Hi Ian - Thank you for reincarnating your previou...

2009-10-31T09:17:40.140-04:00

Hi Ian -

Thank you for reincarnating your previous comment. I agree that (a) it is still on target and (b) that's too bad, because it means that we - the body politic - have not learned much in the intervening time.

In psychiatry since Freud's era there has been a lot of reflection on the impediments to change. Freud developed the concept of "working through" - the idea that problematic areas often have to be approached repeatedly, and from different angles, to bring about change. That's how I think about the issues you've pointed to.

If Congress passes legislation and the President signs it we'll have a long and complex period of implementation. That process will give lots of opportunity to legislators and the public for better understanding of what needs to be done in health care. And, once the legislative battles are over, we can hope that the amount of demagoguery and disinformation will diminish!

As always, it's good to hear from you!

Best

Jim

Hi Jim, Excellent post. Almost 2 years back, I ...

2009-10-28T14:52:43.625-04:00

Hi Jim,

Excellent post.

Almost 2 years back, I commented on a different post - and I think part of that post is relevant to this topic. It's unfortunate that in these last 2 years, not much has changed.

"This brings us to what I feel is the crux of the health care policy debate: Many Americans are too quick to equate “health care reform” with “health insurance reform.” There is a responsibility to define, establish and maintain an optimal American health care system that falls to every American, not only those in the insurance industry. If we consider the origins of what we, as Americans, consider to be “typical” health insurance – that is, employer or state provided, premium-based coverage, we can then grasp the full extent, and full limitations of such a system. In 1956, E.J. Faulkner, then-president of the Health Insurance Association of America, summed this up perfectly when he wrote “No one group or organization can claim credit for fulfilling-or approaching fulfillment-of all the public's needs for protection against the cost of ill health.”

Health insurance is just part of the equation in the movement towards true and lasting health care reform. Just as then President Clinton said in 1998, and his wife continues to echo today on the campaign trail: true success in the endeavors towards health care reform will be achieved only through a willing and committed partnership between all entities and institutions of the collected health care fields and industries. This must include leadership from the medical science community that is unadulterated by profit, and seeks only to realistically set the medical parameters of what the world’s best health care delivery system could ultimately provide to every American citizen."

The comment also alluded to a speech given by President Clinton in 1998 – one that President Obama may want to refer to as he seeks to inject, as he should, a clear, concise and moving message as to why sweeping reform is so desperately needed:

“Our job, representing all the American people, is not to abolish managed care. Our job is to restore managed care to its proper role in American life, which is to give us the most efficient and cost-effective system possible consistent with our first goal, which is -- managed care or regular care, the first goal is quality health care for the American people. That is our job.”

Comments on Health Care Organizational Ethics: Insurers and Health Care Costs

Hi Ian - Thank you for reincarnating your previou...

Hi Jim, Excellent post. Almost 2 years back, I ...