Electronic Medical Records, Loss of Privacy and Cost Savings

By: halsted (Diary)  |  July 2nd at 08:47 PM  | 

The infamous “stimulus” bill has about $19 billion in it for implementation of technology to improve safety and connectivity. A substantial portion of that funding is for electronic medical records. Per CNS news, about $5.7 billion in incentive payments has been spent so far. In order to provide the desired connectivity, either a physical or virtual central repository of healthcare patient information must be established. | Read More »

The One Page Health Care Bill

By: halsted (Diary)  |  February 26th at 04:57 PM  | 

The problems are: 1) We have people without health insurance who are afraid they cannot get care. 2) Doctors get less and less reimbursement from Medicare/Medicaid every year and shouldn’t have to lose money taking care of patients. 3) Medicare/Medicaid run out of money 4) The current proposed bill sucks. Here is a start (it fits on one page): Anyone eligible for Medicare/Medicaid or uninsured | Read More »

2010 Campaign Ad #2

By: halsted (Diary)  |  February 4th at 06:06 PM  | 

Fred and Diane are sitting at a car dealership. Fred: “I sure hope we can get a good deal on this car.” The salesman walks in with a huge stack of paper. Salesman: “Just sign this contract and you are on the road. woo hoo” Diane: “How long is that contract?” Salesman: “It is 2074 pages” Diane: “That seems awfully long. Can we look at | Read More »

Using Health Care to Control Everything

By: halsted (Diary)  |  October 23rd at 06:18 PM  | 

The administration continues to talk about the health care “crisis” and is prepared to spend over one trillion dollars to insure about 16 million people (of their estimated 40 million without insurance). That works out to about $62,500 per person. Why not just buy them a policy at a few thousand a year and save a bunch of money? Because that is not what this | Read More »

Can the government force you to buy insurance?

By: halsted (Diary)  |  October 23rd at 12:51 AM  | 

I was commenting on the health care issue in a discussion about the “right” to health care. A rhetorical question I ask is whether the government is allowed by the Constitution to force individuals to purchase health insurance? Liberals almost always knee-jerk and state that the government requires auto insurance for all drivers. It is an apples/oranges comparison. You have no right to drive. You | Read More »

What Is A Right and Does Health Care Belong in That Discussion?

By: halsted (Diary)  |  October 22nd at 05:40 PM  | 

Recent political discussion has brought up the concept of the “right to health care”. It is the view of some folks that If there is something you need, you have a right to it. In order to have a “right”, first you need to understand what is meant by a right. Let’s start with this example: if you are hungry, do you have a right | Read More »

Exposing Health Care Reform Fallacies

By: halsted (Diary)  |  October 20th at 06:15 PM  | 

Most of the political posturing about health insurance reform has now gone back to the old political methods of presenting heart-wrenching cases as justification for sweeping reform. It is much akin to how the media produces a sad case to promote their agenda. During the middle of the Bush administration, when the financial outlook was really good, liberal news outlets would find some obscure person | Read More »