dispatches from the new world of work

TomChirp #19

I desperately want to see a thoroughgoing healthcare overhaul (patient safety, an end to pay-by-procedure, and the exaltation of primary care docs are the main planks in my platform). But I was nonetheless fascinated by the lead article in the June 29 IBD/Investors Business Daily—"Uninsured Figures Overhype the Lack of Health Coverage." IBD points to several reasonable analyses that tally the involuntarily uninsured in the U.S.A. at about 20 million, or even less, rather than the "popular" 45 million+ stat. IBD is a conservative rag, to be sure, but this analysis points up the always obvious state of affairs: it's a dead flat cinch, left or right, to "interpret" statistics about the same phenomenon in RADICALLY different ways.

Tom Peters posted this on 06/29/09.

Comments

Here in Canada, health care is not easy. If I want my yearly annual check up - I must wait 8 months for a 20 minute appointment (that's right, 8 months). If I have the flu or anything off, I wait two weeks because I know I will not get in to see my doctor. She is part of a clinic where I can not even get to see the other doctors, but I do respect her and it is impossible to get onto the waiting list of good doctors.
I do get mammograms but with old equipment and now there are reports of thousands of errors in breast cnacer testing. Thousands of misread biopsies!
I pay a hefty Ontario monthly tax for the health care so don't think health care is "free". If I add up time I have seen a doctor and how much taxes I have personally paid, well there is a huge gap. I might prefer to pick my own insurance company and this could be mandatory like car insurance is required by law.
Medical does not cover dentist, drugs, etc.
I am getting very good at Google diagnostics instead.
For my aging Dad, the Albertan health care system was good at paying to get him through a heart attack and into a nursing home.
Govt health care is a very complex issue and government health care makes it easy to be complacent about health. Reported in the National Post paper this weekend - a cancer expert visiting from another country said they had never seen so many advanced cancers as in Canada. I can believe it as the front end doctoring is difficult to access, and then they do not want to send you for testing.
Also, as a former union member I do not want to bash unions but can they at least have a minimum level of cleanliness to achieve? No passion there.

Posted by Jacoline Loewen at June 29, 2009 3:31 PM

"It’s a dead flat cinch, left or right, to "interpret" statistics about the same phenomenon in RADICALLY different ways."

This is the main reason for "think" tanks. It's not about thought but about taking a position and proving the position. It would be advantageous for a change to take the opposite position and prove that. But, of course, we never do that because we really do not want to challenge our assumptions.

We much prefer to prove our points, even to the detriment of many. There is a dearth of empirical thinkers in many fields, including medicine and politics many of whom are bought by big business. As the commercials repeat ad nausea "Ask your doctor about...may cause blindness..."

Posted by Judith Ellis at July 1, 2009 5:08 AM