It's a pretty fair statement to say that I've had an above average familiarity with American healthcare. Worked my way through school as a pulmonary technician at a local hospital, 20+ years a dentist, abstracting hospital charts for HICFA, working for BC/BS of Maryland (CareFirst), helping to create electronic document management for another major mid-Atlantic insurer, and not least being married to Deb whose been a nurse for 20+ years. I'm no expert by any means but I certainly have some experience compared to the average person. Like just about everyone else I'm quite concerned about our American healthcare system. It is indeed suffering, but the simplistic rhetoric that I'm hearing in this election year is even more troublesome. This is a complex problem that will require reform in many arenas if there is to be any hope in not only maintaining the best health care delivery system but also improving it. Rather than creating the mother of all blog posts I'm going to try to create a series of posts, each addressing some facet of the solution or potential pitfall. My first comment is one of great caution allowing government, especially at a federal level, to assume the role of gatekeeper. History shows us that we should expect a system that is bureaucratic and authoritarian - two attributes you do not want when you're seeking medical treatment. Many folks rail that we are backwards because we do not have a system of National Healthcare such as England. Yet look at what we see being reported from across the pond - cancer patients threatened with treatment termination should they attempt to acquire an additional anti-cancer drug which they're willing to pay for on their own. It is a classic and expected outcome of a bureaucracy attempting to apply rules. We'd fare no better - and in fact, we already do similar enforcement in Medicare where a physician and patient may not engage in any private contract or else the doctor will be barred from participating in Medicare for two years as a penalty. So, tenet #1: Keep the gatekeeper keys to your medical care out of the hands of the government
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Be Careful What You Wish For
It's a pretty fair statement to say that I've had an above average familiarity with American healthcare. Worked my way through school as a pulmonary technician at a local hospital, 20+ years a dentist, abstracting hospital charts for HICFA, working for BC/BS of Maryland (CareFirst), helping to create electronic document management for another major mid-Atlantic insurer, and not least being married to Deb whose been a nurse for 20+ years. I'm no expert by any means but I certainly have some experience compared to the average person. Like just about everyone else I'm quite concerned about our American healthcare system. It is indeed suffering, but the simplistic rhetoric that I'm hearing in this election year is even more troublesome. This is a complex problem that will require reform in many arenas if there is to be any hope in not only maintaining the best health care delivery system but also improving it. Rather than creating the mother of all blog posts I'm going to try to create a series of posts, each addressing some facet of the solution or potential pitfall. My first comment is one of great caution allowing government, especially at a federal level, to assume the role of gatekeeper. History shows us that we should expect a system that is bureaucratic and authoritarian - two attributes you do not want when you're seeking medical treatment. Many folks rail that we are backwards because we do not have a system of National Healthcare such as England. Yet look at what we see being reported from across the pond - cancer patients threatened with treatment termination should they attempt to acquire an additional anti-cancer drug which they're willing to pay for on their own. It is a classic and expected outcome of a bureaucracy attempting to apply rules. We'd fare no better - and in fact, we already do similar enforcement in Medicare where a physician and patient may not engage in any private contract or else the doctor will be barred from participating in Medicare for two years as a penalty. So, tenet #1: Keep the gatekeeper keys to your medical care out of the hands of the government
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