All Parties Ignore the One Way to Reduce Health Care Costs: Single-Payer

[MindMover]

In a recent full-page newspaper advertisement, IBM touted massive medical savings through computerization. It's a promise they've made before, starting with a report issued in 1961. If only these promises were true.

For 50 years, we've been told that computers would give doctors ready access to past tests and diagnoses, eliminating duplicate tests that are unnecessary and costly. But it turns out the reverse is true.

Our study published this month examined 28,741 patient visits to 1,187 physicians. We found that when doctors can view X-ray results online, they actually order 40 percent to 70 percent more X-rays, including costly CT scans and MRIs. And the same holds true for blood tests.

Even the most wired doctors - those with full electronic medical records and those in hospital-owned practices where old test results are most likely to be available electronically - showed no signs of moderating their test ordering.

Sparing doctors the inconvenience of tracking down results seems to lead to more testing, not less.

Computer vendors' promises of cost savings by eliminating paperwork have also flopped. In a previous study of 3,800 hospitals, we found that computerization actually increased hospitals' administrative costs.

http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/8195-all-parties-ignore-the-one-way-to-reduce-healthcare-costs

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Way to simple, like why not Medicare for All......someone asked me how we pass this.....I say if we don't, we just go further in the hole and listen to simpleton solutions from naysaying politicians who want to look at the glass always half empty.....

[RC]

1. How can we be the Greatest nation on earth, if we can't/won't even take care of our own citizens?

How is it the same people that do not have a problem with two, three, four, five wars, that are costing us, US, $16.5 trillion so far, have a problem with health care reform that will save us billions?

[yourout]

2. Because we are a nation of Ferengi......Profit above all else.

http://www.sjtrek.com/trek/rules/

11. Anything worth doing is worth doing for money.

[MindMover]

3. I like that....thanks for the post.....

[RC]

7. Thank you.

The information in your post will be quite useful.

[JDPriestly]

4. Those tests save lives.

Of course, not all of the tests are "needed," but doctors save lives when they leave no stone unturned, no possibly useful diagnostic tool unused.

Being a doctor is a huge responsibility, and I can imagine that no doctor wants to have to say, "my patient would have lived if I had only done another x-ray that could have caught today what the x-ray yesterday could not catch." That happens. Sometimes a condition becomes worse overnight and yesterday's test or x-ray is useless.

We have to decide whether we want doctors to provide the best healthcare they can or the cheapest healthcare they can. There is a middle ground, but it will cost lives, I suspect.

[MindMover]

5. I agree that testing must be done when questions arise from changes incurred ...

The statement you make about best vs cheapest is becoming very rapidly the wrong thinking......mainly due to our advanced technologies and the transmission of testing through smart devices which are 1% of the cost of current testing procedures.....

Sooner rather than later.....this technology will be in the patients hands and when his ekg needs read, he will put his fingers on the electrodes and send the information to his specialist, who will probably be at the golf course.....this will and is happening with ekgs, blood sugars and will soon be happening with many other tests in the very near future......

[Dragonfli]

6. One would think that because your statement is true someone in Gov't would get it.

Unfortunately, policies are driven by profit rather than truth.

We really need to separate our politicians from the money they receive from those that profit and find a way to elect people to pay attention to what is true rather than what is profitable to their donors.

Sounds crazy I know.

[MindMover]

8. Your statement does not sound crazy at all.....spot on...

Unfortunately, policies are driven by profit rather than truth.

We really need to separate our politicians from the money they receive from those that profit and find a way to elect people to pay attention to what is true rather than what is profitable to their donors.

[Nancy Meyer]

9. Overturning ACA will put my daughter back on the public health care dole (SCHIP)

because she was on it before the ACA made her insurable and allowed us to move her to our own policy. If the ACA gets thrown out, her pre-existing condition makes SCHIP our only option again for her health insurance needs. And those needs are more expensive than ever, so the taxpayer's burden is increased by eliminating Obamacare, not the other way around. Ironic, isn't it?!

Read more about it here:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/27/1078131/-I-Just-Paid-for-Dick-Cheney-s-New-Heart-Now-Who-Will-Pay-for-My-Daughter-s-

If that doesn't work, go to www.dailykos.com and search on "My Daughter" as a term found in the title or text of a post. The story generated a lot of interest - over 10k "shares", 6k "likes" and multiple repostings, one of which is here, on the web page of a Wisconsin doctor: http://healthcaremfh.blogspot.com/2012/03/friends-experience.html
So maybe you can use that link if the above does not work.

I got a contact from a producer for CNN Newsroom with Suzanne Malveaux. It said "Hoping to get in touch with Nancy Meyer for a potential interview on CNN." I replied with my contact info, but now that the news cycle has turned, I may or may not hear from them. Still, I'm hearing that my story needs to be heard, because conservatives don't realize how their plan is backfiring and liberals need the example to prove their case that the ACA is good policy. So share away!

[MindMover]

10. Thank you for your post and I would suggest posting ...

your story under General Discussion and Health/Single Payer......

I think there will be such a backlash from the SCOTUS decision if it is shot down that changes to your existing plan might not happen as quickly as you might think.....

See here for more info.... http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002496460

and I will include you and yours in my daily prayer and meditation.....thank you for sharing and please continue the good fight.....

[cbayer]

11. Welcome to DU, Nancy, and thanks for the info.

[Omaha Steve]

14. WELCOME to the DU!!!

Great info. Thanks for posting.

A new DUer might get on CNN!!!

OS

[Nancy Meyer]

12. thank you MindMover, but I don't have enough posts to do that (I'm a new user) and I

don't have enough hours in the day to spend trying to post enough times to figure out how many is enough to do so. Maybe some kind user can repost for me?

I really want this story out there so that somebody somewhere can use it to do something good, like make sure the good policy that is is embodied in the ACA gets to be law.

[cbayer]

13. You only need 10 posts to start a new thread.