By John Ballard
Even before Congress comes up with something carelessly called a reform bill a lot is already known. Brian Klepper has put up what he's calling the Health Wonk Review at The Health Care Blog. The content is good and the comments thread even better. Readers who have been skimming the issue are to be congratulated. In the end anything you may have learned is basically worthless because so little meaningful legislation will appear in the final product. The best that can be said of what is coming is that like many factory-made foods it will be non-poisonous and biodegradable. But damn little in the way of nutrition or flavor.
Paduda sums it up with...
�after all this, we�re going to end up with a bill that won�t work � it will not appreciably reduce health care costs today, tomorrow, ever.
And another writer says...
...has been so stripped of government management options and control that it is best characterized as the exact opposite of a government takeover. Rather, the bill now on trajectory to become The Plan is � paradoxically � a privatization of the public health problem of the uninsured, a corporatization rather than nationalization of health care�s rotting safety net.[...]�people�have been using the health care reform stage to act out their bigger grievances, philosophical angst, and political frustrations�Something as literally critical to all of our lives as our health care system - regardless of which way an eventual bill goes (including the remote but real possibility of it just going away) - deserves better than a face full of all that other mud.
Yep.
Corporatocracy anyone? "The U.S. health insurance industry employs 30 times as many administrative staff as it did in 1970. American firms spend $290 billion per year on advertising, almost $1,000 for every person in the country."
A sad epitaph to a hard-fought effort that ended poorly. I don't expect to see legislative improvements to return in my lifetime. Our next best hope lies with the medical community itself. Parallel with the political struggle I know that a shadow match is still being fought among professionals. As the impact of meaningful use, comparative effectiveness research and multi-disciplinary best practices continue to be felt, progress is still under way.
And who knows? The profit-driven sector may one day see that unchecked medical inflation is killing the goose laying the eggs. But I'm not optimistic.
Check the Newshoggers logo. That development is in the flying pigs category.
I recognize nearly a third of the names in the comments thread to Klepper's post. As usual, it is generally intelligent and free of spite.
The post, links and comments are recommended reading.
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