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6042. seadate - 3/28/2004 5:20:32 AM LS, my thoughts are with you.
It just upsets me to no end that they just put you on such a laid back schedule.
NASA flew a at Mach 7 yesterday. Why, with today's technology and "efficiencies" in medical care, does it take two weeks to get a biopsy?
6043. seadate - 3/28/2004 5:21:40 AM Shit. I think I'm turning into a democrat. 6044. judithathome - 3/28/2004 5:31:24 AM Well, it's all thanks to my insurance and the doctor's spring break. He will be gone next week and for me to get another guy to do it, I'd have to go through another referral...after seeing my primary care doc..and it just seems like it's less red tape to wait. And I do like this doctor...we hit it off immdiately and that counts for a lot.
That sounds wussy, I know, but I'm not nearly as miffed about this delay as I am about still being in a leg cast! 6045. seadate - 3/28/2004 5:33:05 AM yeah, well ok then. 6046. seadate - 3/28/2004 5:34:29 AM LS, for a success story, my Mom is 15 years in remission from ovarian cancer. 6047. judithathome - 3/28/2004 5:37:48 AM That's great! And it's those sorts of things I like to hear.
I've been reading up on this some and I think I'm going to be pretty much prepared for when I see the doc again. ;-) 6048. seadate - 3/28/2004 5:40:34 AM Anyhow, hopefully it's nothing. 6049. arkymalarky - 3/28/2004 6:07:42 AM That is wonderful, Seadate.
Mom had to have a needle biopsy a few years ago and had to have a surgical biopsy after that because there was no fluid, and they went smoothly. They were both normal.
Way back before mammograms I had a friend in high school and college who got breast knots regularly (don't remember if they were cysts, but the doctor always removed them) and had to have several biopsies in the few years we worked together, before she was even out of her early 20s. It got to be routine with her. She's a registered nurse now. 6050. seadate - 3/28/2004 8:45:20 AM ouch 6051. anomie - 3/28/2004 10:00:11 AM This country does need to come to terms with health care. Politics aside, we need to make sure people get care, and we need to make sure people don't have to hock their house and life savings if they get sick.
6052. seadate - 3/28/2004 1:59:28 PM Anomie,
With the old white men running the country right now that are each worth in the tens of millions that are so out of touch, I don't see anything positive coming anytime soon.
Of course another hurdle is Rumsfeld's past as CEO of G.D. Searle. 6053. jexster - 4/1/2004 2:19:12 AM US Health Care Policy - Great Course..
1. The problems of cost, quality, and access - An Overview
1. Health Care Cost Spiral FAQ=s - How big? How much? Since When?
In 1970, politicians, policy makers, and the public began to refer to our national Acrisis@ of health care cost. At that time, total health care expenditure in the U.S. was about 7% of Gross Domestic Product, on average $348 per person. By 1998, per capita expenditure was over $4,000. In less than thirty years, total health care consumed 13.5% of the total value of goods and services produced in this country. 6054. jexster - 4/1/2004 2:19:45 AM According to recent estimates, that we will spend 16.2% of our national wealth on health care by 2008, and, twenty five years from now, if trends continue without change, we will spend nearly 25% of our national income on health care (Barr, pp.5-6).
2. Health Care Cost Spiral FAQ - Why should Americans be concerned?
Unchecked, the rising cost of health care poses a serious threat to the nation=s economy; to its global competitive position; to the fiscal health of federal state and local governments, as well as to the physical and financial well being of a large segment of its population. From a global competitive standpoint, the US spends far more of it=s income on health care than any other developed nation, thirty percent more than Germany for instance and almost twice that of Japan (Barr, p.6). 6055. jexster - 4/1/2004 2:20:05 AM U.S. employers and ultimately consumers of US produced goods and services, unlike many of their foreign competitors, bear the burden of financing employee health care. The relatively high cost of care place this country=s businesses at a distinct competitive disadvantage. In addition, the more we spend on health care, the less of our national income will be available to spend on other items such as education, defense, and infrastructure among other things. In addition, as costs continue to outpace GDP growth, state, local and federal governments, which today account for 46% of all health care expenditure will have to increase taxes and/or reduce other services just to keep pace. Finally, as costs increase, insurance coverage will be reduced for and access denied to ever larger numbers of Americansr. As a consequence, the numbers of uninsured, some 42.6 million in 2002 (Pear, 9/03) can be expected to increase unless costs are contained.
6056. jexster - 4/1/2004 2:20:28 AM 3. Health Care Cost FAQ - Sure we spend more but don=t we get what we pay for?
When it comes to health care, it does not seem to be the case that US gets a reasonable return on investment. In fact, we spend more but receive less access and experience worse health outcomes than many nations. Our infant mortality ranks 25th out of 29 countries according to a 1996 OECD study (Barr p.10). In fact the only measure of health in which US outcomes match U.S. expenditure is in the life expectancy of persons over 80 (Barr, p12.). Actually there appears to be little relation between how much a country spends on health care and the overall health of its population. 6057. jexster - 4/1/2004 2:20:56 AM Factors such as per capita income and education (Barr p.13); the amount of out-of-pocket expense a patient must bear (Barr p 207); racial bias (Barr pp. 209-210); location (p. 216) as well as the increasing organizational complexity and increasing impersonal treatment in our current managed care delivery environment (Barr, pp. 216-218), all have a more direct bearing on overall health than simply national expenditure.
6058. jexster - 4/1/2004 2:21:04 AM 2. The Dynamic of the US Health Care Cost Crisis
1. Overview
At the outset it is important to note that rising health care costs and cost containment are significant policy issues in all developed nations. Over the century, there has been a remarkable growth in medical technologies which has been accompanied by increased life expectancies in all developed nations(Barr.p14), especially since World War II (Anderson pp. 39-40), and especially in the most prominent of the developed countries, namely the US where our fascination with technological advances has been a major driving factor in health care cost (Barr pp.29-34). Nonetheless, when discussing issues of and cost containment it is important to appreciate that the US system of health care delivery is rather unique among developed countries.
2. Historical Cultural Factors
Nonetheless, the system of health care delivery and finance in the U.S. is unique among developed nations, and part of the reason for this can be attributed to historical cultural factors. The very organizing principles on which the political economy of this country rests - libertarianism, populism, distrust of the state (Barr p.17). As a consequence, four distinct principles of health care social policy can be identified: 1) Health care is a market commodity; 2) Power over the organization and delivery of care has been historically concentrated in a private largely self regulating medical profession; 3) there is no uniform standard of care in a system in quality and access depend on the ability to pay, and 4) government has historically played a quite limited role in health policy relative at least to other developed countries (Barr pp.26-28).
6059. jexster - 4/1/2004 2:21:26 AM All me BTW....no cut no paste..just me...note the typos! 6060. PelleNilsson - 4/1/2004 2:52:16 AM So why the italics? 6061. robertjayb - 4/1/2004 3:36:35 AM Frist tends family business...(John Nichols, WI CapTimes)
Last week, Senator Bill Frist took to the floor to denounce Richard Clarke. "Mr. Clarke makes the outrageous charge that the Bush administration, in its first seven months in office, failed to adequately address the threat posed by Osama bin Laden," Frist griped. "I am troubled by these charges. I am equally troubled that someone would sell a book, trading on their former service as a government insider with access to our nation's most valuable intelligence, in order to profit from the suffering that this nation endured on Sept. 11, 2001."
That was rich coming from Frist, whose Senate service has been all about profiting from the suffering of the nation. By blocking needed health care reforms, pushing tort reforms that would limit malpractice payouts and supporting moves to privatize Medicare, Frist has pumped up his family's fortunes at the expense of Americans who lack health care.
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Frist has delivered well for his family. That $800 million stake in HCA that his father and brother had when Frist was elected in 1994 shot up in value over the decade that followed. In 2003, Forbes estimated that Frist's brother, Thomas Frist Jr., was worth $1.5 billion. According to Forbes: "source: health care."
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