Today’s OpEds: The Advantages Of Electronic Health Records; The Free Market And Health Care; And The Obama Administration’s HIV Strategy
Finding My Way To Electronic Health Records The New England Journal Of MedicineHaving lost the Bayou Clinic three times, I knew we had to have a better way of practicing. I needed to find a way to deliver high-quality health care to people who didn't have a lot of money. From the experiences with the hurricanes and the fire, I knew we had to be able to evacuate the clinic quickly, while still safeguarding the vital patient information. Whereas I had previously decided against installing an EHR system because I couldn't afford one, I now realized I couldn't afford not to have one. Until the day we turned on our EHR system, I was still using pens with waterproof ink. It is a very good thing - for both me and our patients - that my fellow physicians and I don't need to use those pens anymore (Surgeon General Regina Benjamin, 7/13).
Health Experts Who May Decide Whether You Live Or Die Forbes
What worries some is the potential for new government attempts to pick therapeutic winners and losers to get combined into rules of the government run-exchanges that will sell insurance to people who can't get it elsewhere. If the two ideas are combined, private HMOs may only be able to offer coverage for government-greenlit procedures. This would reduce choice for patients, much like NICE does in Britain (David Whelan, 7/14).
No, The 'Free Market' Will Not Fix Health Care The Baltimore Sun
Free markets are wonderful. They have brought millions of humans out of poverty. But there are large problems when applying markets to 21st century health care (Jay Hancock, 7/13).
Health Care Suit Exercises Freedom, But Argument Is No Win The Missourian
I had a conversation last weekend about our lieutenant governor's decision to sue the United States of America concerning the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. ... I am glad he is suing. He may have valid point. However, I am also scared his lawsuit will destroy the Missouri Democratic Party, the Democratic National Committee and the Obama administration (David Rosman, 7/14).
Obama's AIDS Strategy A Test Of Will San Francisco Chronicle
This country has a better record on fighting AIDS overseas than it does at home. President Obama wants to change this disparity with his own domestic AIDS plan. It keys on testing, sending federal money where it's needed most, and setting a goal to cut infection rates by 25 percent (7/14).
He's Playing You The American Spectator
The Obamacare socialized medicine takeover legislation doesn't even go into effect until 2014, and he is saying now in 2010 just 3 or 4 months after its passage, hey, look around, where are all those scary results they told us about? He is thinking that enough of us are too stupid to know that his socialized medicine bill doesn't go into effect until 2014, and that he can play us for fools with this kind of shameful, manipulative, abusive rhetoric (Peter Ferrara, 7/14).
Stopgap, High-Risk Health Coverage Still Costly The [Litchfield County, Conn.] Register Citizen
A major provision of the health care legislation passed by Congress in March was to have taken effect last month. It will provide federally subsidized health care to the uninsured with pre-existing conditions. It is intended as a stopgap until 2014, when insurers will no longer be able to reject individuals from coverage because of a pre-existing condition. In fact, many states, including Connecticut, have discovered health care will still be costly and out of reach for many (7/14).
Tough Calls Ahead For Deficit Commission CNN
Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security are exploding. Already, [commission co-chairman Erskine] Bowles said, their costs equal all the tax revenues coming into Washington. The commission knows that Medicare is the biggest, toughest nut to crack, and it will almost certainly recommend reopening and revising the health care bill passed last year in order to bring down costs (David Gergen, 7/13).
The Results Problem The New York Post
In just 20 months, Obama got an $800 billion stimulus bill; partly nationalized the US auto industry, and muscled through a health-care reorganization that will cost anywhere between $1 trillion and $3 trillion. Phase Two is "making it all work." By front-loading so much activity in his first 18 months, Obama has set himself a nearly insuperable managerial and executive task (John Podhoretz, 7/14). This is part of the Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription.
