tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-597716632228519200.post3625770238524382839..comments2024-03-25T04:29:48.343-07:00Comments on A Healthy Dialogue: Connecting with and educating a segment of the business community on healthcare reformJohn Chessare MDhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16921654505743608351noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-597716632228519200.post-32551754180780430542013-07-25T13:53:38.468-07:002013-07-25T13:53:38.468-07:00Thanks, Anonymous. I agree that there is some room...Thanks, Anonymous. I agree that there is some room for improvement with the portion of the health care dollar that is spent on insurance overhead but the evidence is clear that the bigger opportunity is in the unit cost of services and in the frequency with which we do certain services that don't actually add to health. John Chessare MDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16921654505743608351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-597716632228519200.post-30160770888293144522013-07-25T07:51:33.691-07:002013-07-25T07:51:33.691-07:0040% more on healthcare than any other country is a...40% more on healthcare than any other country is astounding. After working in the hospital setting for over 20 years (9 years at GBMC and 13 years at Hopkins prior), it is more than clear to me that the middle man -- health insurance companies (corporate conglomerates)-- are the cause and also receive a hugh chunk of our "healtcare expenses."<br /><br />At Hopkins (where I worked for over 13 years), we would lose money for every patient who had health insurance (broke even for self-pay) and only profited from non-insurable procedures (i.e., cosmetic plastic surgery, laser vision correction). Not to mention employing a whole staff of our own nurse "qualifiers" to debate the insurance companies' nurse "disqualifers" (nurses would get paid more to deny healthcare than dispense heathcare), which also raised the cost of healthcare.<br /><br />The only way to justify the expense of patient care was the government-granted research income that paid many of the doctors and support staff salaries -- that is if you are being honest when you state the "actual cost" of each procedure before insurance company adminstered "disallow" charges. <br /><br />In the end, our healthcare really is government-sponsored (that is if you want to break even).<br /><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-597716632228519200.post-84823266640738995632013-07-24T07:52:53.715-07:002013-07-24T07:52:53.715-07:00Thanks, Anonymous. We could make great improvement...Thanks, Anonymous. We could make great improvements to our system without having it be run by the government. A great example to look at is Germany where the system is not run by the government but rather by a form of employer cooperatives. You may want to read the book "The Healing of America", by T.R. Reid. Mr. Reid studied the healthcare systems of countries throughout the world.<br />A single payer system (like we have for people over 65 in the U.S. (Medicare) would certainly drive administrative efficiency but I don't think we have the political will to do this. It is interesting that there is broad support to maintain the Medicare program even though there does not appear to be support to extend it to others.John Chessare MDhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16921654505743608351noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-597716632228519200.post-82240196710826362152013-07-24T06:22:45.353-07:002013-07-24T06:22:45.353-07:00Dr. Chessare, I am gratified to know that GBMC is ...Dr. Chessare, I am gratified to know that GBMC is on the cutting edge of the changing healthcare system. Do you think we will ever reach a point in this country where health insurance is NOT an employee benefit? Seems like it would improve the bottom line of every business if health insurance was not tied to employment. But I guess people would start hollering "Socialism" if everyone had government sponsored health insurance... like those on Medicare/Medicaid, right? What a dilemma.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com