Health junction

For the 50 million people without insurance in the United States, this blog is for you. How do you obtain health care if you have no insurance? There are four basic methods for accessing care sans health insurance financing and they are; pay with cash or credit per clinical visit, frequent public health centers in urban areas, access community health centers in rural and metropolitan areas, and use the old standby, hospital emergency departments. The average person who is without insurance may feel there are no options other than paying out of pocket for treatment and worse yet, frequenting the emergency room for care. The lack of health insurance does limit the number of clinicians who will serve the patient, but there are two institutional remedies in America, the public health system and federally qualified health clinics. Both of these organizations are designed to provide primary health care on an as-needed basis for under-served populations, including the uninsured. CHC-Community...

Since 2008 is an election year, there will be much attention on domestic issues and the elephant in the room is health care reform. This healthpolicymaven blog reviews five fundamental questions and their importance in creating a more effective health care system for Americans. Does everyone have access to some type of primary care? Is the United States government optimizing its purchasing power for public programs? Are provider reimbursements in line with health care goals? Is there a mechanism for eliminating unnecessary and costly redundancies in a fragmented delivery system? Is the financing of health care for the country adequate and equitable? Access to Care First of all, access to care is not the same as access to health insurance. Health insurance is one of the financing mechanisms for health care, it does not provide care. Secondly, access means adequacy of supply in relation to the demand for services, especially primary care services. Presently there are significant shortage...

Booth Gardner, former Washington State Governor is campaigning to have physician-assisted suicide legalized in Washington State. Since the New York Times published an article on his initiative the same week the healthpolicymaven posted an article about palliative care and medical directives, a closer look at the ramifications of the proposed legislation follows. Gardner is traveling throughout the state soliciting support for an Oregon style assisted suicide law, which would allow physicians to provide patients with suicide medication dosing under very specific circumstances. A similar measure was put before Washington voters in 1991 and defeated by 54% of the voters. Though suicide is legal in Washington, physician aided death is not. Here are the provisions for the proposed Death with Dignity referendum if it copies Oregon State Law: -Permits legally competent patients who are at least eighteen years of age, state residents, and who suffer from a terminal disease, to obtain lethal pr...

February 2, 2008, is the one-year anniversary of my brother�s death, due to the collapse of his pulmonary function following complications from a kidney transplant. Because he couldn�t breathe on his own, following a failed final course of treatment for the pneumonia, the decision was made to remove his breathing tube. It took approximately three weeks from the time of his initial plea until he was at peace. Though Russell entered the Hospital with a Do Not Recessitate (DNR) and had instructions on what he would agree to for treatment, the process of allowing a patient to die on his own terms is not a simple one. My sister, an experienced hospice nurse, held his medical power of attorney. Once the family had gathered we discussed his wishes and everyone was in agreement. A meeting with a member of the ethics committee of the hospital was required, followed by explicit instructions for the transplant unit. With each shift change we needed to make sure the directives for no additional in...