1. Give all Americans the same tax credits for purchasing health insurance that businesses have.
2. Make health insurance portable across state lines without any surcharge.
3. Subject health insurance to the same antitrust laws as everyone else, ie., eliminate McCarran-Ferguson
4. Cap non-economic damages or some other equitable tort reform.
5. A whistleblower makes public what is wrong. Listen to us and protect us from retaliation
6. Unleash the free market to find ways to reform health care. Government-run healthcare is not the solution; US and state (Texas) government competes with private business. The Texas Medical Board gives preferences in licensing to doctors who will take government-run healthcare. That's why we have an influx of Muslim doctors, for example. When it was time to get the swine flu vaccine, the government-run health department got the vaccine, but I, as a private solo family physician, couldn't get any.
Texas Phoenix
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Those are all excellent points. I hope someone expounds upon the whistleblower aspects.
ReplyDeleteThere is a mountain of evidence that some potential conflicts of interests prevent some doctors from speaking up when marketing spin upon science via legal defense industry, non-clinician quacks who write position papers disguised as peer-reviewed scientific papers on subjects they have virtually no expertise or experience in much less actual, relevant, scientific research credentials.
These same paid "authors" then put themselves out for hire as defense "experts" quoting the same papers they authored, ignoring established, accepted scientific research. These "papers" and opinions are promulgated through various medical, peer organizations who post them as position papers. These specialty organizations are heavily funded by insurance, pharmaceutical, and medical device manufacturers among others who most decidedly have conflicts of interests.
The IAQ-mold issue is a prime examples. Tens of thousands, potentially more, homeowners and tenants were completely ignored, ruined and ridiculed over this. A real shocker is finding that many doctors are seriously invested in real estate for investment purposes and could possibly face financial losses if the mold issue had been openly acknowledged, not to mention malpractice suits. Do they have a duty to inform their patients of this conflict? How do you guage the potential for conflict, e.g., the number of properties they own or the value of said property, then who would decide, their peers and colleagues? I think the answer is obvious.
I find it impossible to believe that so many doctors were unaware of the very serious problems associated with fungal exposure and illnesses or were unaware of the position papers being promulgated as scientific fact. It is either gross incompetence, deliberate complicity and/or fear of retaliation. If that many doctors are that incompetent or unaware, then I suggest we have a far graver situation facing our healthcare system.
This is merely one specific instance, there are many more awaiting some brave soul to stand up, be heard, and be willing to then become a target...until others decide the cause has sufficient merit and urgent immediacy for them to speak up, often long after that first brave soul has been beaten down into oblivion.