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The latest wrong-headed ‘fixes’ for healthcare: Systems thinkers call them fixes that fail or backfire
American Thinker ^ | 10/21/2023 | Deane Waldman, M.D.

Posted on 10/21/2023 8:25:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

Recent proposed solutions for healthcare are what systems thinkers call fixes that fail or backfire. They are like a doctor giving opioids to a cancer patient. Painkillers mask the symptoms but never get at the root cause of illness: the malignancy that is making health care unaffordable and unavailable.

Following are some recently touted healthcare fixes followed by why they won’t work. 

o   AI cannot replace human clinicians, who are in very short supply

o   Safety-net hospitals say they will close because they cannot afford $25/hour

o   Who will provide the care?

o   Won’t lower costs or make care more available 

o   Will provide more people with insurance -- will not make care more accessible 

o   Won’t affect care 

o   Physician shortage will limit effectiveness of virtual medical care

These solutions ignore the root cause of healthcare system failure. In fact, they compound that failure. The root cause is lack of freedom: people are denied decision-making authority. Washington takes away their right to choose. 

Patients cannot decide what care is imposed on them, government does, as in mandatory COVID shots. Doctors don’t decide what medications a patient should take, a pharmacy benefits manager does. Neither doctors nor patients choose procedures to be performed: an insurance company does. And all of the third-party decision makers follow rules and regulations established by Washington. 


(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cost; healthcare
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1 posted on 10/21/2023 8:25:33 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
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To: SeekAndFind

Healthcare, Education, Energy, Transportation, Economy, Welfare and all the others have all been ‘fixed’ by the Federal government, several times each over the past 100 years. After the politicians & bureaucrats all syphon off their 10% or so until nothing is left, Washington then comes up with a new and more grandiose plan. Each new plan costing more than the last and doin less. And the beat goes on,


2 posted on 10/21/2023 8:40:31 AM PDT by Tupelo (( e pluribus unum is now ex uno multis))
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To: SeekAndFind

Direct Primary Care

https://www.dpcare.org/

Pay a monthly fee, no insurance accepted by the physician.


3 posted on 10/21/2023 8:46:16 AM PDT by lightman (I am a binary Trinitarian. Deal with it!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Read later.


4 posted on 10/21/2023 8:57:47 AM PDT by NetAddicted (MAGA2024)
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To: SeekAndFind

https://biomedgrid.com/pdf/AJBSR.MS.ID.002667.pdf


5 posted on 10/21/2023 9:02:09 AM PDT by Paladin2
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To: SeekAndFind

Implementation of AI would help the clinician shortage.

The AI can prompt a nurse to ask relevant questions and perform relevant observations. And then the AI can recommend appropriate diagnostic tests and/or treatment.

A doctor can quickly review and approve.

That would lower the cost of care by shifting work to less skilled employees and increasing the productivity of doctors.


6 posted on 10/21/2023 9:04:57 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: SeekAndFind

Virtual medical care also makes physicians more productive and lowers health care costs by reducing the need for exam rooms and the associated costs.

So the argument that it won’t work because of the physician shortage is nonsensical.


7 posted on 10/21/2023 9:08:55 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: SeekAndFind

If expanding the enrollment time increases the number of people with insurance, then it WILL increase access to care where access was limited because of lack of insurance.


8 posted on 10/21/2023 9:10:43 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: SeekAndFind
California passing a minimum wage for all healthcare workers to $25/hr will indeed drive some marginally profitable health providers out of business.

But it will also speed the implementation of AI and robotics which will lower care costs and increas access.

I for one look forward to robotic doctors with improved bedside manners who consider all treatment possibilities, rarely make errors, make virtual calls, even house calls.


9 posted on 10/21/2023 9:18:29 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: SeekAndFind

Health care is so expensive because for every doctor and nurse providing direct patient care there are about 20 administrative people involved in the transaction that have to be paid. Insurance companies, pharmacy benefit managers, etc. all provide no patient care yet take the vast majority of health care dollars. If you want to know where all the money for healthcare is going look at the insurance companies. They’re keeping most of it while rationing care to patients. Look who some of the biggest lobbyists of congress are, that’ll tell you who’s skimming all the money off of healthcare.


10 posted on 10/21/2023 9:22:29 AM PDT by GaryCrow
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To: SeekAndFind

I can fix our healthcare problems OVERNIGHT!! Immediately Mandate every Public Employee in America sign up far and pay for their very own Obamacare. Our Public Employee’s deserve the Finest and most Affordable Health Insurance America has to offer, and that is OBAMACARE. Just ask any Democrat. NO TAXPAYER FUNDS for any Health Insurance for ANYONE EVER. Watch how fast it gets fixed.


11 posted on 10/21/2023 9:24:00 AM PDT by eyeamok
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To: GaryCrow

The NHS is the UK’s largest employer, private or public sector.

All those employees, and the care still sucks.

Guess why.


12 posted on 10/21/2023 9:24:58 AM PDT by mewzilla (Never give up; never surrender!)
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To: lightman

US spends over 10 grand per person annually for medical costs. How many people will sign up at that rate?


13 posted on 10/21/2023 9:27:39 AM PDT by gloryblaze
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To: lightman

The physician’s office can provide only a tiny fraction of medical services likely to be needed. Even routine lab panels except for a few individual tests will have to go outside.


14 posted on 10/21/2023 9:34:44 AM PDT by steve86 (Numquam accusatus, numquam ad curiam ibit, numquam ad carcerem™)
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To: DannyTN

There is already quite a bit of AI in healthcare. After decades in healthcare I can tell you it makes it worse. Providers miss many important things because they miss or workaround all of the prompts.
They have stopped listening to your grandma or your only child when they are in crisis. Get real healthcare with concierge care.


15 posted on 10/21/2023 9:35:51 AM PDT by momincombatboots (BQEphesians 6... who you are really at war with. )
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To: SeekAndFind
You need to reduce costs to providers and not just to end users.

In Germany, for example, you cannot sue for malpractice unless a board of medical providers finds actual malpractice and there is a strict cap on payouts. Someone injured when all normal precautions were taken for treatment or a procedure is not malpractice: it's bad luck. In that case in Germany you are still covered because the comprehensive insurance scheme still covers you if you are unemployed or disabled. But as a consequence malpractice insurance is a tiny fraction of what it is here for both individual providers and medical groups. We need to stop using malpractice lawsuits as a substitute disability/medical insurance scheme.

Similarly drug prices are negotiated with pharmaceutical companies nationwide and the absurdly high prices paid in the US are nowhere to be found. The pharmaceutical companies still make a profit.

Every few years medical providers, the government, unions and businesses get together to hash out reimbursement costs so rational planning can take place. Health/disability insurance plans are mandatory for every employee and if you're on the dole or retired the government pays or your retirement plan pays. Everyone pays something. If you want more coverage than the mandatory minimums you can buy it.

We have multiple private insurers, the Obamacare government high-deductible insurance scams, Medicaid, Medicare, the VA and workman's compensation. This is an insane amount of bureaucracy that still does not guarantee coverage for ordinary people.

Prices for medicine and medical services in Germany are 1/8 to 1/10 the price here and outcomes largely the same or better. My cataracts are annoying but not bad enough for my medical insurance to pay to fix. So I mentioned going to Europe to get my eye lenses replaced. Even my ophthalmologist thought that was a good idea because she agreed prices here are absurd. We are simply being robbed blind.

16 posted on 10/21/2023 10:05:43 AM PDT by pierrem15 ("Massacrez-les, car le seigneur connait les siens" )
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To: SeekAndFind

Schlimmbesserung


17 posted on 10/21/2023 10:39:13 AM PDT by Lonesome in Massachussets (Perdicaris alive or Raisuli dead!)
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To: SeekAndFind

How about turning a blind eye to the fact that illegal aliens are bringing in diseases.

Or how about not mentioning that the homosexual community (male portion) is rampant with disease, spreading disease and it’s due to their sexual practices.

How about this for one: https://horsemarketsf.com/what-is-hmsf/


18 posted on 10/21/2023 10:49:58 AM PDT by Beowulf9
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To: GaryCrow
You are exactly right! The administrative layer is so thick, that actual caregivers are rationed to cover the costs. The government is also to blame by creating the rules and regulations that create the administrative layers. Insurance companies are there to make a profit, not actually taking care of patients.
19 posted on 10/21/2023 10:53:13 AM PDT by kaila
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To: pierrem15

The grass always looks greener.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=075AAaehmN8


20 posted on 10/21/2023 10:55:36 AM PDT by gloryblaze
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