Review: "Confusion And High Costs Still Hamper Obamacare Enrollment" – NPR
This story came from NPR's Fred Mogul. As much as I love the President (and I do; I'm an unabashed Obama-loving Texan), putting the foxes in charge of the henhouse was an awful idea. I partly blame myself. When the ACA was being built, I hadn't yet quit my job, and I was placidly working for my salary, grinding myself into a pulp, and wishing some governmental agency would swoop in, fix the "system" and allow me to see my patients with less drama. As a result, I didn't bother
Review: "What Happens If You Try to Prevent Every Single Suicide?" – NPR
This article was posted by Joanne Silberner on NPR today. Finally, someone presents a story of what really happens in the mental health field on a daily basis. The Henry Ford Health System's suicide prevention program is a lofty goal, and I'm super excited that they are sticking to meeting that goal. After all, trying is not failure. The psychiatrist in the story, Dr. Doree Ann Espiritu, did a fantastic job of just stating what we know, how we practice medicine in less than i
Review: "Obamacare Deploys New Apps, Allies to Persuade the Uninsured" – NPR
This interview was posted on NPR's Morning Edition by Alison Kodjak. The push to obtain insurance is a red herring because insurance does not guarantee access to health care. So for the government to spend millions of dollar to market apps and run a Web page – well, it all seems incredibly wasteful. "[HHS] plans to use email, text messages, Facebook and online ads to convince the holdouts to get insurance." Doesn't this all seem a bit of a government overreach for an outcome
Review: "Some Health Plans Have No In-Network Doctors in Key Specialties" – NPR
This was an article posted by Alison Kodjak of NPR. My response: yup, and we let insurance companies get away with this shit. What would happen if you bought a computer and upon getting it home, it didn't contain a power cord? You'd be pissed. Especially since there's a picture of the power cord on the box, and so you expected to have a power cord when you got home. Otherwise, you'd have went with a different brand or just bought the damn power cord while you were at the stor
Review: "After Suicides, MIT Works To Relieve Student Pressure" – NPR
Read/listen to the story from NPR. This is a very interesting article and covers a lot of areas that are preventable and addressable. As an attending taught me in residency, there are people out there who self-harm (cutting, burning, picking, etc.) as a means of coping with stress. I later extrapolated that idea to suicide as well: suicide is a coping skill. It's just the worst coping skill. Ever. Why do people want to kill themselves? There are an infinite number of reasons,
Review: "More Whistleblowers Say Health Plans Are Gouging Medicare" – NPR
I'm more concerned that people are surprised by this than I am that it is actually happening. Read the NPR Blog post. Medicare is a bloated, inefficient system that has so many rules and regulations that I don't even try to think about it because it would ruin my day and keep me from the joys of patient care. Medicaid and the VA system are equally as bad. Good intentions, terrible execution. It's strange to me that we'd create government programs, then turn around and pay a p
Review: "Caring For Our Vets" – KERA.org
This was an interesting discussion between Krys Boyd of NPR/KERA's Think radio program and Dr. Harold Kudler, chief consultant for Mental Health Services for the VA system. Being a physician is like a brother/sisterhood. I do my best not to disparage other physicians, even when I think they are wrong. But this interview had lots of glaring oversights, only a few that I want to mention. [If it was working, we wouldn't be talking about it.] Dr. Kudler thankfully made mention th