We are standing in front of the same precipice, facing the same fall and fate as in 1917 and we have seemingly learned nothing. The current health care legislation being bantered about in Washington today is a direct extension of the line of reasoning that began in 1909 and was, by 1917, being fought with the same grit and determination as the foes against reform are fighting today.

This site allows you to send faxes, the most effective format of communication for elected officials, so you can try and alter the health care vote. If nothing else its a very cheap form of catharsis. Imagine all those faxes on the floor when they arrive in the morning.
http://www.centerforamericanresponsibility.org/
Have fun…

This letter was written months ago to address the legislative body of a major, medical specialty society. It is dated but relevant especially in lieu of the recent Medicare cuts gymnastics that went on in the last few weeks. These cuts are centered around the decades long slog by physicians to address the SGR formula which governs much of physician payment in this country. The SGR is government controlled and therefore is a complete disaster.
Now that the beloved SGR is a mirage …

All that we did was to dig just a bit below the surface for just one all those putative curve benders and look what happened.

As all of our dear readers know… there is no shortage of people with a keyboard and a forum. Our humble effort among them. Yet, in all the noise, a really great piece from Detroit rose to the top of the national headlines today. Just when we thought Detroit was down and out, we were proved wrong. Shame on us, and good for Detroit.
Read here….

Unlike Alexander the Great who reportedly solved the fourth century B.C., Rubik’s cube equivalent puzzle, of the Gordian Knot with one slice of his sword, first Clinton and now Obama have faltered badly in their attempts at offering an intelligent solution to the equally arcane, admittedly faltering, American Health Care system morass.
The failure to offer a cogent, uniquely American, solution is rooted, I believe, not only in the Administration’s fundamental misdiagnosis of the central causes of our medical malaise but their inability to methodically and practically redress these fatal …

Today I found myself increasingly incensed; angered by the depths to which Political discourse has sunken in America. It is frankly appalling that these are the people we have chosen to represent us, to solve the critical issues facing our nation and the world. The object of this reaction? Two lovely bits of showmanship by a freshman member of Congress from Orlando Florida, Alan Grayson. Below are two clips which demonstrate the deep thinkers we’ve put into power. Perhaps this helps explain, at least in part, …

Mr. Shadegg, a Republican congressman from Arizona and Mr. Hoekstra, a Republican congressman from Michigan outline some reasonable suggestions for reforming core issues within our health care delivery system. We have spent a fair amount of our time talking about the Democrat’s ideas and unfortunately why many of them will not work especially the public plan as they put forth. We thought it was time to give the other side and others some “air time”. Two things ring true in this article, first that government is responsible …

The federal government is seemingly lording over doctors in the same manner via the indirect and latent threat of the SGR used as a blunt tool to silence critics. In fact, one could imagine (quite easily) a scenario in which Mr. Obama fails to get his public option, or even a bill signed and the very first step in the retribution phase by angry and annoyed Congressional Democrats is to let the SGR ‘adjust’ down by its scheduled 20+ percetnage points.

Perhaps Mr. Obama and his team should ponder these issues during the lull before the September storm.

We have made several attempts over the past few weeks to point out the folly in the line of thinking that says: all you need to do is add some money to the stew pot and all will be well. Doctors just need to tell people “hey, eat less big man, stop those cigarettes, watch your blood sugars” and all will be well. Its kind of refreshing because its not like we e3ver thought to do this already. We are so fortunate to have Mr. Obama pointing out to us …

There is a peculiar assumption in the intense focus of the health bill debate on the question of how to pay for medical care. The assumption is that the only question in the minds of our sick old people, their families, and the doctors who will care for them is where and how to find the money. This attitude is dangerous because it obscures the crucial fact that we are struggling not with a fiscal problem but with a human problem; in fact, with a whole range of very human needs and problems. We had better make our plans accordingly.

With this post, we christen a new category, “Solutions”. The place where we bring relevant solutions to the health care debate.