wow- Confessions of a managed-care medical director - denied an operation, caused man's death, more

[The Straight Story]

Confessions of a managed-care medical director

While much of the debate over health care talks about the tens of millions of Americans who aren't covered, another, very compelling part of the debate has to do with those who are covered -- or think they are covered -- and how the insurance companies treat them.

It's a shame that documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has become a fringe figure -- his new film is an attack on capitalism, which will give tens of millions of Americans all the permission they need to dismiss or ignore anything he's said in any of his movies. Because "Sicko," his documentary on health care, raises many valid and troubling questions about how the health-insurance industry really operates.

One scene features C-SPAN2 footage of Dr. Linda Peeno's testimony to a congressional subcommittee. As a medical director for an insurance company, she was, she admits, a death panel of one.

Some excerpts:

I am here primarily today to make a public confession. In the spring of 1987, as a physician, I denied a man a necessary operation that would have saved his life and thus caused his death.

No person and no group has held me accountable for this because, in fact, what I did was I saved the company a half a million dollars for this.

And furthermore, this particular act secured my reputation as a good medical director, and it ensured my advancement in the health care industry--in little more than a year, I went from making a few hundred dollars per week to an annual six-figure income.

In all my work, I had one primary duty and that was to use my medical expertise for the financial benefit of the organization for which I worked and according to the managed care industry... it is not an ethical issue to sacrifice a human being for a savings, no matter how that savings occurs. And I was repeatedly told that I was not denying care. I was simply denying payment..... if I am an expert here today, it is because I know how managed care maims and kills patients....

I turned preexisting exclusions into a game as I tried to connect almost any prior medical complaint or visit as a reason to deny payment...

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2009/09/confessions-of-a-managedcare-medical-director.html

Death Panels are ok as long it is a corporation doing it and helping the investors get more money to buy new playthings.

[The Magistrate]

1. Exactly, Sir....

[The Straight Story]

2. And later down the article is this gem from Nixon

Ehrlichman: Edgar Kaiser is running his Permanente deal for profit. And the reason that he can … the reason he can do it … I had Edgar Kaiser come in … talk to me about this and I went into it in some depth. All the incentives are toward less medical care, because … the less care they give them, the more money they make.

Nixon: Fine

Ehrlichman: And the incentives run the right way.

Nixon: Not bad.

Not bad, indeed. Here's Nixon in a speech the following day:

I am proposing today a new national health strategy. It helps more people to pay for care--but it also expands the supply of health services and makes them more efficient. It emphasizes keeping people well--and not just making people well. The purpose of this program is simply this: I want America to have the finest health care in the world--and I want every American to be able to get that care when he needs it.

[andym]

3. This story should be publicized far and wide.

I see it was in the Chicago Tribune. Let's try to boost it's popularity by clicking through from google news. That should make it more prominent on google.

http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=t&ct2=us%2F0_0_s_1_0_t&usg=AFQjCNEVnpZjrt2zNY35k0X3gHRMlHSx9w&sig2=8uIrqdhvitzDitDBr48zaw&cid=0&ei=YSKpSvilEJC6NsPAk4gC&rt=SEARCH&vm=STANDARD&url=http%3A%2F%2Fblogs.chicagotribune.com%2Fnews_columnists_ezorn%2F2009%2F09%2Fconfessions-of-a-managedcare-medical-director.html

[rurallib]

4. The media has declared Moore a fringe figure to stunt his impact

Nice that Zorn picks this up as truth.
In our upside down world words that are harmless have taken on sinister meanings such as liberal, socialism etc.
Similarly people from the fringe become mainstream like Hannity and Beck and Limbaugh while good common folks like Michael Moore and Howard Dean are said to be fringe.

This is what unchecked power, money and influence in the media can do.

[The Straight Story]

5. They can make the messenger look bad as they want, but does affect the message

:)

[The Straight Story]

6. night time kick (nt)

[bananas]

7. kick nt

[redqueen]

8. Yes... apparently Palin loves death panels as long as there's a profit. (nt)