Interesting medical bit, a novel idea from the past November 1, 2009
Posted by truthspew in medicine, Policy, politics, Reform.Tags: health care, insurance, medical outcomes, medicine
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I remember house calls going out of vogue about the time I was 4 or 5 years old. Yes yes, I’m THAT old.
But now an old idea is new again.
A couple things jump out from the linked article. One is that the Missouri VA program for veteran care saw a drop in cost per patient of 62%! It went from $45,000 per year per patient down to $17,000. That’s no small feat.
The other little fact that really jumps out is that patients with multiple chronic conditions use up two thirds of Medicare money which approaches $500 Billion this year. If say we could realize the savings that the VA saw, we could chop that $500 Billion down to about $190 Billion. That’ where the savings multiply.
Another fact that jumps out about this new move, which by the way is included in the health care bills floating through congress. That is, patient outcomes IMPROVE when doctors make house calls.
The other little fact that really jumps out is that patients with multiple chronic conditions use up two thirds of Medicare money which approaches $500 Billion this year. If say we could realize the savings that the VA saw, we could chop that $500 Billion down to about $190 Billion. That’ where the savings multiply.
I’ve written about this before. If there’s one thing the U.S. is absolutely on top of it is emergency medicine. Education and technologies have evolved to the point that most every state has one or more Level 1 Trauma centers. The one near me is about 1.5 miles away. You can be shot, have a heart attack, stroke, etc. but the emergency folks can patch you up and keep you alive in most cases.
Where we absolutely fall down is on preventative medicine. And that is what doctors doing house calls would return to the equation.
But I think the reason we’re seeing such a fight over health care reform is because there are businesses out there that stand to loose a lot of money if we implement common sense ideas about medical care. Think about it, Medicare would save $310 Billion in costs. What could we do with an extra $310 Billion? Fix deteriorating infrastructure like roadways and schools? That’s just a start.
You have to look at who stands to lose when disruptive change like this occurs. The quick list I can think of is the hospitals, the insurance companies, the billing companies, the ambulance companies, cities (You think rescue runs are free?), and even states at some level.
The above is what I see as the prime opposition to true reform in health care. But we the people must let our legislators know that we know how disruptive this change will be, but we’re willing to work with them to see it passed.
Health Care Stories April 14, 2009
Posted by truthspew in government, health, health care, medicine, politics, Uncategorized.Tags: health, Providence, public health, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse
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This evening I attended a Spaghetti Dinner sponsored by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI).
Met up with a couple of people on Sheldon’s staff that I had worked with when we were all at the RI Secretary of State’s office. Overall all about 130 people showed up for the event.
The event was MC’d by Providence Mayor David Ciciline:
Mayor Ciciline MC's Health Care Dinner
And then Sheldon got up to say a few words before handing microphones out to the crowd:
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse
It was a bit of a political who’s who, what with city councilmen John Lombardi (Ward, 13) , Nick Narducci (Ward 4), Peter Mancini (Ward 14), Terry Hasset (Ward 12), and Michael Solomon (Ward 5) and Rep. Grace Diaz. Also in attendance was Providence Police Chief Dean Esserman. One commonality among the politicians that attended, they all represent areas with a large number of elderly and economically disadvantaged.
There were some compelling stories. I didn’t tell mine but I’ve gone without treatment for this inner ear condition because I don’t even have coverage at this point. And the nerve sectioning in the inner ear won’t be cheap I’m sure. Other people were talking about the $15,000 for this, $7,000 for that, etc. The time and money wasted because we don’t have a viable public health care solution yet.
Sheldon did talk about a public insurance program. And he alluded to something that I should have asked but didn’t. He says that the public system will cause the private system to shape up. I suspect the public system would drain off the more expensive cases from the private insurers. In order to balance the system strong regulation would need to be put in place. Perhaps a fair system for those with expensive chronic conditions would be to create a pool of insurers including the public and assign people to those insurers by random lottery. This way all plans would share in the care for chronic conditions.
Sheldon did touch on efficiencies in health care delivery which is encouraging. But the idea of a for-profit insurer or a for-profit health provider runs counter to my beliefs. I don’t mean doctors and nurses should be taking a lower rate of pay, but that hospitals and insurers need to change the focus form providing for the shareholders to providing for the insured.
Interesting story on U.S. Healthcare January 27, 2009
Posted by truthspew in greed, medicine.Tags: medicine, single-payer
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As one of those un-insured this makes my blood boil, especially when that Hunter bitch tries to sugar coat the industry position.
Part II
Part III
All this comes from a discussion thread about the California Nurses Association publishing a study that indicated expanding medicare could cover every single person in the U.S. and cost comparatively little.
You’ve heard me say this before, we need to knock down the insurance and billing companies first. They are the prime obstacle to having single payer, or universal, or what have you.
Profit and greed should NEVER, EVER override health.
Low birth weight and infant mortality in the U.S. June 12, 2008
Posted by truthspew in medicine, public health, public policy.Tags: medicine, Pollution, public health
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Found this interesting ranking of states for child birth weight and mortality statistics.
If you look at the map a couple of interesting bits of data become apparent:
One of the scarier things that pop immediately into view is the fact that south and a column going up the midwest have the worst issues with child well being. In the case of the south, that’s the Bible belt, in the case of the midwest states, too much distance between advanced medical care and people.
Then look at the light pink areas. One of the things about those light pink areas is that there are many colleges and universities located within them, including many medical schools. In areas like that the quality and quantity of care tend to be greater and more accessible.
But what is the root cause of low birth weight babies? Is it the modern lifestyle? Or maybe all the chemical contamination in our environment. For example we now know that bisphenol-A is an endocrine disrupter. One of it’s effects on developing male babies is decrease in the anogenital distance and smaller penises In essence it mimics a feminizing hormone.
Other contaminants include heavy metals, radioactive isotopes, etc. We live in a very toxic environment and the effects aren’t just present in developing fetuses, but they affect children and adults too.
It’s really a shame that the Clean Air and Water act has been repeatedly attacked because we’re going to pay the price over and over again due to our lack of diligence.
More advances in treating brain cancer June 10, 2008
Posted by truthspew in cancer research, medicine.Tags: brain cancer, cancer, treatment
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Brain cancer, particularly glioblastoma multiforme (GM) is in the news again, this time Senator Kennedy is its latest victim. You may recall before that I found out about a vaccine that helped to prevent GM.
And now there’s more news. It appears that cancers have stem cells that live near blood vessels in order to gather an energy supply. They’ve now found that preventing the formation of new blood vessels may in fact starve many cancers, including brain cancers. Anti-angiogenesis drugs have been around for a while, but this is the first time they’ve been used in the treatment of brain cancers.
Brain Cancer Vaccine July 9, 2007
Posted by truthspew in cancer, Dick Cheney, glioblastoma multiforme, medicine, peak oil.1 comment so far
I wouldn’t call this a vaccine per se, but it’s definitely very good news. From what I recall this is especially effective against glioblastoma’s which seem to be the majority of brain cancers. They’re also one of the nastier forms of cancer of the brain because there’s no known cure, only palliative measures.
I lost a good friend to that disease. I wish he was still alive to benefit from this.
Little by little we’re beginning to conquer diseases which for years eluded any curative measures. This is good news. It means human lifespans will now extend a bit more.
Why I prefer an old doctor March 8, 2007
Posted by truthspew in doctors, medicine, National University of Cordoba, TMI Tuesday.add a comment
Over the past ten months we’ve been trying to figure out why the hearing in my left ear is about 60dB below normal, along with attendant ringing and at one point serious vertigo. The vertigo is gone now, my old noggin finally figured out that it was getting bunk information from the left side and so now I can ignore it. The human brain is a very cool system.
Anyhow during those ten months we’ve tried all sorts of things, antibiotics, diuretics, CNS depresants (for the veritgo), and high dosages of prednisone, we’re talking 60mg of the stuff. That seems to help me so now they think it might be auto-immune. I’ll know my next visit
So today I made my annual visit to my allergist. I’ve been seeing the same allergist since I was ten years old, so that would mean I’ve seen this guy every year for thirty-two years. In short, he’s a fossil but one I can comfortably talk with. His name is Dr. Jorge Sturam and he got his training at the National University of Cordoba in Argentina finishing in 1961. That would probably make him, oh, close to 75 years old.
So I mentioned the left ear problem to him and he responded that he remembered I had serious ear infections and strep infections as a kid. He then told me that you don’t recover without some effects from the infections, and that later in life they manifest themselves in hard to explain problems. Surprised the hell out of me that he’d remember all that, after all those years. And he actually gave his blessing to my killing my ENT. 🙂
So he looks in my left ear and tells me that the left eardrum is retracting. This would explain that the losses in the 60dB range are high frequency losses.
The guy is definitely a good doctor. I just hope he lives for at least another thirty or so years but I know that’s unrealistic. I estimate that by the time I’m fifty, I’ll have to find a new allergist. Oh well.
Serendipitous Inventions February 15, 2007
Posted by truthspew in drugs, medicine.add a comment
The latest is something the pretty much kills all epithelial cancers (skin, digestive, etc.)
And to think, the researcher was annoyed that it was killing her test cancer cells.
Many things happen by accident. Nylon for example, or even the adhesive on a post-it. This is serendipity at its best.
I really think we’re on to a cure for cancer. And I really think we’re so close to eliminating HIV. We really might live into our hundreds and this is with common medical procedure, nothing so drastic as an overhaul of the human body though I don’t think that is all that far off either.
It is going to be an interesting future.
Cool Science Facts Daily – Homeobox Genes February 14, 2007
Posted by truthspew in blogging, corporations, drugs, government, medicine, science, Squirrel Nut Zippers.1 comment so far
Every now and then I see something I want to expand upon on CSFD. Today’s is about homeobox functions in living beings.
In essence the homeobox genes are templates. We all use templates on a regular basis. A form is a type of template, as is the XML used to generate most Web 2.0 content.
Homeobox genes are structural in the sense that they don’t tell you how to build an eye for example, but where to put the eye. So it explains why our eyes aren’t on the ends of our fingers. Some flies might protest that fact since experiments have made perfectly functional fly eyes grow on said flies legs.
We’re gradually unlocking the functions of all our genes and in the process finding that we’re related to pretty much all multi-cellular life with the exception of trees and grasses. The only issue I have with all this discovery is the ridiculous notion of patenting a gene.
Patents are completely out of whack these days and we need to reform that system without delay. Otherwise the very processes that keep us alive might be patented, requiring us to pay royalties to the patent holder. Imagine patenting the process that keeps us breathing, or our heart beating. That’s essentially what is happening with the genes that underlie those processes.
Tucker Carlson smacks down Congressman Mark Souder February 13, 2007
Posted by truthspew in America, Cartoon Network, drugs, enforcement, Error 10048, Fox News, government, health, intelligence, legislation, Mars, medicine, politics, Progressive Politics, republican, Skype.add a comment
This is fantastic. The congressman is obvisously pulling facts out of his ass.
Like marijuana users are also multiple drug users. Well, I suppose if you include caffeine, nicotine, and alcohol they are.
Weapons of Mass Distraction 