis on the “citizen’s responsibility” to be healthy and says no one should expect taxpayers to fund their unhealthy lifestyles.
Do these systems, one proposed and one in practice sound like BIG BROTHER?
Well, when the government pays, the government will mandate and regulate.
Another link from the Ayn Rand Institute: No Right to “Free” Health Care
There is NO free lunch in health care. Health is a PERSONAL responsibility NOT a government obligation.
Technorati Tags: Universal Health Care, Socialized Medicine, NHS, John Edwards
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Graphic courtesy of WSJ
Of course, the California Restaurant Association members will support either a sales or payroll tax increase to pay for health insurance for the uninsured.
Why?
So, as employers they won’t get stuck with the bill to pay for the health care of their low wage employees.
Everyone agrees that Californians should have the best health care available. The disagreement comes as to the financial responsibility for the massive costs.
Arnold’s 2007 health care plan is dead and the Governator has stated he will veto the Democrat’s plan to increase employer’s payroll taxes mandating health care insurance. And voters will never approve a sales tax increase.
The deadline for legislative action is September 15th.
Nothing will happen in the California Legislature this year – and thankfully so.
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Technorati Tags: Arnold Schwarzenegger
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