You become afflicted with some type of medical condition. You go to your family doctor. He refers you to a specialist.

Is that specialist chosen because she is the best available in her field? Or is she chosen because she is in the same physicians group that your family doctor is in?

See the complete article HERE
 

Healthier approach to state care

By David Riemer

Healthy Wisconsin, the health insurance plan recently approved by the state Senate, would give a big boost to our state's businesses and economy. In a single stroke, it would cut employers' costs, lower taxes and improve the work force.

See the complete article HERE

Health Care Solutions or Folly

By Joseph Geck

One of the most important debates occurring now is health care. Both Republicans and Democrats have fielded proposals.

There are three intertwined problems of our health care system: spiraling inflation; large numbers of uninsured, underinsured and insured whose insurance companies refuse to deliver promised benefits; and a quality problem that continues unaddressed.

We have the most expensive health care in the world with a per capita cost that is almost twice that of Canada or England, and a third higher than France, which has the best health care statistics in the world. This cost in the private sector is born largely by companies, which because of the increasing costs of health care are at a competitive disadvantage in the global economy. The cost inflation is driven by a number of factors and includes the way HMO's and insurance companies operate. Because Canada, England and France all have single payer systems, they do not suffer the overhead of insurance companies and HMO's.

See the complete article HERE

See the complete article HERE

Select Hospitals Reap a Windfall Under Child Bill

WASHINGTON, Aug. 11 — Despite promises by Congress to end the secrecy of earmarks and other pet projects, the House of Representatives has quietly funneled hundreds of millions of dollars to specific hospitals and health care providers under a bill passed this month to help low-income children.

Instead of naming the hospitals, the bill describes them in cryptic terms, so that identifying a beneficiary is like solving a riddle. Most of the provisions were added to the bill at the request of Democratic lawmakers.

One hospital, Bay Area Medical Center, sits on Green Bay, straddling the border between Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, more than 200 miles north of Chicago. The bill would increase Medicare payments to the hospital by instructing federal officials to assume that it was in Chicago, where Medicare rates are set to cover substantially higher wages for hospital workers.

See the Democrats play the same game HERE

SCHIP was indeed needed, but it's too bad it came with earmarks to the districts of Kagen and others. The Democrats are obviously no better than the Republicans.

See the complete editorial HERE

Here's another idea for health care reform by a Milwaukee cardiologist, and your thoughts and emails are welcome....

UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE
By Louis W. Sennett, M.D.

The current bill for American health care is said to be over 2 trillion dollars. It is projected to be over 4 trillion in another decade. At present, over 47,000,000 people in this country are without health insurance, primarily because of the high cost.  Our hospitals now resemble 5 star hotels.  The administrator of a Milwaukee hospital received a salary of over $4,000,000.00 in 2005.  Other administrators are also very well paid. A one night stay in a hospital for “observation” will produce a bill of over $950.00.  Physicians in the surgical, radiology, and oncology specialties become multimillionaires within a few years of entering practice.  Is it any wonder why health insurance premiums are skyrocketing annually?  Analysis of the above indicates that part of the problem is the matter of greed.  The plan being proposed considers the greed factor among others.

See the complete proposal HERE and email your thoughts to lwsennett@sbcglobal.net 

Hybrid system may be best solution
By Elizabeth Hockerman

See complete article HERE

Another excellent article from the Small Business Times on the Canadian system, though I wish when they talked about the $15 billion "new" corporate tax they also said "but that is more than offset by the elimination of $17 billion in health care premiums." Or when they talk about the WI becoming the highest taxed state they also add "but they are also the only state where corporations do not pay health insurance premiums."  But this whole idea of allowing private industry to co-exist with Canada's public Medicare makes zero sense, because it simply adds additional administrative costs to what the people are already paying. Why doesn't parliament simply fund it properly in the first place and be done with it. The additional taxes will be lower than the additional private health care costs.