What We Give Up for Health Care
By EZEKIEL J. EMANUELEzekiel J. Emanuel on health policy and other topics.Tags:
WHEN it comes to health care, most liberals are committed above all to ensuring that every American has insurance. In their view, the greatest achievement of the health care reform act passed under President Obama is to finally erase the moral stain of the United States’ being the only major developed country without universal coverage. But we also hold the questionable distinction of having the world’s most expensive health care system — what about cost control? For many liberals, that just sounds like a cover for heartless conservatives who care only about cutting benefits and not about helping people in need.But liberals are wrong to ignore costs. The more we spend on health care, the less we can spend on other things we value. If liberals care about middle-class salaries, public education and other state-funded services, then they need to care about controlling health care costs every bit as much as conservatives do.
Ezekiel J. Emanuel on health policy and other topics.
Tags:
WHEN it comes to health care, most liberals are committed above all to ensuring that every American has insurance. In their view, the greatest achievement of the health care reform act passed under President Obama is to finally erase the moral stain of the United States’ being the only major developed country without universal coverage. But we also hold the questionable distinction of having the world’s most expensive health care system — what about cost control? For many liberals, that just sounds like a cover for heartless conservatives who care only about cutting benefits and not about helping people in need.
But liberals are wrong to ignore costs. The more we spend on health care, the less we can spend on other things we value. If liberals care about middle-class salaries, public education and other state-funded services, then they need to care about controlling health care costs every bit as much as conservatives do.
Our for-profit health care system is broken
January 7Last year, people woke up to the fact that corporate greed and injustice are hurting Americans.
We have a broken for-profit health care system. More than 50 million Americans are uninsured. Medicare and hospitals, along with other public programs like Medicaid, are under constant threat of new cuts by lawmakers. Meanwhile, last year, the nation's five largest for-profit health insurers netted $11.7 billion in profits, and their CEOs took $54.4 million in pay.
Grief Could Join List of Disorders
By BENEDICT CAREY
When does a broken heart become a diagnosis?
In a bitter skirmish over the definition of depression, a new report contends that a proposed change to the diagnosis would characterize grieving as a disorder and greatly increase the number of people treated for it.
The criteria for depression are being reviewed by the American Psychiatric Association, which is finishing work on the fifth edition of its Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or D.S.M., the first since 1994. The manual is the standard reference for the field, shaping treatment and insurance decisions, and its revisions will affect the lives of millions of people for years to come.
Long-term-care insurance: Right for some, but not all
Posted Jan. 25, 2012, at 8:08 a.m.
In the last years of Martin Privot’s life, his family had to start selling his assets to pay for his nursing home costs. “He needed 24-hour care and couldn’t be left alone,” recalls his daughter Toni Footer. “My biggest fear was we would run [through his money] and wouldn’t be able to provide the care that he needed.”
Privot died in 2008, from post-surgical complications and other ailments, before all his assets were depleted. Yet Footer, 61, says her dad’s experience “reinforced my already strong feelings that long-term-care (insurance) is a necessity.” The Rockville, Md., resident says she pays about $2,500 every year for such coverage for herself. “It’s expensive — in fact, it’s gone up twice — but it’s worth every penny. It provides a peace of mind that my family won’t have to struggle to find money to pay for my care.”
Despite Generic Rivals, Branded Drugs Still Sell Well
By BRUCE JAPSENThough the loss of patent protection on a brand-name prescription drug tends to lead to a sharp drop in sales for that product in the United States, such older medicines have become a booming business for the pharmaceutical industry in emerging markets.
Take Abbott Laboratories, which on Wednesday, reported that one of its fastest growing business lines last year was that of established pharmaceuticals, or “branded generics” as they are known in the industry. Sales of such products, which include branded generics outside the United States, were up nearly 20 percent to $5.4 billion last year, the company said in a news release.
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Doctors Refer More Patients to Specialists
By REED ABELSONThe specialist will see you now — and it’s one of the reasons that medical care has become more expensive.
In a study published Monday in Archives of Internal Medicine, an academic journal, researchers from Harvard Medical School found that the likelihood that a doctor referred a patient to another doctor, often a specialist, nearly doubled from 1999 to 2009.
Patient-Centered Care: What It Means And How To Get There
At a recent symposium concerning both saving money and improving patient care, Health Affairs Editor-in Chief Susan Dentzer stated, “It is well established now that one can in fact improve the quality of health care and reduce the costs at the same time.” This is exactly the principle behind the growing movement toward patient-centered care. Physicians practicing patient-centered care improve their patients’ clinical outcomes and satisfaction rates by improving the quality of the doctor-patient relationship, while at the same time decreasing the utilization of diagnostic testing, prescriptions, hospitalizations, and referrals. Patient-centered practitioners focus on improving different aspects of the patient-physician interaction by employing measurable skills and behaviors. This type of care can be employed by physicians in any specialty, and it is effective across disease types.http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2012/01/24/patient-centered-care-what-it-means-and-how-to-get-there/
Progressive groups offer alternatives to LePage’s DHHS cuts
Posted Jan. 25, 2012, at 3:27 p.m.
AUGUSTA, Maine — Opponents of Gov. Paul LePage’s plan to close a $220 million shortfall at the Department of Health and Human Services pitched alternatives Wednesday in the wake of the governor’s State of the State address.
Engage Maine, a coalition of progressive groups, proposed reforming MaineCare without dropping any recipients from the rolls and ending tax breaks for Maine’s wealthiest residents. The coalition said it hoped to spark conversation about responsible ways to address the shortfall without sacrificing services to Maine’s elderly, disabled, children and the poor.
“What Gov. LePage has presented is dangerous and irresponsible, which is really why we presented these alternatives,” Ben Dudley, executive director of Engage Maine, said by phone after a noontime press conference.
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