Ken's Comments

The following was published in the Town and Country on April 1 - and not this is not an April fools joke. :-) Why the Health Care Reform Legislation really is bad. The health reform law is a road to disaster paved with good intentions. Start with the nice ideas to protect consumers which, coupled with higher taxes, raise the cost of health insurance. To offset higher costs, the law provides subsidies that are nice if you enjoy a lower paying job. Along with costs, taxes and the deficit will go up too. What goes down is health insurance competition. When President Obama started this process he promised a thoroughbred horse instead we got a three legged camel. For example, didn’t President Obama say he wanted the cost of health insurance to go down? Instead costs will go up because the Democrats wanted to be so good to us. Added to the taxes and regulatory red tape they heaped on insurance companies, there are a bunch of new health benefits that you have to pay for regardless of ...

So I've listed what the problems are - cost, quality, extending coverage - and addressed each. There are still some random items I'd like to talk about and I'll do that here. Can the health care system handle 47 million new customers? The following story says no: http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20090807/hl_hsn/expandinghealthcoveragemaynotimproveaccess The story says that our health care infrastructure - the number of doctors and hospitals - would be swamped if 47 million new customers entered the market. The experience in Massachusetts, where the state made health care universal confirms this to be true. You cannot just walk into an office and see a doctor in Massachusetts, you have to schedule a visit far in advance. Traditional means by which Government controls costs will make this worse - Okay, Massachusetts has a shortage of physicians and rising costs. So what does Massachusetts do? They talk about lowering how much they will pay doctors. So if you are a doctor...

In previous posts, I have defined what I think the problems are - cost, quality, coverage. I have discussed what I think can and is being done about it. Now, I'll talk about the so-called Government health plan and, equally important, the health insurance exchange and why I think these are a bad idea. The Government Plan is a precursor to a government take over of the health care industry - at least the financing of it -- One night, there was a clip of President Obama denying this. The President said "No one is talking about a government takeover of health care." The very next film clip was of U.S. Representative Barney Frank saying that he supports the Government Plan idea because he wants to use it to push for a single payer system. So President Obama is misinformed, someone IS talking about a government takeover of health care (at least health care financing) and that someone is a very powerful member of his own party. And I think there are many others besides R...

In Part 1, I said there are three problems - cost, quality, and extending coverage to 47 million people. I then went on to talk about the coverage problem. Now to discuss the cost and quality issues. Quality - studies show that medical care in this country can be of poor quality. Hundreds of thousands die each year from mistakes. Others suffer prolonged illnesses due to poor quality care. This creates human misery and also contributes substantially to higher costs. A number of things that need to be done, have been done or are started Reporting medical errors - the federal government set up a process for hospitals to self-report medical errors. Many states have done the same thing. Promote e-prescribing - Medicare has done this and many providers are using it. E-prescribing means sending a prescription from a doctor to the pharmacy electronically. When this is done, medical management systems can review a person's prescription history and help identify when a prescription ...

This is the first in a series of articles on health care reform. I am trying to address this in a logical fashion not the attack mode that both sides seem to be taking in DC. What are the problems that need to be solved: Cost - The overall costs of healthcare are too high. There is a difference between the cost of healthcare and the cost of health insurance. There are also relationships between the two: the cost of healthcare drives the cost of insurance higher, the way insurance works drives healthcare costs higher. Quality - Studies show that hundreds of thousands of people die each year and many more suffer prolonged illness due due to poor care. Poor care that results in added treatment also drives up the cost of healthcare. Provide coverage to those who are uninsured - This is not the same as increasing benefits. We have 47 million people (according to reports) who have no benefits. We should find a way to enable them to get coverage. 2. Providing coverage to those who are ...

As the Bush Administration's term in office winds down we get to see who is interested in doing what is right for the Country versus who is interested in doing what is right for their party on display. President Bush, by all accounts, has been extremely gracious and helpful to the incoming Obama administration. On the other hand, we see actions that indicate Speaker Pelosi will consolidate her control of the House of Representative so that all dissenting opinions will be pushed down. The Country has not benefitted from the extreme partisanship of the Democrats during the last two years of the Bush Administration and the country will not benefit if the Democrats continue this behavior during the Obama Administration. During the post-election period, President Bush has allowed President-elect Obama to move to center stage on economic issues. A political commentator described it as the U.S. having two Presidents -- one on domestic policy (Obama) and one on foreign policy (Bush). Presi...

Earlier I commented on Wolf Blitzer's really poor performance on an interview with Sen. Christopher Dodd that occurred on CNN last week. Later the same day, I saw Sheppard Smith, on Fox News, interviewing U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney confronted with a similar situation. His response was an example for all interviewers. Representative Maloney started to say that the Bailout meeting last week blew up because of Sen. John McCain. Sheppard Smith immediately interjected saying "Wait a minute..." Mr. Smith went on, in a polite fashion, to say that Fox News reports suggested that Sen. McCain was quiet at the meetings, that it was the House Republicans who objected, which led to Sen. Harry Reid blowing up. Mr. Smith then, in a non-confrontational way (e.g. not as a "Gotcha") asked Rep. Maloney if she could confirm or deny those reports. This caused Rep. Maloney to state that she was not in the meeting and really couldn't say what happened. That's good intervie...