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Showing posts with the label Broken American Healthcare

bureaucracy in healthcare | Insurance bureaucracy | Fix US Healthcare

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  There are too few therapists and no burn units; doctors can’t accept Medicaid patients and nurses are quitting, because too few “healthcare” dollars go to health...care Imagine a big truck full of bags of money. The bags start rolling down the ramp. The  federal bureaucracy  takes the lion’s share. Then, insurance companies and corporate medicine take another big piece, and only a few dollars are left for patients and their care. Do you think the millions of rules and regulations are free? Can you build Health Insurance Exchanges or expand Medicaid for no cost? Do all those healthcare consultants, accountants, actuaries, billers and coders, compliance officers, lawyers, navigators, regulators, etc. work pro bono? Visit “ Deane Waldman ” for more Information!!

Can We "Build on ACA Success"?

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Democrats plan to make healthcare a defining issue in the 2020 presidential election. Their rallying cry is, "Build on the success of the ACA!" Is the ACA, in fact, a success, based on facts and evidence, not rhetoric and spin? Did Obamacare live up to its official name? Did it make health insurance "Affordable?" Did Obamacare make medical "Care" available to all Americans? No and No. The ACA did not make health insurance affordable. The ACA did not improve access to the medical care we all need. Most Americans believe that having insurance is the key to getting care: those with insurance get the care they need and the uninsured don’t. This is false, a myth. Commonly, the opposite is true.  Read more... Visit “ Fixing US Healthcare ” for more Info!! 

Five Bogus Healthcare Narratives and One True

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There are so many compelling narratives about healthcare, people simply can't distinguish truth from falsehood. Without knowing the facts about healthcare, we cannot fix it. Following are five examples of commonly accepted wisdom that are bogus, myths, and one true narrative. When you accept that Washington is the cancer in healthcare, the cure becomes clear, obvious, and politically unacceptable (to the Beltway). To fix healthcare, We the Patients need to kick Washington out so we can decide for ourselves, in our states, what healthcare structure works best for us. Washington's one-size-fits-all ... does't. The true narrative is StatesCare, the one and only effective "fix" for healthcare: Eject Washington from healthcare. Let We the Patients decide their care and their spending. Read More:  bureaucracy in healthcare Visit “ Fixing US Healthcare ” for more Info!!

Why Did I Get the Wrong Rx?

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The reason you got a prescription for the wrong medication is simple. Your doctor did not choose it, someone who never heard your name and doesn't know your medical history, that faceless person decided what medicines you take. These faceless, unseen doctors-without-licenses are government rule writers, insurance actuaries, and bureaucrats working for pharmacy benefits management (PBM). Every day thousands of Americans get the WRONG medication for their illness. It’s time to return decision-making authority where it rightfully belongs: with you and your doctor.  Read More:   Doctor Patient Relationship Visit “ Fixing US Healthcare ” for more Info!!

Why You Got the WRONG Rx

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Every day thousands of Americans get the WRONG medication for their illness. Find out why, and why it’s not your doctor’s fault.  Sign up for news and information at  Doctor Patient Relationship

Death by Queueing

Government-run healthcare systems all fail to provide timely medical care. Patients who could be saved die while waiting in line for care.  Sign up for news and information at  Fixing US Healthcare

Entitled or FREE - Choose One!!

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Some say that health care is an entitlement in the U.S. Most Americans do not understand that when you accept entitlement, you give up FREEDOM.  Sign up for more videos and information here:  Fixing US Healthcare 

Shoot HIPAA the Hippo

If you work in healthcare, the initials HIPAA make you gag. If you are not in healthcare, you are probably unaware of this 2000-pound hippopotamus that you are supporting. HIPAA stands for  Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act  (of 1998). In the early 1990s, there was extensive corporate downsizing, reductions in force (RIF) were common events, and people lost their insurance along with their jobs. The initiating stimulus for this legislation was to make insurance portable, hence the “P” in HIPAA: you could take your insurance with you when you left your job. Gradually, the transfer of medical information became the focus. In this time of the Patriot Act, confidentiality and security were (and remain) king. Eventually, the original problem of loss of medical insurance was “lost” and forgotten. HIPAA now sets forth guidelines about protection of personal medical data. It hints at dire consequences if medical confidentiality is broached. HIPAA produces defen...

Release Free Market for Affordable, Accessible Medical Care

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There are several lessons we?have?learned from the CoViD-19 experience such as: the unreliability of predictive models; the danger of depending on foreign supply chains; over-reaction can be a deadly as under-reaction; and the need for better contingency planning. There is one lesson we have not absorbed: to get timely, affordable care, Americans need the private sector, the free market, not government-controlled healthcare. When the CoViD-19 crisis began, it was private companies not government agencies that quickly produced diagnostic tests, personal protective equipment, ventilators, and developed ideas for both curative medicines and vaccines. The hallmark of a free market is freedom of both buyer and seller, who interact directly. A consumer, the buyer, is free to buy or refuse, what to buy, from whom, and for what price. The seller is free to sell what he thinks consumers will want, and sets the price of products or services in competition with other sellers. Read...

Federal bureaucracy is hazardous to your health

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Federal healthcare regulations with their attendant bureaucracies are supposed to facilitate patients getting the medical care they need when they need it. Sadly, bureaucracy does the exact opposite: it reduces access to care and can lead to needless deaths. Creating federal rules and regulations costs lots of money. The first round of instructions for the Affordable Care Act (ACA) required more than 2000 pages in the Federal Register, with more than 10,516,000 words eight times the number of words in the Bible. To implement and oversee federal mandates requires bureaucracy and bureaucrats. This too costs money, such as $1.7 trillion for the ACA. Spending by Washington on its bureaucracy is first dollar spent. Spending on care comes a distant second. Administrative jobs in healthcare have exploded while physician numbers haven't.  Read more... Visit  " We can Fix Healthcare "  for more information and to subscribe for f...

Seesaw Proves American Healthcare 'Wisdom' Wrong

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Common wisdom teaches that those who have health insurance get the care they need when they need it, and that those who don't have coverage, don't get care. This false "wisdom" is used by progressives to push for government-controlled, single payer healthcare. Evidence proves that this wisdom is not wise. In fact, it is 180 degrees wrong. Texas has the highest uninsured rate in the U.S. at 17.1 percent and a Medicaid enrollment of 16 percent. New York state has the lowest uninsured rate, 5.4 percent, and Medicaid enrollment double of Texas, 32 percent. Thus, Texas and New York are polar opposites with regard to health insurance. One-Texas- has the most uninsured and the fewest individuals with government supplied, no-charge health insurance. New York has the fewest uninsured and the most Medicaid enrollees. How successful are New York and Texas in providing care? Read more... Visit  " We can Fix Healthcare "  for more information and to subsc...

Funding the Unfunded, and Their Mandate

The  Unfunded Mandate  is a legal contradiction and humanitarian nightmare that is also antibusiness. It needs a permanent fix, not a modification, adjustment, reconciliation, and most definitely not Washington style “reform.” What is the Unfunded Mandate? In 1986, Congress passed  EMTALA  (Emergency Medical Transport and Active Labor Act), colloquially called the anti-dumping law. Its ostensible purpose was to prevent one hospital from “dumping” (transferring without medical justification) a critically ill patient or women in labor to another hospital because the patient has no money or insurance. Dumping would allow the first hospital to avoid paying the costs of very expensive care for which it will get no payment. EMTALA created a new class of patients called the Unfunded Mandate. These patients receive very expensive care for which neither hospital nor providers will be paid. Of course they — institution and physicians — must still pay their own expenses...

“And this, too, shall pass away...” Lessons from CoViD-19

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In a Wisconsin speech before the 1860 presidential campaign, Abraham Lincoln quoted a Persian parable ending with, "And this, too, shall pass away." His words apply to the CoViD-19 (Corona Virus Disease, 2019) outbreak. At the moment, fear of contagion and death (blown out of proportion) dominate public consciousness. The news cycle is filled with constantly changing statistics, wild predictions, and the inevitable blame game. Six months from now, with CoViD-19 in the rear-view mirror and more than 99.99 percent of Americans alive and well, there are lessons we can and should learn. Various nations have addressed the CoViD-19 crisis in different ways medically, financially, even politically. There will be different outcomes from these diverse approaches. The world can learn useful lessons based on analyzed experience. For instance, South Korea implemented very early, extensive testing and contact charting. Italy chose limited, targeted testing. More than 4800...

Healthcare and the Insurance Principle

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Amidst all the talk about signing up for  mandatory insurance  (or failing to do so) through healthcare.gov, we have probably lost sight of what is really going on.  I suspect that you, like a majority of Americans, think you buy health insurance so it will pay for your health care services and products. If so, I regret to tell you that is not what insurance is for… at all. You purchase homeowner’s insurance to protect you (your investment actually) if your house burns down or is destroyed by flood. You do not expect insurance to pay for lawn maintenance or replacing old, clogged plumbing pipes. You buy auto insurance to protect you — another investment — if your vehicle is stolen, taken for a joy ride, and trashed (this happened to me). You do not expect your insurance carrier to pay for oil changes or buy new tires to replace ones you put 40,000 miles on. Medical malpractice insurance doesn’t prevent the doctor from making a mistake. Nor does it protect the ...

Healthcare CANNOT be a patient's "right"

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If health care becomes patients’ “right,” then providers lose their right to be free. The logic is inescapable.  Sign up for news and information at  Fixing US Healthcare Also,  Buy the Book “ Curing the Cancer in U.S. Healthcare "  to understand why healthcare is failing and what can you do to save yourself and your loved ones.

Restore American Health Care by Reconnecting Patient with Physician

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The U.S. healthcare system is failing both the American public as well as Americans doctors. Fundamental change is needed but Washington keeps adjusting the financing and never deals with the root cause-breakdown of the doctor-patient relationship. Failing both patients and physicians In 2018, the average American family spent $28,166 on healthcare costs. More than 80 percent went to insurance companies, not to providers. For the vast majority of Americans, who are healthy, this wasted one third of total family compensation. American patients often have great difficulty accessing timely care. Death-by-queueing-preventable demise while waiting in line for care-has been documented in both medicaid and militarypopulations. U.S. healthcare harasses physicians trying to provide care with onerous, time-consuming administrative tasks, increasing regulatory burdens, and immediate guilty verdict when there is an adverse outcome, even when the doctor has done nothing wron...