Headlines I Wish I Hadn’t Seen
HHS gives approval for Medicare provider to give away $20 grocery gift cards to induce seniors to get more health screenings. They needed permission? HT: Tyler
Hospitals average only 1.51% in uncompensated care — equally less than half their profit margins.
Study: 1 in 12 ICU patients die from something other than what they were being treated for.
GAO: Unfunded (75 year) liability in ObamaCare: $6.2 trilion.
The last link.. Did they really cut Medicare payments to PCP’s by 26%? Wouldn’t that leave it at like 40% of what private insurers pay?
Good ol’ GAO uncovering things that Congress will never act on since 1921.
Study: 1 in 12 ICU patients die from something other than what they were being treated for.
This si wrong in so many ways. This not only increases the cost of treating patients, because they are being treated for something that they don’t have, and thus money and resources are being wasted. But it also means that other patients (that may actually need these resources being mistakenly used on other patients that don’t need it) don’t have access to them, and thus, their probability of getting better decreases. If that makes sense…
Regarding the first link…”These take advantage of innocent seniors who believe the government is helping them… and the Inspector General has determined that it’s all perfectly legal.” How can you have the statements “take advantage pf INNOCENT seniors” and “the Inspector General has determined that it’s all perfectly legal”?? so they are basically saying that it’s perfectly legal to take advantage of seniors who actually believe this government is helping them?? Great.
GAO: Unfunded (75 year) liability in ObamaCare: $6.2 trilion.
How good can a health reform be if all it does is increase prices on everyone who tries to see a doctor, decreases access to care to those who can’t afford it, diminishes the options for some people to actually acquire health insurance, sets requirements and regulations left and right that only make it harder for people to get treated…and on top of that adds trillions of dollars to our deficit?! Am I missing something here?
“Study: 1 in 12 ICU patients die from something other than what they were being treated for.”
I am personally just so appalled by these stories.
“GAO: Unfunded (75 year) liability in ObamaCare: $6.2 trilion.”
Hmmm, not sure how this whole health care reform will work but I know that we need a different type of overhaul instead of continuing to mess with the health care market and distorting and inreasing prices as a result.
On the ICU story:
I don’t find this appalling at all. It’s the INTENSIVE CARE UNIT. These patients are at the highest level of medical acuity in the entire hospital. Hell, I’m happy it’s only 1 in 12. This means that almost 92 percent of these patients DON’T die from undiagnosed ailments. Sure, we’d all like to see this number higher, but any ICU nurse will tell you that any patient who leaves the ICU alive is a victory. These patients are so sick that ICUs commonly have 2:1 patient to nurse ratios.
“1 in 12 ICU patients die from something other than what they were being treated for.”
– I guess this makes sense. The fact that they are in the ICU should indicate that there are multiple problems.