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Medical Costs

Will We Ever Hear the Message Instead of 'Shooting the Messenger?'

Deane Waldman | Posted 10.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Healthcare, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, ARRA 2009, hr3200, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Politics News
Deane Waldman

We owe it to ourselves to consider Congressman Roe's Healthcare Reform Bill memo, as our important concern, without reference to our biases, should be the message itself, not the messenger.

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Taking Back the Microphone

Matthew Segal | Posted 09.29.2009 | Politics

Read More: Young Voters, Youth, Health Care Reform, Medical Costs, Young Americans, Young People, Health Care, Youth Unemployment, Barack Obama, Politics News
Matthew Segal

The public option matters because it will create an immediately affordable choice for the 80% of young people making less than $40,000 per year. It is young America's coverage plan.

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Personal Responsibility: In Education? Yes! In Health Care? No!

Deane Waldman | Posted 11.12.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Hr 3200, Morals, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, Ealthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Ethics, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News
Deane Waldman

When President Obama gave his speech on health care, he spoke as though the phrase personal responsibility did not exist.

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Forget a "Fat Tax." Tax the Fat.

John Ridley | Posted 11.11.2009 | Politics

Read More: Gyms, Jolt Cola, Cdc, Fat, Cola, Obesity, Fat People, Fat Tax, Macdonalds, Center for Disease Control, Medical Costs, Health Care Reform, New York Times, Doritos, Health Care, Health Statistics, Politics News
John Ridley

With all the talk -- and screaming and gun-toting -- that's going on around the health care reform debate, maybe the answer is orbiting our ever-expanding guts.

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Tort Reform is a Red Herring, Not a Silver Bullet

Matt Osborne | Posted 11.10.2009 | Politics

Read More: Malpractice, Tort Reform, Medical Malpractice, President Obama, Medical Errors, Medical Costs, Medicine, Obama Speech to Congress, Politics News
Matt Osborne

Trial lawyers are a widely-despised lobby. Yet courts remain the only way individual Americans can redress grievances against the rich and powerful; they are a great leveler, and limits have had perverse effects.

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We Who Are About to Die Will Bankrupt You!

Reese Schonfeld | Posted 11.09.2009 | Politics

Read More: Lung Cancer, Health Care Bill, Melanoma, Senior Citizens, Medical Conditions, President Obama, Medical Care, Health Insurance, Medical Costs, Medicare, Health Care, Politics News
Reese Schonfeld

The President's plan seems to be getting nowhere, and we who already have Medicare can just say "The hell with it." But I think we'd better all give it more thought, and somebody ought to think about a solution rather than shout, "No, no, no."

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It May Take A Revolt To Fix Health Care: Taibbi

Rolling Stone | Matt Taibbi | Posted 11.08.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Reform, Matt Taibbi, Medical Insurance, Medical Costs, Congressional-Health-Care-Proposals, Gop, Public Option, Taibbi, Obama, Health Care, Politics News

Let's start with the obvious: America has not only the worst but the dumbest health care system in the developed world. It's become a black leprosy ea...

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Healthcare is an Unprincipled Non-System.

Deane Waldman | Posted 10.22.2009 | Politics

Read More: Vision, Bill of Rights, Healthcare System, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Medical Negligence, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Declaration of Independence, Obama Healthcare, ARRA 2009, hr3200, Problem Solving, Principles, Single Payer, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Electronic Medical Records, Health Care Is a Right, Strategy, Mission, Medical Malpractice, Medical Errors, Evidence Based Decision Making, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Hipaa, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Systems Thinking, Medical Costs, Health Care Reform, Health Insurance, Health Information Technology, Politics News
Deane Waldman

Everyone knows that you cannot cure a sick anything -- patient or system - without a correct diagnosis. What is the diagnosis for sick, "broken" healthcare?

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Rights With No Responsibilities?

Deane Waldman | Posted 10.19.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, hr3200, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News
Deane Waldman

Do we have the right to make ourselves unhealthy? I would answer, Yes! That is part of being free.

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Disease Mongering: Good For Big Pharma, Bad For You

Dr. Andrew Weil | Posted 10.18.2009 | Living

Read More: Health Care Bill, Disease Mongering, Living News, Medicine, Health Care Debate, Health Reform, Dr. Andrew Weil, Health Care, Healthy Living, Integrative Medicine, Health, Medical Costs, Health Action, Medical Treatment, Obama Health Care, Andrew Weil, Living News
Dr. Andrew Weil

There is a growing trend to promote diseases to fit existing drugs. As a culture, we should be suspicious whenever we hear of a new "disease," and ask whether it may just be a marketing ploy.

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The Emperor Has No Clothes

Deane Waldman | Posted 10.17.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, hr3200, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News
Deane Waldman

Washington is guilty of management malpractice. Simply throwing more money into the waste of the middle will not fix health care.

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What to Ask at a Town Hall on Health Care

Deane Waldman | Posted 09.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, Town Hall, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News
Deane Waldman

What to ask our Representatives at town hall meeting, and in letters or emails.

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Fear, Greed and X-Rays

Dr. Andrew Weil | Posted 09.27.2009 | Living

Read More: Health Care Bill, Living News, Medicine, Health Care Debate, Health Reform, Dr. Andrew Weil, Health Care, Integrative Medicine, Health, Medical Costs, Health Action, Medical Treatment, Obama Health Care, Andrew Weil, Defining Health, Living News
Dr. Andrew Weil

Fear and greed are potent motivators. When both of these forces push in the same direction, virtually no human being can resist. And doctors are human beings.

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The Modesty of Hope

Hoyt Hilsman | Posted 09.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Public Health Insurance Plan, American Exceptionalism, Public Option, President Obama, Congress, Health Insurance, American Dream, Insurance Companies, Single Payer, Sarah Palin, Socialized Medicine, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, Medicare, Medical Costs, Cable News, Public Health Care Option, Town Hall Meetings, Health Care, Inequality, Politics News
Hoyt Hilsman

Since the dawn of the Industrial Age, and even before, there has been a deep strain of exceptionalism in the American character.

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They Are Still Practicing Bad Medicine -- on Medicine (and Therefore on Us).

Deane Waldman | Posted 09.24.2009 | Living

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Living News
Deane Waldman

Given a fundamentally flawed, unsupportable health care system, we need a new one rather than changing where some dollars flow and adding new dollars that we don't have in the first place.

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ObamaCare Is Not "a Good Start." They Are Blowing an Opportunity to fix Health care.

Deane Waldman | Posted 09.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News
Deane Waldman

We need an extended, all-media national dialogue, not violent, partisan town hall meetings in response to a Plan devised behind closed doors.

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My Doctor Says: Get a Boob Job

Roni Zeiger | Posted 09.18.2009 | Living

Read More: Physicians, Advertising, Women's Health, Plastic Surgery, Health Care Reform, Doctors, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Costs, Patients, Medicine, Health Care, Evidence-Based Medicine, Living News
Roni Zeiger

A pamphlet I received from our family doctor offering plastic surgery made my jaw drop. And it begs the question of whether the primary goal of our provider is my health or their profit.

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In Health Care, Complexity Costs and Kills. ObamaCare Will Increase Complexity: You Do the Math

Deane Waldman | Posted 09.13.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Single Payer, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News
Deane Waldman

Complexity is considered bad in most business activities because it reduces efficiency and therefore costs money. In health care it is worse.

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Art with a Heart

Darryle Pollack | Posted 09.12.2009 | Living

Read More: No Health Insurance, Artists, Breast Cancer, Public Health Insurance Plan, Artwork, Breast-Cancer-Chemotherapy, Health Insurance, Cancer Patients, Chemotherapy, Breast Cancer Patients, Medical Costs, Cancer, Breast Cancer Treatment, Cancer-Cure, Living News
Darryle Pollack

The Hearts for Anna online fundraiser offers a chance to help Anna beat her cancer and get a beautiful piece of art in return.

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Small Good News: Doctor, I Keep Seeing Direct-To-Consumer Spots Before My Eyes

Karen Stabiner | Posted 09.10.2009 | Living

Read More: Pharmaceutical Advertising, Prescription Drugs, Medical Costs, Health Care, Affordable Health Care, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Health, Living News
Karen Stabiner

So I was on a coast-to-coast flight {deep vein thrombosis?}, feeling a crick in my neck {fibromyalgia?} and a bit of the blues that sometimes set in a...

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An Objective, Evidence-Based Opposition to ObamaCare

Deane Waldman | Posted 09.07.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Cpsia, Umra, Politics News
Deane Waldman

TennCare was a single payer approach that was tried in Tennessee in 1994. It nearly bankrupted the state, forced the governor to raise taxes, and ultimately required rationing care.

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A 3 Question Survey About Fixing Healthcare

Deane Waldman | Posted 09.05.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Adverse Medical Outcomes, ARRA 2009, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, 2009 Recession, Aahca, Universal Health Care, Federal Deficit, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News
Deane Waldman

Do not accept the glowing rhetoric of the Bill's advocates or the equally passionate bombast of its opponents. Put aside your personal animus toward who is speaking for or against AAHCA.

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Dialogue on Healthcare: Your Comments, My Responses and Apologies

Deane Waldman | Posted 08.31.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Obamacare, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Ealthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Aahca, Politics News
Deane Waldman

Other countries are struggling with health care system problems as big as ours. I do not suggest that health care is insoluble.

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Government Cuts Expenditures -- Only We Can Cut Costs

Deane Waldman | Posted 08.28.2009 | Politics

Read More: Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Personal Responsibility, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, America’s Affordable Health Choices Act, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, Health Information Technology, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News
Deane Waldman

Without a totally new health care system, cutting health care costs means reducing usage -- rationing. You have to decide just one thing: who will be the rationer?

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I Oppose Obama's Healthcare Reform (and You Should Too) Because It Does Not Reform Healthcare

Deane Waldman | Posted 08.24.2009 | Politics

Read More: Efficiency, Health Care Is a Right, Healthcare System, Medical Malpractice, Healthcare Financing, Evidence Based Decision Making, Medical Negligence, Medical Errors, Healthcare, Root Cause Analysis, Healthcare Regulations, Obama Healthcare, Hipaa, ARRA 2009, Adverse Medical Outcomes, Medical Costs, Systems Thinking, Problem Solving, Health Insurance, Health Care Reform, Universal Health Care, Turnover, Health Information Technology, Snake Oil, Nurse Shortages, Electronic Medical Records, Politics News
Deane Waldman

ObamaCare is a boondoggle, plain and simple. It is a political approach coupled with a self-proclaimed solution for a medical problem. It is snake oil, not an evidence-based treatment.

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