-
-
Sign up for AAPS Alerts
Podcast Feeds
Categories
- AAPS v Sebelius (3)
- alternative medicine (3)
- ama (8)
- charity (2)
- consumer driven medical care (13)
- economics (12)
- February 2010 Workshop (7)
- health care reform (144)
- health savings accounts (1)
- illegal immigration (2)
- information technology (6)
- informed consent (5)
- managed care (2)
- mandatory insurance (4)
- medical boards (3)
- medical errors (2)
- medical ethics (7)
- medical freedom (4)
- medicare (11)
- mythbusters (34)
- pain management (1)
- pay for performance (1)
- peer review (4)
- pharma (1)
- politics (5)
- press release (2)
- privacy (5)
- professional liability (1)
- single payer health care (11)
- socialized medicine (16)
- Take Back Medicine Podcast (9)
- Texas Medical Board (1)
- Uncategorized (66)
- uninsured (4)
- universal care (8)
- vaccines (7)
Pages
Meta
Blogroll
Monthly Archives: July 2009
Myth 14: We must choose between the “status quo” and the Democrats’ “reform” plan
The strategy during the August recess was outlined by Paul Begala, a Democrat strategist close to the White House: “Supporters of reform have to put the status quo on trial” (Politico.com 7/26/09).
Posted in health care reform, mythbusters
8 Comments
More dangerous provisions identified in H.R. 3200, “America’s Affordable Health Choices”
The more carefully the bill is read, the more problems we find. Here is a collection from a variety of sources: Regulation of health insurance: Diagrams by Leading Edge Policy and Strategy, on behalf of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, … Continue reading
Posted in health care reform
20 Comments
Myth 13. “Health care reform” is being enacted through a democratic process.
If “democracy” means a nationally televised speech by the Leader, the expenditure of tens of millions of dollars by pressure groups, and a frenzied process of voting on a short deadline, then this is a Democratic process—with a capital “D” … Continue reading
Posted in health care reform, mythbusters
4 Comments
Myth 12. The uninsured cause overcrowding in emergency rooms, and increase costs for the “rest of us” through cost-shifting.
The uninsured are frequently vilified as “free riders” who receive care but shift the cost onto others—when they are not being portrayed as victims who don’t get as much medical care as some think they should.
Posted in health care reform, mythbusters, uninsured
4 Comments
There are “no laudable parts” in the “health care reform” bill, say AAPS members
In a letter to the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA), which like many medical organizations has expressed some reservations about reform bills “in their current form,” AAPS President Mark Kellen, M.D., of Rockford, Ill., writes: “The entire logic of H.R. … Continue reading
Posted in health care reform
13 Comments
Myth 11. There are 46 million or more Americans without “health care.”
No one, to our knowledge, has actually come up with an estimate of the number of residents in America, legal or illegal, who are denied life-saving medical care—if indeed there are any. Even accusations of violating EMTALA—the Emergency Medical Treatment … Continue reading
Posted in health care reform, mythbusters, uninsured
9 Comments
ACTION NEEDED: President Obama insults doctors
AAPS Member, Tom Price, MD, Congressman from GA, says that the President insulted doctors during his news conference last night.
Posted in health care reform
5 Comments
House bill would destroy private insurance—and private medicine
Provisions of the plan: Obama promised that you could keep your health plan—but the “tri-committee” House bill, “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” (H.R. 3200), assures that this will not be possible. Unless your plan, unlike any other business, … Continue reading
Posted in health care reform
8 Comments
Myth 10. If you like your health plan and your doctor, you can keep them.
The reason that the President needs to promise that he won’t take away your health plan or your doctor is that he believes that he could. After all, there is no right to choose a doctor or form of payment … Continue reading
Posted in health care reform, mythbusters
9 Comments
Should Doctors Dump the AMA?
Yesterday the AMA endorsed the House legislation that would in effect establish government medicine. Why did they do it? They sold out for a few percentage points in the SGR. Do you think a miniscule raise –that can be revoked … Continue reading
Posted in health care reform
120 Comments
Myth 9. A “public option” is needed to spur competition, keep private plans honest, and bring down costs.
The White House claims that the choice of a public plan operating alongside private plans would spur private plans to improve. It also promises that all plans would be playing by the same rules.
Posted in health care reform, mythbusters
5 Comments
Myth 8. Spending more on prevention and “wellness” will enable us to spend less on medical care while improving health.
The idea of having a “wellness” rather than a “disease” orientation is politically appealing, and politicians on both sides of the aisle promise painless savings of “billions” by “incenting doctors” to “keep people healthy.”
Posted in health care reform, mythbusters
5 Comments
Myth 7. Universal coverage, enforced through an individual mandate, as in Massachusetts, will achieve universal access and reduce costs.
According to the implicit hypothesis underlying the rush to “health care reform,” the main barrier to ideal care for all at an affordable cost is the absence of universal “coverage”—payment and supervision—by an appropriate (governmental or government-credentialed) third party.
Myth 6: Life expectancy is longer in other countries because they have universal tax-funded medical coverage, and the U.S. does not.
The longest-lived people are probably the Japanese. They have good genes, are seldom overweight, and eat lots of fish. They have had a government-funded medical system since 1927—and they also have a robust private medical sector. Japanese, like all people … Continue reading
Action Alert – H.R. 2629 “Coercion is Not Health Care Act”
Dear AAPS Action Team: Please contact your Representative (Find your Representative www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW_by_State.shtml) (Congressional Switchboard- 202-224-3121) and ask him to cosponsor H.R. 2629 “`Coercion is Not Health Care Act’ H.R. 2629 does not allow for any federal requirements for health insurance … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized
13 Comments
Myth 5. Cost control and quality will emerge from comparative effectiveness research.
Congress appropriated $1.1 billion—the total worth of 1,100 millionaires—to “comparative effectiveness research” (CER). It promised that CER would not turn out to be “cost-effectiveness research”—and the rationale for treatment rationing and denial—although it defeated a proposed amendment that would have … Continue reading
Myth 4: Infant mortality is lower in other countries because they have “universal” tax-funded medical care, and the U.S. does not.
A number of countries report lower infant mortality than the U.S., but it has nothing to do with the source of payment for medical care.
Deliveries available for $2,300
The typical cost for a vaginal delivery without complications is $9,000 to $17,000 in the U.S., depending on geographic location, and whether there is a discount for uninsured patients. A Caesarean section runs $14,000 to $25,000. The baby usually gets … Continue reading
Posted in Uncategorized, consumer driven medical care
7 Comments
Myth 3. Americans are going bankrupt, and American companies are noncompetitive, because we don’t have “universal health care.”
For years, advocates of “single payer health care” have been warning that middle-class Americans are only “one serious illness away from bankruptcy”—even if they have insurance. Obama has claimed that medical costs cause a bankruptcy in America every 30 seconds. … Continue reading
