IT'S TIME FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE

High Seas wrote:

Hamburger - pls read the whole post before commenting. The reference is to assigning military personnel to permanent civilian occupations.

How are they being assigned to "permanent civilian occupations"?

I specified using active duty "permanent" military medics and using "reserve" medics.
The reservists do 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks in the summer, then they go back to their civilian jobs.
While they are serving, they draw their mlitary pay,so why not use them where they will do the most good?

And as for the active duty"full time" medics, while they are on the base they dont have alot to do, especially if they are assigned to a combat unit.
They handle mostly injuries resulting from training, or they work in the sick bay.

If you are worried about them being asked to treat something they cant handle, I seriously doubt that will happen.
As a former navy corpsman (medic) there wasnt much I couldnt handle.
I have delivered babies, treated trauma, set broken bones, and treated almost every type of minor illness and injury you can think of.

But even so, thats why each station would be equipped with an ambulance, to transport serious cases to a local ER.

I do think it could be done, and I do think it would work.

High Seas wrote:

It's been tried many times in many countries with dismal results.

Either Germany isn't within those "many countries" or I don't understand "dismal results".
It works perfectly here - and both sides, the military as well as the civilian, like it.

Cambridge Health Alliance, a key part of the Boston area's healthcare network, is facing a potentially "catastrophic" loss this year and is looking to eliminate up to 300 jobs, or about 9 percent of its workforce, in an effort to stabilize finances.

more stories like thisThe alliance, which includes Cambridge Hospital, Somerville Hospital, and Whidden Hospital in Everett, says it is being hit hard by the state's new healthcare reform law, which has left it responsible for providing free care for those without insurance while reducing the hospitals' compensation for such services.

"A significant downturn in our volume and the transition to the new free care pool reimbursement system created a perfect storm for us," said Dennis D. Keefe, chief executive of the alliance.

Before healthcare reform took effect last year, Keefe said, Cambridge Health Alliance was reimbursed by the state for the full cost of providing services to the uninsured. Under the new system, "we only get 60 to 70 percent," he said. The reduction is particularly significant for the alliance because its hospitals serve a high percentage of uninsured patients. Despite the state's efforts to enroll all low-income residents in free or subsidized insurance programs, many still do not have coverage.

Hospitals and doctors who are promoted to administration do not understand efficiency; it continues to carry over from admiistrator to administrator, because their skills are not management by doctoring.

That's one of the reasons why emergency rooms are always packed with people who really should be taken care by a nurse, PA, or intern.

Here is an interesting article that shows how the "mandatory health insurance" plan in Mass is severly hurting one hospital chain, and its the one that treats most of the people the plan was supposed to help...

http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2008/03/17/health_provider_predicts_big_loss/

Quote:

Cambridge Health Alliance, a key part of the Boston area's healthcare network, is facing a potentially "catastrophic" loss this year and is looking to eliminate up to 300 jobs, or about 9 percent of its workforce, in an effort to stabilize finances.

more stories like thisThe alliance, which includes Cambridge Hospital, Somerville Hospital, and Whidden Hospital in Everett, says it is being hit hard by the state's new healthcare reform law, which has left it responsible for providing free care for those without insurance while reducing the hospitals' compensation for such services.

"A significant downturn in our volume and the transition to the new free care pool reimbursement system created a perfect storm for us," said Dennis D. Keefe, chief executive of the alliance.

Before healthcare reform took effect last year, Keefe said, Cambridge Health Alliance was reimbursed by the state for the full cost of providing services to the uninsured. Under the new system, "we only get 60 to 70 percent," he said. The reduction is particularly significant for the alliance because its hospitals serve a high percentage of uninsured patients. Despite the state's efforts to enroll all low-income residents in free or subsidized insurance programs, many still do not have coverage.

Miller, If an RN can see an emergency patient, why not an intern?

If you have a serious medical condition, or you bring a very sick child to the ER, you want the best care available. You don't want a PA, RN ( after triage) or for God's sake an intern.

this isn't directly related to the main topic, but it does have to do with german hospitals.

this isn't directly related to the main topic, but it does have to do with german hospitals.

The headlines make light of the woman's misfortune, but medical errors are a real problem in the USA and other countries.

In 1999, the Institute of Medicine reported that mistakes caused the deaths of between 44,000 and 98,000 hospital patients each year. Last Sunday, CBS News spoke with actor Dennis Quaid about the medication errors that almost killed his newborn twins.

Today, the Mercury News reports that an 87-year-old woman died at a Fremont, Calif., hospital after staff gave her four drugs that had been prescribed for other patients. State officials imposed tough sanctions in that case. In Sacramento, the Bee says another hospital was also fined $25,000 because employees gave a 29-year-old woman the wrong medicine and administered 10 times the prescribed dose of an anti-psychotic drug.

[...]
"The way health-care costs have soared is unbelievable," said Katherine Taylor, a vice president for Local 1199 of the Service Employees International Union. "There are people out here making decisions about whether to keep their lights on or buy a prescription."

Since 2001, premiums for family health coverage have increased 78 percent, according to a 2007 report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Premiums averaged $12,106, of which workers paid $3,281, according to the report.
[...]