wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

as an addendum... Canadian Doctors drive BMWs. They make LOTS o' money... and hey, they deserve it! They do good work.

The vast majority of waste in the U.S. system is in the middle man... ie. the insurance companies.

Scotty Watson
Newly arrived from Canada
aka Sam Walton in Walmartopia!

I recently immigrated from Toronto Canada. I play Sam Walton in Walmartopia at the Minetta Lane.

The Canadian system works! I miss my doctor.

Scotty Watson
201 472 9850

I work in a Pediatrics Office.
All the HMO's are requiring the MD to document that the patient has been notified and educated about the perils of smoking-- every year, once a year.
I often tell the smoking teenagers is that the result is that in the future, when they need a lung transplant, because medical records are becoming digital and permanent, they WILL NOT pay for any invasive care for them (ie-- lung transplant, or expensive cancer therapy) if the Insurance company pulls up the SIGNED note from EVERY MD in your life who told you NOT to smoke.

Is this a Real possibility?

I have a good policy now- I pay myself-$330/month- oxford Liberty it is a catastrophic plan- I pay a $30 co-pay and everything is covered except that there is a deductibe of $2000 if I need surgery and it caps at $4000- am I amking sense...anyway- it's pretty good and with $30 co-pay, I will not go all the time..but I a m afraid with universal coverage, I will be waiting in long lines - I pay and I get something or it. Whys shouldn't everyone who can pay for it? should it be free? It willnot be free anyway---why not pay for a better plan/ And I am not rich - I make under $70,000/year and it is worth it to me to pay...

Second point, we often fail to gather the low-hanging fruit. If the government would provide insurance for catestrophic medical occurances, that would immediately solve 85% of the problem for people who lack insurance.

It's a lot cheaper than true universal coverage.

I studied with Uwe Reinhart at Princeton in the 1970s. One thing I understand is that medical care is not a "normal good" as an economist would define it. Medical services are not demanded by the patient, but often by the doctor, who has no incentive to economize. It is the doctors who often in effect select heroic measures for dying, elderly patients, who then get a bill for $100,000.

HMOs are a joke - they are like babysitting - with their "guidelines," they take the practice of medicine out of the hands of physicians. For example, my doctor friends tell me markers indicating heart disease have nothing to do with cholesterol - they are c-reactive protein and homocysteine. Tell me why HMOs/insurance do not cover this lab work?