Black Ribbon Project
for health care freedom and the doctor-patient relationshipArchive for Health Care Economics
Making eye care affordable
What we can learn from Avarind and McDonald’s.
Watch this remarkable TED talk on how one man used McDonald’s as a template for providing world-class eye care to millions in India.
Defending Health Care Reform in NewSpeak
Another excellent post by Dr. Richard Reese:
The Democratic tactic seems to be: Don’t challenge the facts, change the language or shift the blame…[John] Goodman says: If your health reform policy causes patients’ care to be rationed by forcing them to wait longer for care, don’t call it “rationing,” call it “universal coverage.” If your plan forces physicians to close their practices to new patients, don’t call it “rationing,” call it an “access to care” problem and blame it on the private sector. If your top-down policies create higher premiums and higher taxes, don’t call it bureaucratic bungling, call it lack of “cost-effective care” or lack of “coordinated care.”
Read the rest here.
Health Reform and the Great Unmentionable
Dr. Richard Reece points out something that has been glaringly obvious to me: the intense desire to make everyone accountable for a patient’s health, except the patient himself.
Lack of Patient Compliance as One Cause of Poor Outcomes
June 6, 2011 – U.S. health system critics and health reform zealots often close their minds to a major cause of poor outcomes – lack of patient compliance. Instead , they attribute poor outcomes to lack of universal coverage, socioeconomic distress, or the profit-seeking medical industrial complex.
To say bad outcomes stems from bad behavior to cultural and peer conformity is unmentionable and therefore unspeakable because patients are sacred. Criticism of patients as a source of bad results is off-limits. It is viewed as bad politics. These are potential voters you are criticizing.
Read the rest here.
Medicare Reform: Paying for the Cake You Want to Eat
Op-ed at PJ Media by Black Ribbon Project founder and President, Beth Haynes, MD.
Entitlement Programs Make Us Poorer
Policy Research working Paper by Jean-Pierre Chauffour, Lead Economist International Trade Dept. world Bank.
Symposium for Change
Two days ago I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a symposium co-hosted by the Institute for Humane Studies and the Mercatus Center. Held on the 25th floor of the Hotel Nikko, the views were as stunning as the speakers were inspiring.
Read more here.