America's health care system faces many challenges as we enter into the 21st century. MedicalMatters goal is to provide a forum for health care professionals, consumers, doctors, nurses, etc. to interact with one another and discuss these challenges in a civil and thoughtful way.
August 4, 2008
Is Massachusetts Right?
Should the government require people to have health insurance? Massachusetts passed a law that will require all residents of the state to have health insurance coverage or pay penalties -- similar model to the requirements for auto insurance if we drive. Do Americans have a responsibility to carry health in...

August 11, 2008
Medicare Part D Benefit
Since it is an election year, it shouldn't surprise me that some members argue the medicare part D benefit didn't go far enough-- they have to make a political win for the GOP look like a loss. The part D benefit is a huge expansion of an entitlement program and yet folks still say it doesn't do enough for seniors. Before the law passed, some members of congress said there wouldn't be enough choice for seniors so there needed to be a government "fall back" plan. Now that there is so much competition among health plans, the criticisms are that there is "too much choice" for seniors, leading to confusion for seniors. The most amazing criticism is that there is a donut hole. It is amazing that those who argue this is a defect in part D fail to understand there used to never be any donut at all-- and they just continue to focus on the hole rather than the enormous benefit (donut) that never previously existed for seniors. Buy Soma / Carisoprodol locally and you can payupwards of $2 a tablet. At a online pharmacy ou can buy soma for as little as 50 cents a pill. This is partisan politics at its worst. All pharmacists, doctors, nurses, and elderly whom I know are unified in their opinion of Medicare Plan D, the current Rx benefit. All think it is an unmitigated Disaster. It is complex, misleading, and expensive, and it didn't need to be any of those. The plan as it exists today benefits only major pharmaceutical corporations, and those only in the short term.

Plan D as it exists today protects pharmaceutical companies from meaningful market competition while simultaneously preventing members of the public from protecting their own health in the manner in which they see fit. The shortsighted restrictions placed on price negotiations will lead to an entrenched American pharmaceutical industry grown fat behind its trade barriers, at the expense of the American public. This sort of protectionism was bad for the American steel industry and the steel-buying public, it was bad for the American auto industry and the car-buying public, and today it is bad for the American pharmaceutical industry and the pharmaceutical-buying public.

Plan D for Disaster indeed.

Safety is paramount to health. We must know prescribed drugs are safe. There are calculated risks everytime you drive down the street. But these risks are very small compared to putting the wrong medicines in our bodies. Transparency and choice will control health costs while maintaining safety.

August 28, 2008
Medical Liability Reform
Medical liability reform has been debated in Congress for more than a decade. Many states have passed laws that attempt to keep frivolous lawsuits from being filed and keep liability premiums down. Medicare and other payers are not increasing payments to doctors. Ob/gyns and neurosurgeons are leaving sta...


 
 
 
Sept 2, 2008
Medical Records Remedy

I realize I’m just perpetuating the debate on this, but I’m so tired of hearing some congressmen and senators talk about prescription drug importation.

It came up again most recently during debate on the homeland security appropriations bill. It is ironic that many of the same members who say Congress needs to give FDA more authority to ensure domestic drug safety also propose to completely open our borders to allow commercial scale (or in some amendments “only personal”) importation of prescription drugs from other countries (or “only” Canada without any guarantee such medicines are truly from Canada or have been assured to be safe by Canadian health authorities). Online Stores such as mydrugstore are US based and offer much more protection to the consumer, even though slighlty more expensive. To buy propecia a common drug used in hair loss treatments can cost as much as little as 40 cents a pill online from overseas , unregulated pharmacies.

September 11, 2008
Surveys Show Satisfaction With Medicare Drug Plan
Most senior citizens who signed up for Medicare's new prescription drug coverage say they are happy with their plans, but some report that they are not saving money and many say the overall program co...

October 15, 2008

American generosity knows no bounds when it comes to humanitarian relief. It is in our character. It is in our spirit. And just as we unleash the power of freedom in new regions of the world, so too must we begin to unleash the power of medicine and the caring, compassion and healing that comes with it.

It’s an opportunity for us to provide a broad range of health care services in some of the most desperate and impoverished regions of the world … medical, nursing and dental care … preventive care … sanitation … health care training and education.

Establishing a volunteer health corps to provide aid and create grassroots relationships will both substantially improve health care and foster good will around the world toward our nation.
MEDICINE IS A CURRENCY OF PEACE.

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BHIA