The Oregon Association of Naturopathic Physicians is one of the best state associations for my profession. Ever since the ACA was passed they've been working to force insurance companies to cover ND primary care in the same way that they cover MD primary care. I'm happy to hear that they're going after this particular company. If a licensed ND provides basic medical care in a competent fashion, that care should be covered just the same.

I do have mixed feelings about the ACA and negative feelings about insurance in general. I wish that we had a different system.

Link to press release: http://c.ymcdn.com/sites/www.oanp.org/resource/resmgr/Docs/Lawsuit_Press_Release_FINAL_.pdf

You can’t escape that much of what we do in medicine doesn’t make patients better. We work in a system that is driven by perverse incentives: we get paid more for doing more to patients. It’s got to stop.
--Dr Steve Nissen

Apparently 39/50 states have laws protecting the licensed apologizer. To find out if you are safe to say you're sorry, google your state name and "apology law". Here in Oregon, licensed medical practitioners may express regret and make direct apologies when it feels right. I am glad. I want to be able to communicate openly with my patients, and not to feel that I am constrained by risk of liability. If I make a mistake I'd rather talk it through than clam up in fear.

There is a neverending discussion in the medical world about malpractice suits. Doctors who take the time to talk to their patients, and actually care and connect, are not the ones who get sued. Hurried docs who treat the patients as unimportant are the ones who earn malpractice suits from regular people. Of course there are exceptions. There are a few patients who simply wander through life looking for someone to sue; you can't do anything about them except pass them on, and not to a good friend...

MORE INFO
http://mississippimedicalnews.com/legal-perspective-the-ongoing-debate-over-apology-laws-cms-959
( The Oregon lawCollapse )

I'm told that for any petition with over 25,000 signers, the White House promises to give an official response. So we've met that hurdle. Would it be cool if naturopathic medicine were covered in the mandated insurance scheme to come? I'm not sure, but that's the direction we're headed in. I've been contemplating advertising myself as a medical advisor who is NOT biased by what is reimbursable by insurance. After reading recently that at least 9/10 of the lesions removed as supposed melanomas are NOT melanomas, my cynicism has increased a notch. Insurance encourages doctors to do what is covered, and discourages them from doing what is not covered. Too bad insurance rarely covers what is actually needed. As I have, and will continue to say: Insurance is not healthcare. The inclusion of naturopaths in insurance is a double-edged sword.

This is today's headline in the business section of the local newspaper, The Oregonian. The sectors that took the biggest hits were finance and managed care. This supports my conviction that Obama will serve big business interests less than Romney would. Suits me, even though my tiny retirement fund is shrinking again.

If Progressive is proud of their tactics, they should say so. "We fight against claims to keep our costs low, saving you money." But if they're not proud, they should tell the truth, learn from it and apologize.
--Seth Godin
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2012/08/corporations-are-not-people.html

Seems like this is what we'd expect from insurance. It's only unfortunate when you are the one denied coverage.

Repealing Health Care
http://edsteinink.com/2012/07/11/repealing-health-care/
Posted on July 11, 2012
by Ed Stein

This just in: the House voted to repeal the new health care law. That is, the Republicans in the House went through the fruitless exercise of once again voting to do something the Senate has no intention of going along with. This makes sense for Republicans, because it must be really embarrassing for them that Obama managed to pass a law that was almost entirely their idea. The whole notion of the mandate to buy health insurance was cooked up by the Heritage Foundation and endorsed by Mitt Romney when he gave Massachusetts citizens nearly universal coverage. It’s really funny to hear them denounce it all now as a big government intrusion into our lives, and as a–gasp!–tax, which nobody thought to mention until he Supreme Court decided that’s what the penalty for not buying it really is. What troubles me most about the repeal effort is that I don’t hear any Democrats asking the obvious question: WHAT PART OF THE LAW DO YOU WANT TO REPEAL? The part that allows your kids to stay on your plan? The part that prevents insurance companies from denying coverage for pre-existing conditions? The part that ends lifetime limits on coverage? The part that closes the donut hole in Medicare? The part that prevents insurers from kicking you off your plan if you get sick? The part that establishes the state insurance exchanges (another Republican idea)? Or is it just the part that Obama passed it and not Republicans.

And you thought you could trust a pharmaceutical company? LOL, probably not, you're smarter than that. GSK promoted off-label uses for two drugs, and didn't reveal safety information on another. (They make lots of vaccines, in case you don't know.) Scientific research done by corporations with a profit motive is guaranteed to be reported in a biased way. This will be the biggest fine ever paid by a drug company, and it might even big enough to serve as a disincentive to standard pharmaceutical policies of disinformation. Too bad that these drugs are what insurance will pay for, and not preventative care. And too bad that nobody goes to jail; the decisionmakers of GSK get to hide behind the corporation. Maybe their bonuses will get cut. I can only hope. I know there are humans behind these decisions. Humans with greed and pride where their love and compassion ought to be.

NEWS
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20990296/glaxosmithkline-pay-largest-health-care-fraud-fine-history?source=rss
http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/02/12525279-glaxosmithkline-settles-fraud-case-for-3-billion?lite
http://www.cbc.ca/news/health/story/2012/07/02/health-glaxosmithkline-fraud-settlement.html

http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/
There's truth here. And a nice business idea.