The Cellar - Impeding changes to our Health Care system

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I found this article about the choices doctors make in their own healthcare at the end of their lives to be a very fascinating read.

In a nutshell, doctors understand the treatment options available and realize when treatment is futile, so they tend not to opt for anything aggressive or heroic, even though they can afford it. They tend to only get treatments that will work.

The result for them is that they have a better quality of life at the end and live about as long as others do. And there is a lot less cost associated with their deaths. Interesting read.

Really interesting read. Thanks, glatt.

3 oldster, at this moment, are saying that Obama is a dictator, that he put in trillions of dollars of debt through his Obamacare, and ask why does the government want to get into healthcare, anyway? Yes, they are all on Medicare. Whoa, one just said that he KNOWS that if he wants to go to Dr. Burger, Obamacare won't let him.

Quote:

Originally Posted by glatt (Post 849691)

I found this article about the choices doctors make in their own healthcare at the end of their lives to be a very fascinating read.

<snip> Interesting read.

@Glatt: That is a good read... for everyone.

I once taught a university class on medical ethics for laymen,
which had a very broad range of people attending -
from physicians to ranchers to mechanics to business exec's and parents.

The end-of-life time came up frequently, and the range of preferences was very wide.
I do remember the physicians in the class were much in line
with your article, as were several of those involved in ranching.
Death was not unfamiliar, and quality of life decisions were very important for them.

I got a kick out of one person's response at the other end of that spectrum.
Her response was an emphatic: "Keep me going no matter what! "
She was an executive in a company that made kidney dialysis equipment.

By the end of the class, there had been many intimate discussions, and we felt we knew a lot about one another.
Some of the debates were quite vigorous... religion, money, legal liabilities, suffering...
But I felt there was always respect for each person's thoughts and feelings.

At the last class meeting, I provided copies of (Oregon's) Living Will and Advance Directive.
I think everyone took copies for themselves and their families.

So even the lady above could have made her wishes known confidentially to her family,
which is one of the most important things about end of life decisions.

Children, in particular, need to know the wishes of their parents.

I think it is quite interesting that many of the state officials and politicians
that originally fought Obamacare are now changing their tunes.
Maybe they explain it on the basis of political pressure, or lowering state budget costs,
it probably doesn't matter how they rationalize their actions.

The business community, especially "small business" has been pretty quiet til recently.
But it looks as tho even they are changing over too.

Fredericksburg.com
Jim Hall
2/9/13

Health care plans being assessed

Quote:

Some local business leaders seem hesitant to say it,
as if the federal government could issue a ruling at any moment
that puts them back in the soup.

But they’ve studied the Affordable Care Act.
They’ve heard presentations by insurance experts, viewed Web seminars
and been briefed by their human resources people.

After all of that, they’re thinking that maybe, just maybe,
the new law won’t hurt them so badly after all.

As Matthew Simmons, president of the Capital Ale House restaurant chain, put it,
“We’re in a really good position for this changeover. We’re pretty much compliant.”

Of course, the law is complicated, and much is still unknown.
Individuals and some local business owners have not been spared.
They face penalties if they don’t meet its requirements.

“It’s going to have a major effect on our business,” said Karl Karch, owner of Home Instead Senior Care.
Yet two groups of employers—the small ones that employ fewer than 50 people,
and the big ones that already offer comprehensive health plans
—have escaped the initial fines that are a feature of the act.

<snip>

Today was the day ... Now to see what happens by 2014

Washington Post
Sarah Kliff
2/18/13

It’s official: The feds will run most Obamacare exchanges

Quote:

Friday was a very important day for health policy days.
It was the last day for states to tell the federal government whether
they wanted any part in running the Affordable Care Act health exchanges come 2014.<snip>
Attachment 42900
All told, the federal government will run 26 of the state health exchanges.
It also will partner with seven states, where state and federal officials
take joint responsibility for the marketplace.
Seventeen states and the District of Columbia will take on the task themselves.
<snip>

The big question moving forward is: Does this split matter?
Is it better or worse for the federal government to be running
the majority of the state health exchanges?<snip>
Attachment 42901

In a way, all these states turning over their exchanges to the federal government
brings Obamacare a little closer to the more liberal House bill,
which had the federal government running one big marketplace.
It allows the White House to have more control over setting up its signature legislative accomplishment.
It also creates some economies of scale, as HHS can develop one
template exchange that all 26 states it handles will use.

That could be especially important in states where opposition
to the Affordable Care Act still runs very deep.
When I’ve talked to Democratic state legislators, in states where a Republican governor
has declined to build an exchange, they sometimes express a sense of relief.
If they put an Obamacare opponent at the helm of a crucial health law program,
it would be akin to foxes running the hen house.
What better way to sabotage health reform, after all, than doing a shoddy job
setting up the main vehicle for Americans to access health insurance?

Now the Republicans can concentrate on preventing the Federal exchanges from working.

What? You mean sacrifice the health and welfare of constituents for political gain. :eek:

Again.