Catastrophic coverage not the answer
Ross Douthat’s earnest but flawed portrayal of catastrophic health coverage as a superior alternative to ObamaCare inspired me to write a counter argument.
Conservatives have long pushed for catastrophic coverage — whereby folks pay out-of-pocket for ordinary care and insurance kicks in only for the major expenses. Examples would be kidney transplants, intensive care for newborns and advanced cancer treatments. It is an example of conservatives they approvingly call “consumer-driver health care.”
ObamaCare seeks to curb wasteful health-care spending in other ways. Meanwhile, it expands Medicaid, a program that picks up medical bills large and small.
While the catastrophic coverage approach has its merits, it unfortunately assumes that patients can judge when their doctors are prescribing too much medicine and stop them from doing so.
But do we want to second-guess our doctors? If we feel a doctor is ordering too many tests and office visits, isn’t the logical response to find another doctor?
CONSUMERS NOT THE BEST DRIVERS OF HEALTH CARE
Tags: conservatives, economy, health care, ObamaCare
The trumped up war between the generations
Are the old taking from the young – or the young taking from the old? Both, according to the right.
The motive is to undermine public support for entitlements. Who’s winning or who’s losing, in their view, depends on the opportunity.
TRUMPED UP WAR BETWEEN THE GENERATIONS
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Tags: culture, generations, health care, liberals, Obama, politics, right wing, Social Security, Washington
Margaret Thatcher’s moderation
Thatcher is being eulogized as the sort of conservative they don’t make anymore.
Sadly, today’s right wing would chew up her brand of pragmatic conservatism. A Thatcher-type candidate could not survive a Republican primary.
The Iron Lady’s tough talk against hyperactive government makes us forget that she also boldly defended Britain’s National Health Service — to the American right, a socialist travesty — and raised value-added taxes.
Thatcher’s conservative heroes Friedman and Hayek were likewise far less doctrinaire than their fans in today’s rightward fringes.
MARGARET THATCHER’S MODERATION
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Tags: conservatives, health care, ObamaCare, right wing, taxes, Thatcher
Thatcher would have liked Obamacare
Wonder how my conservative friends will interpret Margaret Thatcher’s record on certain social issues.
We should not forget that, while wanting to add a few market disciplines to the National Health Service, the conservative icon never questioned the principle of guaranteed coverage for all Britons.
As she wrote in her biography, The Downing Street Years:
I believed that the NHS was a service of which we could genuinely be proud. Any reforms must not undermine public confidence.
BTW, the National Health Service — where doctors work for the government — is true socialized medicine. Obamacare doesn’t come close.
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Tags: conservatives, health care, ObamaCare, Thatcher
You don’t always need a doctor
With 30 million more Americans obtaining health coverage under Obamacare, the family doctor shortage will only get worse.
As one who happily used a nurse practitioner for primary care, I can assure you: There is a solution.
YOU DON’T ALWAYS NEED A DOCTOR
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Tags: doctors, health care, nurses, ObamaCare
Food fight over the Mediterranean diet
Portofino, Italy
A new study says that the Mediterranean diet –featuring olive oil, nuts, fruits, vegetables, wine — prevents more heart attacks and strokes among high-risk cardiac patients than do the low-fat diets now in vogue.
Unsurprisingly, the celebrated Dr. Dean Ornish, promoter of a very low-fat diet, disagrees.
I offer a third opinion: The Mediterranean diet works because Mediterraneans eat it. A low-stress life is key, IMHO.
HOW TO LIVE LONG IS EVERYBODY’S GUESS
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Tags: food, Greece, health care, Italy, Spain
Medical price-gouging
The medical racket at work: How hospitals enrich themselves off their most financially insecure patients.
PRICE-GOUGING IN ‘FREE MARKET’ MEDICINE
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Looking for the underinsured
Tags: Connecticut, health care, ObamaCare, Texas
Birth control and ObamaCare, still arguing
Contraceptive coverage so obviously belongs in any basic health-care plan. Is the ongoing controversy about religious objections or just a means to harass the health-care reforms?
LET’S STOP ARGUING OVER BIRTH CONTROL
Tags: conservatives, health care, religion
AARP sets wrong tone in Medicare talks
Medicare savings should be easy to find. We could learn something from Canada.
ELDER LOBBY SHOULD BACK OFF ON MEDICARE
Tags: health care, Medicare, Obama, Washington
The curious item on Mitt’s ‘gift’ list
Guaranteed health coverage lets would-be entrepreneurs take risks starting a business. Contrary to Mitt’s argument, some government benefits are not a ‘gift’ to select voting groups but a ’gift’ to the economy.
HEALTH COVERAGE IS A ‘GIFT’ TO OURSELVES
Tags: economy, health care, Obama, Romney
