OT: Health Cost Was: My continuing saga with power supply bypassing

Joerg <notthisjoergsch@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> Agree. It takes a bit more to cross the line and usually you only
> see that in areas such as medical or politics. Invitations to
> ritzy resorts for a "seminar", and oh yeah, of course the family
> can tag along.

> Regards, Joerg

OT: With the crooked voting machines from Diebold, politics is so
bad it's not even worth discussing:

http://politics.slashdot.org/politics/07/04/27/1515255.shtml

Medicine is perhaps even worse:

"Nearly all US doctors have links with drug companies"

US and Australian researchers said in the study that 25 percent of
doctors surveyed said they had received direct payments from
pharmaceutical producers.

In addition, fully 94 percent of practicing doctors "have at least
one type of relationship with the drug industry," though this most
often means receiving food in the workplace or sample prescription
drugs.

"Relationships with industry are a fundamental part of the way
medicine is practiced today. The real questions relate to how much
is too much and how far is too far," said a summary of the study
released Wednesday.

The study, to be published in the April 26 issue of the New England
Journal of Medicine, comes in the wake of several scandals in the
health and research industries over conflicts of interest.

Last year, for instance, Dr Trey Sunderland of the US National
Institutes of Health was shown to have received 285,000 dollars from
Pfizer, the world's largest drug company, for cooperating with them
without having informed his superiors at the government health
research agency.

The study found that drug and medical device manufacturers single
out doctors in certain areas and doctors with influence over others
to develop close relationships, offering things like payments for
consulting and honoraria for speaking engagements.

Cardiologists are a key target of the industry's consulting and
other payments, in part because they can influence what drugs and
devices other doctors choose, said lead researcher Eric Campbell of
the Institute for Health Policy at Massachusetts General Hospital
and Harvard Medical School.

"Cardiology is a highly influential specialty within the medical
profession. If the drug and device industry can influence
cardiologists, they can likely influence the prescribing practices
of other doctors," said Campbell.

"It appears that these relationships benefit physicians and
industry, but the important policy question is to what extent do
these relationships benefit patients in the terms of the care they
receive," he said.

The researchers note that more payments go to doctors who develop
clinical guidelines and mentor other doctors in training than to
other types of doctors.

"I know it's cliche, but if it didn't work, drug companies wouldn't
do it," said David Blumenthal, director of the Institute for Health
Policy.

"It appears pretty clear that industry forms tighter relationships
with doctors who are really the thought leaders, the ones who are
likely to affect the behavior of other doctors," Blumenthal said.

According to the summary, the authors of the study said their
findings should "raise alarms" to do more to prevent health
manufacturers from having too much influence over doctors.

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/health/view/272601/1/.html

The original article in the New England Journal of Medicine:

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/full/356/17/1742

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It makes you wonder if these relationships have anything to do with
the high cost of medicine. Here's an example:

"Uninsured patient billed more than $12,000 for broken rib"

There are 47 million people in this country without health
insurance. Richmond resident Joey Palmer is one of them.

He learned how costly this can be after fracturing a rib in a
relatively minor motorcycle accident and subsequently being hit with
a bill for more than $12,000 from San Francisco General Hospital.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/03/30/BUG1LOTC6T75.DTL

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The cost directly affects health insurance. This was discussed here
recently, and it is a serious problem.

"Health insurance options dwindle for self-employed"

Group plans are being dropped or becoming unaffordable to many.

A major source of health insurance for people who work for
themselves is disappearing, casting thousands of contractors,
freelancers and solo practitioners into the ranks of the uninsured
with little hope of obtaining new coverage.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-insure27mar27,0,4490954.story

Regards,

Mike Monett
.

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