Don't move!

Every time I write a blog I like to be prepared, I like to get support of evidence for my observations, so I scan all information I can get to do it right, to be sure to tell the truth.

Two days ago when I started writing I thought I have to do a little research about malpractice litigation and I was overwhelmed. To me it appears now that discussing Health Care is like opening Pandora's box - but there is light at the end of the tunnel:

There is hope to get a healthcare reform to close this unpleasant box.

If you are curious and click at the above link about the light at the end of the tunnel you will find this:

"The new health care reform is supposed to end all these dire quagmires. It will plug the current gaps between urban and rural residents in the medical system. People will be viewed as individuals rather than members of a household. It will greatly ease the trouble of highly-mobilized people. Change of work？ Change of residence? Or even change of city? No problem. You will still be covered in the medical system. "

Wouldn't it be great if this would be part of our Health Care Reform?

Having Health Insurance in this country here is like living in mediaeval times - every citizen is subject of the state where he lives - not allowed to move. Because if you move you loose your Health Insurance.

I just had this experience these days.

I was offered to move to another location only two miles south from here.
Just before I signed the new lease I checked my Health Insurance.
And guess what:
If I leave the state I am living in now I loose my Health Insurance.

I have to apply anew in the other state, and since I had cancer I am in trouble because of precondition, even if I did live and work in this other state when I got cancer and my surgery was in this other state.

If I would move, I will have to pay nearly double the premium I am paying now and I still have a deduction which triples the amount I have to pay in case I get seriously ill.

So I have to stay in this state where I am living now.
This system makes me and everybody else in this situation a subject of the state, having the right to move denied by a premium penalty.

Really odd in the land of the free.
Guess something got wrong.
Somebody dropped a letter.
Now it is the land of the fee.

But there is still hope.

China is showing the way.

China is a really innovative country. People over there are eager to do better.

That's what they did:
On April 6 2009, the government published a new medical reform plan. By unleashing the new health care reform---dubbed “universal healthcare”-- ... , the Chinese government is showing the light at the end of the tunnel to many people in anticipation.

The new health care reform is supposed to end all these dire quagmires. It will plug the current gaps between urban and rural residents in the medical system. People will be viewed as individuals rather than members of a household. It will greatly ease the trouble of highly-mobilized people. Change of work？ Change of residence? Or even change of city? No problem. You will still be covered in the medical system.

“The government is to throw in 850 billion in the next three years to fulfill this medical reform despite the dim financial outlook.” The head of Chinese Health Ministry Chen Zhu disclosed in an interview in Ifeng.com.

The key incentive for China's health care system is to protect people's health, not make money.

Remember the times of the Sputnik Space Race?
A race was started between the United States and Russia.
Kennedy fought for it.

A Universal Healthcare was proposed for all Citizens.
Kennedy fought for it.

Is there a race starting between the United States and China now?
Who will win?
Or are we giving up this time?

Let's strive for Universal Health Care and make it happen.
Let's show the world that the United States are still there.
Let's proof that the United States are caring for their citizens.

Healthcare Expenses

The United States have the most expensive Health Care System of the whole world - why don't we have the best one?

This question has been discussed really often lately. But do you know the daily facts behind?

Let's look at some statistics:
Medical residencies traditionally require 36-hour shifts, separated by 12 hours of rest, during more than one hundred working hour weeks. These long hours are counter-productive, resulting sleep deprivation increases rates of medical errors.

The ACGME's recommends an 80-hour work week averaged over 4 weeks, the IOM recommends that duty hours should not exceed 16 hours per shift, unless an uninterrupted five-hour break for sleep is provided within shifts that last up to 30 hours to allow residents to catch up on sleep each day and make up for chronic sleep deprivation on days off.

Resident physicians have no alternatives to positions that are offered, meaning residents must accept all conditions of employment, including very long work hours, and that they must also, in many cases, contend with poor supervision. This process is resulting in low salaries and long, unsafe work hours.

The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) rejected a petition seeking to restrict medical resident work hours, opting to rely on standards adopted by ACGME, a private trade association that represents and accredits residency programs.

A physician who complains about even longer working hours will loose his accreditation!

Are you aware of these working conditions?

Can you imaging to be a surgeon in a 30 hour shift doing your work with the pressure of a malpractice lawsuit on your back?

I reported lately on this blog that I had cancer. The surgeon who did the good work to save my life, retired when I left the hospital. I asked him why. He told me he would like to practice, he was over seventy years in age, but to be able to pay his 125.000$ premium for malpractice insurance per year he had a decision to make: work full shifts (with 80 hour work weeks) the whole year or quit. Nothing in between. I was struck.

Amitabh Chandra, a Harvard University economist, said “No serious economist thinks that saving money in med mal is the way to improve productivity in the system.”

How long are the working shifts of economists? Do they have to work 80 hours and more per week? This question should be answered by a psychologist with experience as a surgeon, but not by an economist. We are living in a world without mercy.

"Exorbitant malpractice premiums are making it harder for doctors to stay in the business, and hurting taxpayers whose money goes for publicly funded clinics", said William C. Parrish Jr., chief executive officer of the Santa Clara County Medical Association, based in San Jose, California. I am sure he is right.

But there are other facts:
Nearly every Western democracy follows the "English rule," which requires the loser of a civil suit to compensate the winner for his or her attorney's fees.
The "American rule" differs; in most cases, each party bears its own expense of litigation.

This "American rule" which is uncommon in any other part of world, is highly responsible for malpractice lawsuits in this country here.

Counting 1 + 1 together - the most expensive Health Care System of the whole world
and this "American rule" which is not known in any other part of world, are you still wondering why we don't have the best Health Care System but paying much more than anybody else in this world?

You just read the cause.

Healthcare systems are very complex. There is a diversity in structure - nursing units, pharmacies, emergency departments, operating rooms - and a complex professional mix - nurses, physicians, pharmacists, administrators, therapists.

Hospitals and healthcare services are vital components of any well-ordered and humane society. It is of the greatest importance that hospitals are places of safety, not only for patients but also for the staff and for the general public.

Let's strive for it!
Let's reduce the burden of our health care providers who do so much for all of us.