I told you so. I also told the POTUS in my open letter, but he did not read it.
Who could honestly believe the nation would support dumping coverage for 22 million people? As David Leonhard wrote recently op-ed in the New York Times: “They [Republicans and President Trump] had only one big weakness, in fact: They weren’t dealing in reality.” When faced with reality, it is interesting what a few good Senators with a conscience will refuse to do.
Success is never attained by taking shortcuts. We do not need reform of health care; we need to reboot the entire system. Special interests do not belong in the picture. They are incompatible with developing innovative solutions that place profits on the back burner. Congress is making this too difficult. They need to roll up their sleeves, go back to the drawing board, and start again. My suggestions:
Step 1: Every member of Congress should participate in a mock hospital admission as a patient, starting with presentation to the ER, being poked and prodded, having surgery if necessary, and staying overnight to recuperate. After your experience, you should be provided a “bill” on your way out the door and pay the balance by cash or check.
Step 2: Go see your own primary care physician for two reasons. The first is to have an annual exam and to connect with your constituents in the waiting room, solicit their comments, thoughts, or suggestions, and converse with office staff to understand their perspective. The second reason is to elicit feedback directly from your primary care physician. Listen for groundbreaking solutions to the perplexing boondoggle of caring for greater numbers at a lower cost.
Extra credit: Follow a primary care physician in a Health Professional Shortage Area (HPSA) for three days. Listen, engage, clarify, empathize, and most importantly absorb how monumental this undertaking of reforming health care will be.
Who knew healthcare could be so complex? The GOP proposal for health care reform rests on health savings accounts and high deductible health plans. The basic premise is that price opacity, and deep pocketed third party payers drive up the cost of health care. Giving patients dollars in health savings accounts they control should make them price sensitive, and thus help reduce the cost of healthcare. A recent analysis by Drs. Chandra and others provides an interesting perspective on the matter.
ONC’s first 
Health care providers love to vaunt the unique and subtle needs of patients. How many ads have you heard from cancer centers or health clinics touting their flexibility and showing grateful, tear-flecked patients?
There are 80,000 new cases of primary brain tumors diagnosed every year in the United States. About 26,000 of these cases are of the malignant variety – and John McCain unfortunately joined their ranks last week. In cancer, fate is defined by cell type, and the adage is of particular relevance here.
