July 20, 2010
When cancer isn’t really there
The NYT has another excellent article on quality problems in the health care system caused by misdiagnosis and overtreatment. In this case, biopsies testing for a very early type of breast cancer are misread a significant portion of the time, often leading to unnecessary radiation and surgery.
Amazingly, there is no standard training or experience requirement for doctors to meet who are reading the images that result in a call of cancer. Images of a patient can be easily sent anywhere electronically, thus eliminating the argument that smaller communities don’t have the ability to have access to specialists who can adequately read the patient record. And when the result of a biopsy can have such …
July 16, 2010
CRC to Figure 8 Homeowner: “de facto seawall” must be removed
Earlier this month we published a photo of a Figure Eight Island property that looked like it had a concrete seawall in front of it. Parker Overton, the owner (and leader of the movement to overturn NC’s seawall ban to allowed jetties to be built on the NC coast), wrote a spirited comment in response that the substantial concrete wall was really just part of a “dog fence” and shouldn’t have to be removed. The Coastal Resources Commission disagreed yesterday, allowing sandbags protecting the property and other neighboring properties to remain but requiring removal of the “de facto seawall” – or dog fence, if you prefer.
July 15, 2010
Lunch Links
Jocelyn Guyer at the Georgetown Center for Children and Families has a great post about their new report (in partnership with Community Catalyst) outlining the individual responsibility requirement in the health reform law. This requirement is really much less of a big deal than many ideological opponents claim. In fact in may make likely be the “dog that didn’t bark.”
Health Policy Hub gives the outline for a good consumer assistance program – every state will have to set one up, including NC, to help people figure out the best and most affordable way to get health insurance.
Drew Altman of the Kaiser Family Foundation on what conservatives are winning in the new health …
Tiffany, a patient in Charlotte, talks about the stress of medical debt. The new health law begins to address the problems she describes: Adam Linker and I often post our short videos here on various aspects of health care and will continue to do so. However, for anyone who follows us on YouTube too, you should know we’ve shifted to a new YouTube channel – nchealthaccess. True to form I made a video about the change: Consumer Reports isn’t too excited about that antenna problem. The video is hilarious. Earlier this month, Bank of America garnered a headline in the Charlotte Observer for a “new way” the bank was paying for health benefits. To its credit, BofA was adopting a policy where people at the bank making over $100,000 in salary would pay a little more for benefits and folks making under $100,000 would pay a little less. Not a bad idea to help the bank tellers out by charging the executives a little more, but not exactly new either. Last week I wrote about the new health law and how nonprofit Piedmont Health Services, a community health center system in central NC with over 200 employees, is gearing up with new funding to provide more …
July 14, 2010
Medical debt and the new health law: Tiffany
July 13, 2010
We’ve moved our health video to a new channel
July 12, 2010
Duct tape and the iPhone4
Big banking business follows nonprofit, government lead on health
July 9, 2010
New Health Care Law: Premium subsidies will make insurance affordable, but not until 2014
I’ve been talking about the early results of the new health care law – mainly tax breaks for small businesses, the federal high risk pool, and allowing 26-year-olds to stay on their parent’s plans, but the major health reform changes don’t take effect until 2014. That’s when individuals who can’t get their insurance through their work, mostly people in small businesses or self-employed and their families, will be able to buy private insurance on new state health exchanges. Private insurers in the exchange will offer apples to apples comparison plans that must meet minimum standards for basic coverage like including hospital stays and prescription drugs. Insurers can certainly sell and people certainly can buy coverage outside …
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