Obama Administration Cuts Deal with Big Insurance (and others)

I smell quid pro quo.

Two events occurred on May 21.

The Los Angeles Times reported the fact that the Obama administration (aka, Big Government) has cut a deal with AHIP (Big Insurance). (hat tip Matt Drudge, who picked up the story.)

In exchange for holding down premium increases next year, the administration has promised the insurance industry a bailout worth billions of taxpayer dollars if the insurance companies lose money in the process.  The bailout is hidden in regulations that were issued a little over a week ago. Continue reading

5 Things You Should Know About Palliative Care

On Saturday, May 17, 2014, I had the pleasure of speaking at a conference in Wooster, Ohio.  The conference, titled “The Healthcare Trojan Horse,” was sponsored by the Pro-life Healthcare Alliance and Wayne/Homes Right to Life.  Following is the presentation as it was written; the actual talk was abbreviated due to time constraints. —Ione Whitlock

The promise of hospice palliative care was that it would provide comfort to the dying, ease symptoms, and help grieving loved ones.  Modern palliative care promises to be Continue reading

Another palliative care expert chimes in

A friend has sent me an editorial from the San Francisco Chronicle concerning the Jahi McMath and Marlise Munoz cases.  The column, “End of life elusive, thanks to tricks of modern science,” was published last Friday, and was written by Jessica Nutik Zitter, MD, MPH.

Dr. Zitter’s editorials seem to be popping up all over the place these days.  See, for Continue reading

Electronic Health Records: Guiding Physicians Toward So-Called “Best Practices”

In March I posted “Palliative Care Wants Electronic Health Records to Collect More Data (and re-direct patients into palliative care).

Here is more evidence. Continue reading

Using Health Records to Segment Society

An article this morning (Obamacare Will Question Your Sex Life) warns that Obamacare will require physicians to ask patients a wide variety of personal questions not relevant to the physician’s specialty or to the patient’s condition.  The information will be stored in the patient’s electronic health record which will, in turn, become part of a giant national electronic database. Continue reading