The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

[joecct]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

What do you all think about "concierge" medicine?

[DrDemento]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

What do you all think about "concierge" medicine?

It is being tried in some areas. I suppose it is an option in some areas of the country where the population has substantial assets or earnings and works better for some specialties than others. The few internists that I know who practice this way are very happy with their practices. The patients must be happy or else they would not pay for the services. Because of the out of pocket costs I just do not see it ever being a major player in the overall medical picture. My patients were 90% blue collar or seniors who probably would never be interested or have the disposable money needed.

[RStarr]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

What do you all think about "concierge" medicine?

Research indicates that patients with VIP medicine have worse outcomes.

[DrDemento]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Research indicates that patients with VIP medicine have worse outcomes.

RS: When I hear that kind of statement i have to ask-what criteria is used to determine outcomes? How can we be sure that the populations involved are the same? Perhaps those that seek that kind of treatment do so simply because they are more ill or older and in need of more care? Comparing the statistics of outcomes is not always easy. I often see the life expectancy compared in this country with that of Sweden and Japan-however the results here can be skewed by obvious things-we have more young men losing life at an early age serving in the Middle East and more young drivers killed on the highways and we certainly have more young black men getting shot in the streets. Not to mention the poorer health of a large pool of immigrants here. Losing all these 16-24 years olds can certainly weigh on the numbers. I am not in any way disagreeing with your statement, I honestly do not know the answer, but i can see how that answer would need a lot of control of the populations involved to make it valid.

[FreshFish]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

It's fascinating to me that people's attitude toward dental care is so different than it is for health care in general.

I think it is safe to say that nearly everyone brushes their teeth at least daily; many people do brush after every meal.

Yet how many people tend to their health with the same fealty?

[leswp1]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

It's fascinating to me that people's attitude toward dental care is so different than it is for health care in general.

I think it is safe to say that nearly everyone brushes their teeth at least daily; many people do brush after every meal.

Yet how many people tend to their health with the same fealty?

Not many I of the ones I saw today!

On a more serious note. RFAlph posted on a couple of other threads that DrDemento is from the Jersey Shore area. No one has been able to make contact with him since Monday night. Send out the good thoughts/vibes rayers for him and his wife! Hoping he is OK

[joecct]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Not many I of the ones I saw today!

On a more serious note. RFAlph posted on a couple of other threads that DrDemento is from the Jersey Shore area. No one has been able to make contact with him since Monday night. Send out the good thoughts/vibes rayers for him and his wife! Hoping he is OK

Dr. D has been heard from. OK but "hunkered down"

[leswp1]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Dr. D has been heard from. OK but "hunkered down"

I saw RFAlph's post. Phew!

[DrDemento]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Not many I of the ones I saw today!

On a more serious note. RFAlph posted on a couple of other threads that DrDemento is from the Jersey Shore area. No one has been able to make contact with him since Monday night. Send out the good thoughts/vibes rayers for him and his wife! Hoping he is OK

Thanks Les!! We are fine but did without electric, cable, TV, internet, heat, cooking everything from Monday morning until today. We were well prepared-the kitties all had food and litter, we had tons of canned goods, we burned 3 cords of wood in the fireplace for heat and Jenny is like pioneer woman. She cooked some fabulous meals in the fireplace. Bigger problem was no gasoline to go anywhere, traffic lights all out or down, roads all blocked and the absolute imbeciles who live on the Jersey Shore who just cannot survive or behave without computers, cell phones and electronic conveniences. It was stressful of course but mostly because we had no contact with friends and family. Our saving grace was a Verizon landline which stayed live. I will NEVER ever live without one landline. The cell towers here were useless-either down or overwhelmed. We live a short ditance from a small hospital which was running on emergency generator power and virtually no staff-so we just drove over and helped anyone who could get there that needed some sort of care. I practiced about 9 different specialties and had a blast. But the highlight was having Jenny there as my nurse for the first time working in regualr clothes-no white hat, no white stockings, no white shoes or uniform-almost did not recognize her. Old time medicine-the way it used to be-and the way I relly wished it was today. It is still a mess down here and we expect a noreaster in 3 days to wreck havoc all over again. Just hoping we retain power and cable this time. Best regards to all who posted and asked about us.

[leswp1]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Great to hear from you. Sounds like you got to work the equivilent of a mash unit. Hopefully the No'Easter will peter out.

[DrDemento]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Great to hear from you. Sounds like you got to work the equivilent of a mash unit. Hopefully the No'Easter will peter out.

No real major trauma cases. Mostly people that were a little sick but more scared than anything else that if they did not get seen things would get worse. Glad i did not have to do any deliveries-my last one was 1969! I think I practiced more psychiatry than anything else but even after 43 years since medical school-it still feels good. The hospital of course accepted whatever medical insurance people had-but the look on patient's faces when they were told we would not charge for any of our medical services was priceless.

[leswp1]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

No real major trauma cases. Mostly people that were a little sick but more scared than anything else that if they did not get seen things would get worse. Glad i did not have to do any deliveries-my last one was 1969! I think I practiced more psychiatry than anything else but even after 43 years since medical school-it still feels good. The hospital of course accepted whatever medical insurance people had-but the look on patient's faces when they were told we would not charge for any of our medical services was priceless.

Certainly not jealous of the circumstances that brought you to that but jealous of the being able to just care for people without constraints. It must have been heavenly.

[FreshFish]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Hey, here's an idea! Let's pass a really unpopular law with lots of draconian restrictions, and then assume no one will then change their behavior as a result!

oops.....

Some low-wage employers are moving toward hiring part-time workers instead of full-time ones to mitigate the health-care overhaul's requirement that large companies provide health insurance for full-time workers or pay a fee.

Several restaurants, hotels and retailers have started or are preparing to limit schedules of hourly workers to below 30 hours a week. That is the threshold at which large employers in 2014 would have to offer workers a minimum level of insurance or pay a penalty starting at $2,000 for each worker.

The shift is one of the first significant steps by employers to avoid requirements under the health-care law....

Ah, just what we needed in an economy stuck in chronic under-employment!

[joecct]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Hey, here's an idea! Let's pass a really unpopular law with lots of draconian restrictions, and then assume no one will then change their behavior as a result!

oops.....


Ah, just what we needed in an economy stuck in chronic under-employment!

The upside is that they will have to hire more part time workers to cover the 10 hours (or more) not worked.

It was a badly written law that needs to be repealed and replaced. This time, TAKE YOUR TIME AND GET IT RIGHT (Momma always said Haste Makes Waste)!! Imagine if they tried passing the 1986 Tax Reform like they passed the ACA? Who knows what mess we would have gotten?

[FlagDUDE08]

Re: The Sad Case of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act

Hey, here's an idea! Let's pass a really unpopular law with lots of draconian restrictions, and then assume no one will then change their behavior as a result!

oops.....





Ah, just what we needed in an economy stuck in chronic under-employment!

That's the problem with the left: they don't understand Newton's third law (yet boast about their edu-ma-cation). They don't want to drop expenses because it means more profit for the greedy corporations while they assume rate of revenue will remain the same. They tax those evil corporations while thinking the end product value will remain the same, and the tax won't be thought of as an expense that needs to be factored into the value.