The History and State of Health Care in America.

[Bonobo]

I'm going to try again to get this out there and I would appreciate it if people would kick it. I don't care about or want recs.

These are the two greatest (entertaining!!!) and most informative programs I have seen on the subject of health care in America.

If I could pin these to the top of DU, I would. You will enjoy them and learn a lot.

I hope everyone will bookmark this, watch and listen, and then come back to this thread so we can all "be on the same page" and have a great thread discussion.

Money-Driven Medicine
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/08282009/watch.html

Someone Else's Money
http://podcast.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/392.mp3

[Bonobo]

1. Wow! Not a single person kicked this! Was there another balloon boy incident or something? nt

[WeCanWorkItOut]

2. The problem with Money-Driven Medicine

It's not bad. But their solution to our problems seems to be
HMOs with salaried physicians, like Mayo.
That seems to be the only improvement in our health care system
that some of these people want to talk about.
Nothing about educating our fellow citizens about health,
nothing about empowering them.
Also, I have known people who've suffered significant problems
at the Mayo-type clinics.

Also, I can't put all the blame on the insurance companies.
Doctors, hospitals, drug companies all deserve their share of blame.
All waste a lot of money.
(And while I'm being annoying I might as well blame the labor unions
again, for giving away too much, not asking enough questions.)

[Bonobo]

4. That's not how I saw "Money-Driven Medicine's" position.

I saw them identify 3 'culprits' (all of us/them) in a very nuanced way that was further well-balanced with the info from my 2nd link.

[Bonobo]

3. So did anyone watch it? Wasn't the history fascinating?

Did any of you have any idea of the background? I sure didn't!

Now we can discuss it! Whee!

Who will start!?