Even George Clooney can’t save what some in the press have nicknamed “The Republican E. R. Plan.” (This post is a follow-up to one I wrote yesterday about McCain’s top health care advisor, John Goodman, who thinks that access to the ER is the same thing as having health insurance.) For someone with a PhD in economics, you would think that Goodman realizes that the emergency department is the most expensive way to access health care in this country. Moreover, treatment for a disease is almost always more expensive at later stages, and is definitely more expensive than preventing the disease in the first place. I can’t imagine telling diabetics to just sit tight and come to the ER when they have a crisis — that’s... [Read more]

For at least several decades, telling the elderly to get an annual flu shot seemed like a no brainer. After all, seniors are often in more fragile health, and a bout of influenza can be debilitating. Moreover, it can lead to pneumonia and other serious conditions. But new data suggests that the flu shot doesn’t actually reduce deaths among the elderly. This contradicts a study published in 2007 that suggested that influenza immunization can actually reduce deaths in community dwelling elders. If the flu shot doesn’t save lives, is it still “worth it” to spend on promotion and delivery of the flu vaccine to the elderly, and for Medicare to pay for that vaccine? I admit, not covering flu vaccine would be a bit radical,... [Read more]

In an interview yesterday, McCain’s top health care advisor, John Goodman (he also calls himself “The Father of Health Savings Accounts” — something I wouldn’t brag about) said that the term “uninsured” is a misnomer because Americans can access health care through the emergency room. As an expert in cancer care and how that care is delivered to patients, I can categorically say that access to an emergency room is not the same as “access to health care.” If you’re a cancer patient, what you need is access to expensive pharmaceuticals, experienced physicians, and expert oncology nurses who will actually hook up your chemotherapy IV and treat you for the disease. I’ve never seen... [Read more]

There’s buzz on the “internets” that Hillary might find a place as a health care czar in the Obama administration if Barack is successful with his quest. That position would likely not be a cabinet post, but would be similar to the role she had in her husband’s administration, when she was going to lead the charge in health care reform. However, with the enemies she made during that time, maybe she wouldn’t be the best individual to put Obama’s health care plan into action. She mentioned health care 7 times in her speech at the Democratic National Convention — the same number of times she mentioned Iraq and one of the most frequent themes running throughout her appearance. Do you think Hillary as a health... [Read more]

A new report from the Commonwealth Fund indicates that 79 million Americans are suffering under the burden of medical debt or medical bill problems, or 41% of working-age Americans. This data hardly comes as a surprise, considering that 9 million Americans have lost their health insurance coverage since 2000. But are medical costs due only to the growing number of uninsured? Are you struggling with debt or dealing with a pile up of bills because you are uninsured? Or, are you insured, but for some reason have found that your insurance doesn’t cover your medical expenses I wonder what people who are struggling with medical bill debt think about reforming the U.S. health care system.  Do they support universal health care, or are they more... [Read more]