http://whatifpost.com What if America had a health care system that worked? Sun, 20 Jul 2008 22:38:03 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 1555127http://www.feedburner.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with RojoSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with Pageflakes It seems that Harry Reid gambled and won. In our previous two posts we described the battle being waged in Congress over the proposed 11% paycuts to Medicare physicians. After the Independence Day recess, the Senate Majority Leader and advocacy groups working on behalf of doctors and seniors - as ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/340994244" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/340994244/medicare-maneuvers-part-3-the-insurer-showdown.htm http://whatifpost.com/medicare-maneuvers-part-3-the-insurer-showdown.htm As we wrote about yesterday, payment cuts for doctors who treat Medicare patients finally went into effect July 1. Unfortunately, the first legislative attempt to block the looming doctor payment cuts didn't come until the end of 2007, and was part of the doomed legislation to improve public funding for ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/325804723" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/325804723/medicare-maneuvers-part-2-the-solution.htm http://whatifpost.com/medicare-maneuvers-part-2-the-solution.htm Payment cuts for doctors who treat Medicare patients - which have been looming for about a year - finally went into effect yesterday. The payment cuts of 10.6% will affect the 600,000 doctors who treat Medicare patients, and thus millions of elderly and disabled Medicare enrollees who rely on ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/325423779" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/325423779/medicare-maneuvers-part-1-the-problem.htm http://whatifpost.com/medicare-maneuvers-part-1-the-problem.htm You may have heard the phrase “Web 2.0.” It refers to how we are now in the second phase of the role that the Internet plays in our lives. Originally the Web was a source of information and entertainment, written and produced by "professionals." In recent years, Internet users have themselves moved ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/249485267" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/249485267/health-care-20.htm http://whatifpost.com/health-care-20.htm Most Americans live in cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas and suburbs. Around 1 in 5 Americans live in the “country” – farms as well as small towns. When country folks get really sick or injured, they typically have to make the long trip to a city medical center to ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/311155778" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/311155778/country-living.htm http://whatifpost.com/country-living.htm Yesterday, we posted on last month's passage of the Federal Government's Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act.We hope that the law will help protect Americans' coverage and employment despite their genetic likelihood for disease. This should allow them to feel more comfortable with seeking information about their own DNA in order ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/309621429" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/309621429/the-dna-dilemma-desperate-for-a-diagnosis.htm http://whatifpost.com/the-dna-dilemma-desperate-for-a-diagnosis.htm Can you imagine being faced with the difficult decision of having your breasts removed - not because you have breast cancer, but because you’ve determined that you carry the genes for it? Women at risk for the disease can now find out whether they have the same DNA that killed ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/308833343" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/308833343/dna-disease-and-discrimination.htm http://whatifpost.com/dna-disease-and-discrimination.htm Picnic season is upon us – a time for cookouts and gatherings around the grill or at the park. This means burgers and hot dogs, potato salad and chips, ice cream and lemonade. This means we’ll be tempted to pack on pounds even as we’re trying to cram ourselves into ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/299107614" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/299107614/diabetes-drugs-diet-and-data.htm http://whatifpost.com/diabetes-drugs-diet-and-data.htm A couple weeks ago WhatIf explored whether the U.S.’ largest industry – health care – is recession-proof. It seems health insurance companies’ profits are starting to slip. Rising health care costs means that insurers must pay out more to cover health services, which means they raise the price of their ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/294989378" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/294989378/can-you-profit-from-health-care-part-2.htm http://whatifpost.com/can-you-profit-from-health-care-part-2.htm How many times in the past year have you or a loved one had a CT scan? At the time, did the doctor ordering the scan have a conversation with you about its radiation risks compared to that of a typical x-ray? What about other kinds of x-ray based scans ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/293533179" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/293533179/new-whatif-content-on-ct-scans.htm http://whatifpost.com/new-whatif-content-on-ct-scans.htm For the past few years there has been work in cities and states across the country to improve our citizens’ access to health care. From San Francisco to Vermont, 39 states and a number of cities are in the process of creating legislation that would help address their numbers of ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/287528752" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/287528752/when-insurers-take-their-toys-and-go-home.htm http://whatifpost.com/when-insurers-take-their-toys-and-go-home.htm Guy at a party upon meeting a lawyer: "See that woman across the room? She’s a doctor. At a party last week, I told her my knee had been giving me trouble and asked her opinion, and a few days later she sent me a bill for $100 ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/287543949" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/287543949/gentle-humor.htm http://whatifpost.com/gentle-humor.htm .....let's see... ...it used to be the steel industry...and for awhile it was AT&T ...then in the 90's, the place to put your money was dot.coms ...is it now health care? With all the talk lately of economic downturn and recession, in many people’s minds (at least those over 50) lurk the tales of ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/285418774" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/285418774/can-you-profit-from-health-care.htm http://whatifpost.com/can-you-profit-from-health-care.htm Today's bit of medical humor, brought to you by http://www.ahajokes.com/medical_joke_of_the_day.shtml A patient has a sore throat and goes to a doctor to get treatment for it. Doctor: Your tonsils gotta come out. Patient: I wanna second opinion. Doctor: Okay, you're ugly, too.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/285643423" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/285643423/joke-second-opinion.htm http://whatifpost.com/joke-second-opinion.htm The newest piece on our website explores the crossroads of two of the most important policy issues to Americans: Health care and the War. As of April 2008, 1.6 million U.S. troops have deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Whatever your stand on the war or on ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/277004504" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/277004504/new-whatif-content-on-veterans-care-resources.htm http://whatifpost.com/new-whatif-content-on-veterans-care-resources.htm UPDATE: On April 17, California's Department of Managed Health Care announced the state's most assertive stance yet on policy recission: that an independent arbiter will review and hold accountable the state's 5 major insurers for its past 4 years of canceled policies. Thousands of people will have a chance ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/253034553" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/253034553/insurers-dropping-patients-should-think-twice.htm http://whatifpost.com/insurers-dropping-patients-should-think-twice.htm April 23 UPDATE: Thanks to your support the bill passed! The final count was 349 in support and 62 against (20 didn't vote). See how your Representative voted. Also, read this Congressional report to see what was at stake: THE ADMINISTRATION’S MEDICAID REGULATIONS: State-By-State Impacts Today, Tuesday, the House will vote on ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/275495095" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/275495095/get-active-to-save-medicaid.htm http://whatifpost.com/get-active-to-save-medicaid.htm People have been smoking tobacco for over a thousand years. Even a generation ago smoking was considered the norm. Now we know of its link to a variety of cancers and diseases, and many laws have been introduced at all levels of government to try to protect nonsmokers and smokers ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/270902434" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/270902434/thank-you-for-smoking.htm http://whatifpost.com/thank-you-for-smoking.htm Have you heard the flak that began early this year over the now infamous ad for the cholesterol drug Lipitor? In the world of marketing nothing beats celebrity. In the view of Pfizer, apparently, nothing beats a celebrity doctor to convince folks that the science behind a medicine is sound. Thus ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/267143770" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/267143770/have-a-heart.htm http://whatifpost.com/have-a-heart.htm As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer in America, the gap between the healthy and the unwell also widens. Several weeks ago, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services released data showing that life expectancy for the most affluent group of Americans exceeds that for the ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/264187604" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/264187604/is-inequality-making-us-sick.htm http://whatifpost.com/is-inequality-making-us-sick.htm Here’s a fact that may surprise you: kidney failure is the one disease that you can get coverage for – from the Federal Government - no matter what. For this reason, after 30 months of treatment by a private insurer, dialysis facilities bill Medicare regardless of whether the patient is over ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/262859838" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/262859838/dialysis-treatment-a-punch-in-the-kidneys.htm http://whatifpost.com/dialysis-treatment-a-punch-in-the-kidneys.htm Part of the heartache of cancer is that surviving it is ultimately a game of statistics. There are no assurances - except in the worst case scenarios where they are grim. Even determining the best treatment is a matter of weighing likelihoods rather than having clear-cut solutions. On top of ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/261354538" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/261354538/costs-of-cancer-care.htm http://whatifpost.com/costs-of-cancer-care.htm The newest pieces on our website expand from the interactive quiz we put up a couple weeks ago: Do you think you know what’s behind rising health care costs? Take our quiz and find out. The Top Ten claims about what’s causing health care costs to steadily climb are exposed as true, ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/259097500" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/259097500/new-whatif-content-on-health-care-costs.htm http://whatifpost.com/new-whatif-content-on-health-care-costs.htm As of yesterday, heavy rains and melting snows brought rising floodwaters to the U.S., submerging areas stretching from the South through the Midwest towards the Northeast. Thousands of people were forced to flee 250 towns and cities. Images of people escaping their neighborhoods on rowboats and of the tornado that ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/255617437" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/255617437/hurricane-katrina-also-destroyed-health-care.htm http://whatifpost.com/hurricane-katrina-also-destroyed-health-care.htm It’s long been the assumption that what’s driving the rise in health care costs is our aging population and in particular, the baby boomers. As folks get older, they get sicker and more fragile – need more health care treatment and medicines. As the baby-boomers hit their sixties, people ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/253828336" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/253828336/blame-the-boomers.htm http://whatifpost.com/blame-the-boomers.htm If you’ve ever owned a car and never built one, you know the sense of powerless frustration when something goes wrong with it. Unless you have the good fortune of having a best friend who is a mechanic, you never know whom you can trust to fix your car. That ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/251460718" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/251460718/expert-shmexpert.htm http://whatifpost.com/expert-shmexpert.htm One of the ironies of life is that those most able to pay for something are often the ones who get it for free. Movie stars and celebrities regularly get “gifted” with designer ware and products. Manufacturers know that the rich and famous are trendsetters. How better to advertise a ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/250823821" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/250823821/dallas-does-vips-better.htm http://whatifpost.com/dallas-does-vips-better.htm With the costs of US health care rising along with growing awareness of its oftentimes comparatively poor quality, more and more Americans are going abroad for health treatment - half a million in 2005 - mostly to Mexico and other Latin American countries. The loss of American manufacturing jobs was ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/250165150" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/250165150/the-last-frontier-in-outsourcing.htm http://whatifpost.com/the-last-frontier-in-outsourcing.htm If necessity is the mother of invention, then it should be no surprise the innovative world of computer science and technology is being harnessed to help bring down health care costs. Telehealth - or remote patient monitoring - refers to when medical experts use a digital network (like the internet ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/313344164" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/313344164/the-benefits-of-telehealth.htm http://whatifpost.com/the-benefits-of-telehealth.htm The debate on health care in this country and how it needs to be reformed often centers around the issue of uninsurance. But getting insured in order to afford care is only half the battle; getting good quality care is also important. There is an effort under way right now ...<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~4/248945539" height="1" width="1"/> http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/WhatIfPost/~3/248945539/ca-hmos-not-up-to-par.htm http://whatifpost.com/ca-hmos-not-up-to-par.htm