Not sure if any of you are interested in health care reform issues, but this is an awesome article about some of the problems with health care delivery in the US. Kinda long, but a good read.
Not to nerd up the blog, but I normally have a hard time getting my head around what is so screwed up about our health care system. We always talk about how not enough people are covered and the fact that it's so expensive to get care -- yeah, yeah, we get it -- but this piece lays out a simple explanation as to WHY that has become the case.
(Take turns reading out loud in the car. Pause every so often to discuss, right Aldum?)
yeah. for all the talk about how systemic change is the only answer, it's a good reminder that the system is composed of individual physicians that are making all of the decisions, and that's where the actual reform will come from. A lot of doctors get huffy when you bring up practicing cost-conscious medicine, cause they say it ruins the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship (although it seems like that relationship is already in need of repair.) but maybe we don't even have to worry about rationing healthcare, so long as doctors collectively focus on delivering quality care in the absence of perverse financial incentives; the system needs to be regulated, but it'll work best if that regulation comes from within.
(so the thinking goes) patients come to their doctor trusting that they will receive the best possible care, no matter how big the cost and no matter how small the potential benefit. If doctors include money in their decision making process (ie for the good of the system - health care rationing) instead of just doing what is best for the patient, then that trust is broken. I disagree with it, but I can see how cost-conscious medicine could be a slippery slope to something bad.
But in many cases, as the article points out, too much health care is bad for the patient, and lots of health care doesn't really benefit the patient. so considering cost as ONE factor among many in making decisions might not be such a bad thing.
Or if listening is more your thing, the writer expands on his article in this interview: http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/06/costly-care-in-a-texas-town
6 comments:
Not to nerd up the blog, but I normally have a hard time getting my head around what is so screwed up about our health care system. We always talk about how not enough people are covered and the fact that it's so expensive to get care -- yeah, yeah, we get it -- but this piece lays out a simple explanation as to WHY that has become the case.
(Take turns reading out loud in the car. Pause every so often to discuss, right Aldum?)
yeah. for all the talk about how systemic change is the only answer, it's a good reminder that the system is composed of individual physicians that are making all of the decisions, and that's where the actual reform will come from. A lot of doctors get huffy when you bring up practicing cost-conscious medicine, cause they say it ruins the sanctity of the doctor-patient relationship (although it seems like that relationship is already in need of repair.) but maybe we don't even have to worry about rationing healthcare, so long as doctors collectively focus on delivering quality care in the absence of perverse financial incentives; the system needs to be regulated, but it'll work best if that regulation comes from within.
klatt will you pass the cheetos?
havent read yet, but why would practicing cost-conscious medicine ruin the sanctity of doctor-patient T-squared? what's the connection, doogie howser?
(so the thinking goes) patients come to their doctor trusting that they will receive the best possible care, no matter how big the cost and no matter how small the potential benefit. If doctors include money in their decision making process (ie for the good of the system - health care rationing) instead of just doing what is best for the patient, then that trust is broken. I disagree with it, but I can see how cost-conscious medicine could be a slippery slope to something bad.
But in many cases, as the article points out, too much health care is bad for the patient, and lots of health care doesn't really benefit the patient. so considering cost as ONE factor among many in making decisions might not be such a bad thing.
Or if listening is more your thing, the writer expands on his article in this interview: http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/06/costly-care-in-a-texas-town
are we there yet, i have to go to the bathroom!!!
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