At one time it might have been considered blasphemous for a physician to talk about supporting universal health care, but more and more physicians are realizing that the current system of healthcare has failed us.  As long as physicians are paid by the number of services they perform, the temptation will remain for physicians to perform more services than are necessary and to select from those patients whose insurance reimburses at the highest rates.  I found the following article to be a useful summary of the current healthcare issues.

Loren Olson

National Physicians Alliance

 (From www.OpposingViews.com)

In a recent presidential debate, the candidates were asked, “Is health care a right or a responsibility?” The National Physicians Alliance believes it is both. Yet in the United States, formidable barriers stand between patients and ideal medical care. Not only is it difficult for many people to acquire health insurance, but even those with coverage are seeing costs rise.

At a time when patients and their families are already overwhelmed by the financial, emotional, and time demands of interacting with today’s health care system, a movement is underway to make the situation even worse. Insurers and corporations are sneakily shifting the financial burden onto everyday Americans by driving patients into high deductible, high co-pay plans that offer little protection when a person actually needs medical care.  Half of all bankruptcies are now due to medical problems, and in most of these cases, the person declaring bankruptcy had medical insurance.  This trend of burden-shifting has been promoted under the misleading label of “consumer-directed health care.”  Make no mistake: these plans benefit influential insurers and payers, at a high price to actual consumers.  The new Medicare drug plan and “health savings accounts” are two prominent examples of this effort to shift costs to patients—and both are contributing to the dissolution of what it even means to be insured.  The United States may be approaching a time when the word “insured” is nothing but an empty shell, useful for political tabulations but meaningless for patients.  The NPA believes we must have true patient-driven health care by resisting high-deductible health plan proposals and prioritizing accessible, high quality health care for all people.

There are many different options to finance and administer guaranteed, quality, affordable health care and mechanism has its own advantages and disadvantages.  Thus, we endorse the five principles of health care reform identified by the Institute of Medicine as the basis for a just and moral health care system:

1.    Health care coverage should be universal.

1.    No one should be excluded based on poor health status, a pre-existing condition or chronic illness.

2.     There should be few or no administrative barriers to obtaining or renewing insurance.

3.     Coverage should be guaranteed to all persons in the United States.

2.    Health care coverage should be continuous.

1.    Everyone should have access to a primary care provider and medical home throughout their lifespan.

2.    Continuous coverage must be transportable across employment, unemployment or geographic relocation.

3.    Health care coverage should be affordable to individuals and families.

1.    Every American should have access to insurance premium they can afford.  Financial assistance will be necessary for lower-income people.

2.     Co-pays and deductibles present a barrier to care for low-income people. They tend to discourage people from obtaining necessary medical care. We oppose co-payments that impose significant financial barriers to care.

4.    The health insurance strategy should be affordable and sustainable for society.

1.    Physicians and other health care providers must place renewed emphasis on the stewardship of clinical resources.

2.    Costs should be distributed equitably across the entire population.

3.    Any reform should minimize administrative cost, and simplify enrollment, underwriting, and billing procedures.

4.    The government should be able to negotiate prices with pharmaceutical and medical device companies to ensure quality, low-cost medications for all.

5.    Health insurance should enhance health and well-being by promoting access to high-quality care that is effective, efficient, safe, timely, patient-centered, and equitable.

1.    Basic benefit packages must include preventive and screening services, prescription drugs, dental care, and mental health care as well as outpatient and hospital services.

2.    Payment strategies should promote evidence-based medical care.

3.    Reforms such as malpractice reform should promote patient safety and enhance patient care.

Evidence

Institute of Medicine

Insuring America’s Health: Principles and Recommendations. Washington D.C.: National Academy Press, 2004.

To read the rest of this discussion and read opposing views, click here: 

 http://tinyurl.com/yz9gojd

This following article from the Family Reserach Council, the self-described ”defenders of faith, family and freedom”  is so disgusting, I don’t need to make a comment, but I will.  The FRC is so wrong on so many different levels.  Being gay is not a “life style.”  A lack of tolerance pushes men who have sex with men into the underground where the risks of HIV are much greater  http://www.bestgayblogs.com/2009/06/featured-political-blogs/tolerance-reduces-risk-of-hiv/  To consider it “a waste” to dedicate an amount of $250,000 to develop programs for increasing numbers of senior LGBT people is disgusting, and to think they consider themselves the “defenders of family,” as if we don’t have families and are not a part of their families.

Loren Olson

Before we entrust Secretary Kathleen Sebelius with health care reform, maybe Americans should take a closer look at how her Department spends other taxpayer dollars. Even The Washington Post called Friday’s announcement from Health and Human Services (HHS) an “eye opener,” writing that the President’s “gay outreach continues.” A $1.4 trillion deficit aside, HHS has set aside a quarter million dollars to launch the first-ever National Resource Center for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Elders.

Apparently, our nation is never too broke to advance a radical social agenda. The agency released a statement on the Center last week, saying its purpose would be to “help community-based organizations understand the unique needs… of older LGBT individuals and assist them in implementing programs for local service providers…”

In the release, HHS regurgitates the Left’s propaganda to justify the waste, claiming that “1.5 to 4 million” LGBTs are age 60 and older. In reality, HHS has no idea how many LGBT seniors exist. No one does! The movement is only a few decades old, and people who are 80- or 90-years-old didn’t grow up in a culture where it was acceptable to identify with this lifestyle.

Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council

Of course, the real tragedy here–apart from the unnecessary spending–is that, given the risks of homosexual conduct, few of these people are likely to live long enough to become senior citizens!

Yet once again, the Obama administration is rushing to reward a lifestyle that poses one of the greatest public health risks in America. If this is how HHS prioritizes, imagine what it could do with a trillion dollar health care overhaul!

To read more on this topic, click here:  http://tiny.cc/hrEZK

By Vanessa Barrington, EcoSalon. Posted October 26, 2009.

 From www.AlterNet.org

Wanna be happy and kick Prozac to the curb? Start eating your fruits and vegetables, nuts, whole grains, beans, fish and olive oil. We’ve long known that a Mediterranean diet is good for the heart, but it turns out it’s also good for the mood.

In a study published earlier this month, Spanish researchers looked at the diets of 10,000 people and found those who mainly ate a Mediterranean diet had lower depression rates than those who did not. The study compiled data from Spanish people who reported their dietary intake on a questionnaire between 1999 and 2005.

To read the rest of the article, click here:

 Can Your Diet Make You Happy? | Health and Wellness | AlterNet

 Oct 20 2009, 4:00 pm by Shauna Miller

 In a new paper on the efficacy of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” published in this month’s Joint Force Quarterly, Col. Om Prakash boils down half a century of Pentagon-commissioned studies on gays in the military into seven short pages. Reviewing the research, he finds that the facts of gay servicemembers’ fitness to serve have changed little over 50 years. But the reports themselves reveal something more: The Defense Department’s own criticisms of military policies toward gay soldiers have remained consistent, too.

The DoD has funded studies on the impact of gay servicemembers as far back as 1957, when the Navy’s Crittenden Report found “no factual data” to support the idea that they posed a greater security risk than heterosexual personnel. Straight officers boasting secrets due to “feelings of inadequacy” were a realer threat, it found. Despite these findings, the report recommended no changes to dismissal policies, for a reason that would define the department’s stance on open service into the 21st century: “The service should not move ahead of civilian society nor attempt to set substantially different standards in attitude or action with respect to homosexual offenders.”

Oct 24th, 2009 | By Velvet Blade | Read more in: GLBTQ

October 23, 2009

I was speaking to Catherine Turner at the Services and Advocacy for GLBT Elders (SAGE) office in New York City where I had gone to discuss my book about coming out in mid-life.  She said that one of their young male staffers had made that comment when they were discussing older LGBT coming out.

I told the story to my agent the next day.  She’s a little younger than me, but close enough in age to see the humor in the young man’s comment.  He made three mistakes:

1. Forty is just the beginning of middle age.

2. Men and women have sex far beyond forty years of age.

3. Being gay is about far more than just having sex.

As a man who came out at forty, I had heard the comment that men were over-the-gay-hill when they turned thirty.  I was already 10 years behind the curve.  The image of the physically fit twenty-something man does fit the stereotype (which gay people have bought into as much as heterosexuals) but it certainly does not fit reality.

 Frank Kameny’s collection of gay rights memorabilia, on display in Washington D.C.

Although sexual functioning does begin to change as people get older, in fact, for many it improves.  As one matures, sexuality expands beyond just an orgasm to incorporate a much larger idea of what love-making is about.  In fact, that often forms the basis for relationships of younger men with older men.

With men and women living to be much older than they did before, forty is barely middle-age.  The fifth decade more aptly defines middle age and some have identified it as the most stressful decade of men’s lives (a little younger for women).

During the fifties men begin to feel the impact of middle age a little more:

•  
  • Aging of parents
  • Changes in health
  • Obituaries are scanned for the names of friends
  • Careers plateau
  • Physical changes become more noticeable
  • Changes in sexual function

As men mature, sex does diminish as the organizing force of one’s life and there is a greater sense of mastery and autonomy.  As men become older they may begin to distance themselves from an all-encompassing gay identity, and their identity is integrated with all other aspects of their lives.  Men who have concealed their sexual orientation may face a new sense of urgency about coming out, and may have a less concern about the losses they have feared would come with public disclosure.

As one passes through that fifth decade, it is possible to enjoy a new sense of freedom not experienced by younger men.  I would love to have a conversation with that young SAGE staffer.

There is an economic theory that says, “Losses loom larger than gains.”  It suggests that for all of us, as we think about making decisions, we more easily focus on what will be lost than what will be gained.  I think this lies behind a lot of the reason why men who believe they are gay may choose not to come out, at least not for a while.

 Each of us knows what we have, and presumably we have it because we believe we want those things.  We know what we have and aren’t sure we want to let go of it.

 On the other hand, the future is uncertain.  We can’t know what it is like to live a gay life until we have begun to do so.  Most of us who have made the decision to come out realize after having done so that the losses were less than we anticipated and the rewards are greater.

 One of my favorite sayings is that “All of life’s important decisions are made without enough information.”  We must take a leap of faith.

            Internet camera communication is being used for a wide variety of purposes —  from business conferencing, to military families with deployed loved ones, and yes, virutual sex, but will video visits with your doctor substitute for face to face visits?  Virtual visits to your doctor could improve efficiency and access for both the doctor and the patient.  http://abcnews.go.com/Video/playerIndex?id=7530334

Dr. Olson appearing on "Bringing Back the House Call, Virtually" ABC News, Good Morning America

            Some possible uses for video calling with your doctor:  

• Introductory visits
• Follow-up where a physical examination is not required, eg. Reporting lab results, refilling routine medications
• Consultation with specialist with limited availability

            Although we have more psychiatrists per capita in the U. S. than any other country, 50% of those with significant depression cannot access psychiatric care. The important book, Crisis, http://www.crisisbook.org/ relates the stories of forty gay men and women who have struggled with the conflicts of coming out as young men and women, but the problems of older men who have sex with men, particularly those who do not self-define as gay, is rarely discussed except in sensational headlines as someone’s secret life is exposed.   

            These men, who often live hidden lives, are also at great risk for depression, alcohol and drug abuse, and sexually transmitted diseases.  A video call might allow access for them to an otherwise unavailable, gay-supportive health care provider.

            Although video calling is frequently used for anonymous virtual sex, these contacts, just like contacts in the real world, can lead to intimate personal relationships that are based on friendship rather than sex.   While some men are seeking only a quick orgasm, others are finding access to a diverse group of gay men who have struggled successfully with this conflict. 

            While cam to cam counseling may not be as good as face to face consultation, it may offer be the only alternative available to some men.  Where it has been used for counseling, acceptance has been high.  Insurance companies usually deny payment for these visits, but the costs may be offset by less time from work.

            My daughter expected that there might be a few difficult questions when she told my granddaughters about my upcoming marriage.  Although Doug has been a fundamental part of my life for over 20 years, and the entire lives of my granddaughters, from time to time they had said things like, “I didn’t know that two men slept together.”

            My daughter began to prepare them, “You know we’re going to Iowa soon.”

            “Yes,” they responded.

            “We’re going because Grandpa and Doug are getting married,” my daughter went on.

            Then, my granddaughter responded, “Really? Who are they marrying?”

            “Well – They’re getting married to each other.”

            Puzzled, my granddaughter said, “That’s weird.”  After a long, thoughtful pause, my granddaughter asked, “Will there be cake?”

            In the innocent mind of a child, the most important question about gay marriage is, “Will there be cake?”

                My granddaughters are just old enough that they had recently had “the talk” about sex.  As they drove to Iowa for the wedding, they had some questions.

            “You mean you have to do THAT every time you want to have a baby?”

            “Yes,” my daughter responded. 

            It was quiet in the back seat for a long time, until one of them asked, “Will Grandpa and Doug be doing that?”

            Quickly, my daughter responded, “No, they don’t want children.”  Sometimes, just knowing that there will be cake is enough.