Enjoy Your Doctor Visits While You Can
August 19, 2009 By Melanie Segala
Managing Editor, Total Health Breakthroughs | Are the President and Congress cooking up a plan to dump helpless seniors and disabled persons into "medical homes" in order to reduce costs to Medicare and HMOs? That's the worry of some private citizens and healthcare professionals including the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest (CMPI). Buried in the Obama health care reform bill is a proposal to establish a "medical home pilot program" to care for elderly and disabled citizens. As pitched by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, the plan would provide a medical home for every citizen while the country transitions from a sickness-based to a wellness-based health system.1 While it may sound compassionate at first glance, the medical home would be run by nurse practitioners and physician assistants who would dole out treatment to residents without the supervision of a physician. Instead, they would follow the guidelines of EBM (evidence-based medicine) -- a formulaic approach that is based on statistical and clinical research. According to CMPI, while EBM is a valuable tool in the hands of an experienced practitioner, it is now being "distorted by government bureaucrats and HMOs in ways that impose top-down, one-size-fits-all restrictions on patients and their healthcare providers." 2 In other words, cookie-cutter medicine will be practiced by partially trained medical personnel in order to save the government and private insurance companies money. American Life League's Judie Brown is even more blunt when she says, "the nationalized health-care system appears more and more like a behind-the-scenes project based on government control over who lives and who dies."3 There may be some shocking truth to this when you consider the fact that the pilot program will be targeting Medicare recipients with a high medical "risk score" or who require continual monitoring or treatment. Does this sound like the type of person whose sole medical treatment should be coming from a nurse? Along with the lack of physician care for individuals that may need it most, I have some serious reservations about the government implementing and overseeing this huge healthcare undertaking. There are currently 22 million people that are eligible for the medical home program3 -- the combined populations of Michigan and Pennsylvania! Can the government really implement a workable program to care for this staggering number of people? What kind of oversight will there be and who will take the ultimate responsibility for their well-being? Will we simply be adding jobs to the already bloated government payroll or is there real cost-savings in this plan? Our current health care system needs a major overhaul, but is this too much of a risk to ourselves and our loved ones? It's up to us as concerned citizens to ask these questions and get satisfactory answers before we agree to support the proposed health care reform bill. You can check out the website Free Republic, for a breakdown of some of the hidden points of the bill. If you're like me, you'll be shocked at how much government control and rationing there will be over every area of health care. If these measures concern you then join other activists in your area to demand honest answers from your congress person. And maybe most important of all, now is the time to be proactive about your own health. The Total Health Breakthroughs website and e-letter are filled with cutting edge articles from Dr. Al Sears and other THB experts on how to improve your diet, choose the right supplements, and stay muscular and lean well into your golden years. If you'd like a good starting point, read Dr. Tim Reynolds recent THB article on Why You Need a Personal Health Plan. It may mean the difference between walking briskly past a government-run medical home or being wheeled in. References - http://www.aafp.org/online/en/home/publications/news/news-now/government-medicine
/20090515sebelius-paradigm.html - http://www.cmpi.org/in-the-news/in-the-news/house-bill-would-establish-medical-homes-
for-the-elderly-and-disabled/ - http://jaxhawk.blogtownhall.com/2009/07/31/does_america_want_to_substitute_medical_
homes_for_hospitals_for_the_old_people.thtml Rate this article:  or leave us a comment |
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