A National Health Service (NHS) survey of 500 senior hospital doctors found that 41 percent had private insurance in 2006. The fraction rose to 55 percent in 2007 [link].
According to the British Medical Association spokesman, private medical coverage does not demonstrate a lack of commitment to the NHS. Instead, British doctors want speedy treatment so they can get back to their NHS patients as soon as possible. Continue reading Breast Cancer
John Goodman and I have decided to create a Lysenko award for the publication of health policy research findings that are the least likely to be true.
Although there were many worthy entries for our award and competition was fierce, today’s winner is a study [gated, but with abstract] in Health Services Research with this beginning:
Objective: We assessed how Medicaid enrollment and race influence cancer incidence among patients age 65 years and older.
Hey, we don’t like Medicaid either. But can it really cause cancer?
One British newspaper went so far as to rebrand the National Health Service (NHS) the “National Filth Service” [link]. Two thirds to three quarters of NHS hospitals reportedly have pest problems that include plagues of rats, maggot infestations, flies, wasp nests, flying ants, bed bugs, fleas, and cockroaches in wards, kitchens, sterile areas, and operating rooms [link]. In the past, the NHS has also “put patient lives at risk” [link] with poor clinical waste management that breaches UK health and safety regulation, fire regulations, and hazardous waste regulations [link]. Continue reading Pests, Uncleanliness and Starvation
Lewis Randall, Norman Rogers, and Brian Hall don’t want to join Medicare. It turns out they don’t have to, as long as they are so wealthy they can agree to forgo all of their Social Security benefits and return any benefits they have already received.
According to the Institute for Health Freedom, Social Security regulations state that:
Individuals entitled to monthly [Social Security] benefits which confer eligibility for HI [Hospital Insurance] may not waive HI entitlement. The only way to avoid HI entitlement is through withdrawal of the monthly benefit application. Withdrawal requires repayment of all RSDI [Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance] and HI benefit payments made. [Emphasis added]
Yet this is inconsistent with the text of Sec. 1803 of the 1965 Title XVIII amendment to the Social Security act, the amendment that created Medicare. It says:
Sec. 1803. OPTION TO INDIVIDUALS TO OBTAIN OTHER HEALTH INSURANCE PROTECTION: Nothing contained in this title shall be construed to preclude any State from providing, or any individual from purchasing or otherwise securing, protection against the cost of any health services [emphasis added].
So, what can you do? Sue, of course. With help from the Fund For Personal Liberty, the three plaintiffs plan to sue the federal government for the freedom to choose their own medical care in old age. The case is expected to be filed this month in the U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C. Continue reading Whose Life Is It Anyway?
Things have gotten so bad in the health care paradise of Canada that a Manitoba radio commentary says Canada should "Solve Canada's Doctor Shortage by Copying European Health Care."
Specifically, it says that Germany, France, and Portugal have 50 percent more doctors relative to their population than does Canada. The Canadian Medical Association estimates that between 4 and 5 million Canadians do not have a family physician. Without a family physician Canadians can access health care only through walk-in clinics or emergency rooms. Some researchers suggest that the Canadian shortages are exacerbated by government payment schemes. Because the government pays a fixed amount for each office visit, primary care physicians maximize their income by providing less comprehensive services and structuring their practices to concentrate on patients with simple problems that require shorter visits. Continue reading Doctor Shortages
If you think that the quality of your health care depends on whether your doctor keeps your medical records on an interoperable computer system or on whether the country has national health insurance – even it if it means that sick people will die while waiting for care – then Why Not the Best? Continue reading Commonwealth Ranking: Are We Really 19th Out of 19?
Medicaid is on a course to crowd out every other function of state government over the course of the next few decades. However, Families USA claims to have discovered an upside to that bleak news. Medicaid spending, the group says, creates jobs. By their reasoning, a law diverting the entire GDP of the United States to the Medicaid program would leave the U.S. awash in jobs. By contrast, the group claims the Bush administration’s efforts to rein-in Medicaid spending will leave tens of thousands of people unemployed. In an apparent nationwide media blitz, Families USA delivers the news state-by-state, even providing a clickable map linked to a Medicaid-cuts-and-job-loss calculator. Its numbers are being reported as fact in newspapers: Continue reading Is There A Silver Lining in Uncontrolled Spending?
In the series of reports, called “Dying for Coverage,” Families USA purports to show how many people are killed by a lack of health insurance in each state. For example, they claim 6 people die every day in Florida because they are uninsured. Seven die every day in Texas, 8 in California, and 25 in New York.
How is Families USA able to tally up all this carnage with such pinpoint precision? As it turns out, these claims are based on a 15-year cascade of studies – each repeating the errors and misinterpreting or mischaracterizing the findings of the previous one and ultimately relying on data that is 37 years old.
The idea that half of all bankruptcies are caused by medical debt has become part of the common folklore. But where did the idea come from? What is the evidence for it? The claim, first made in a 2005 Health Affairs article, is at variance with four decades of economic research, including a finding that even large medical bills have no impact on family living standards. Continue reading Medical Bankruptcy Myths