9.30.2009

Indemnities

Well, I was going to put this up two weeks ago when I first read the book, but hey better late than never right? Also you will note that I have not let the Internet dampen my slacker spirit.

So, anyway. About two weeks ago, I read Atul Gawande's Better: A Surgeon's Notes on Performance, which from the title sounds like a sequel to Complications but, really, is so much more. For starters, it's much more globally encompassing.

And it presents certain issues from the doctors' side.

Seriously, I did not realize how badly screwed doctors were by insurance. I mean, yeah, I've never been a fan of the more outrageous malpractice suits (emotional damages? really?), but at the least I thought that the outrageous rates insurance companies take mean that doctors get paid, every time. Now...the classification system of conditions means that insurance companies can pull all sorts of tricks to pay less, or avoid paying entirely. Which, shockingly enough, makes doctors reluctant to do everything they can--and this doesn't even address how bad Medicare is.

So, yeah. The healthcare system needs an overhaul. It's ridiculous how bogged down this is getting when we could, at the very least, make sure insurance companies aren't owning everyone's asses.

Democrats: drop the public option for now. Republicans: get used to it, big government is as "in" as "going green" these days.

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