‘Negotiations on what elements to include in the merged version of the Senate bill will be hammered out by members of the HELP and Finance committees and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., sources say.’
http://hrnewsnow.com/?p=612&cpage=1#comment-240
Comment:
Only cause for concern is how a new governmental agency shall handle the whole operation.In India , though the intentions are good, Govt operations are notoriously corrupt and time wasting.
Secondly,clauses must be incorporated to fix a ceiling/review of charges by Doctors , Hospitals and cost of drugs.Possible a cap may be put , subject to review once in five years.
Tag: health care
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Senate Committee Approves Health Reform Bill
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Stress?-Do Nothing.
Stress is an an inbuilt mechanism in the organism to survive.Unless stress is present, survival will be difficult.Stress stimulates organism into the mode of Face or Flee Reaction,which is essential for survival.No surprises on this affirmation .Continuous harping on Stress and repression of it leads to Psychological/Physical problems.Stress arises mainly due to , at the basic level,clash of instincts of Survival,Thirst,Hunger,Sex and gregariousness.When there is a clash among them, Stress is noticed.
Stress is managed best, when we do nothing about them, as the system knows how much it can take.
http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/56023/ -
Doctor and Patient.
True that many patients do not report their symptoms properly-this could be due their attitude ‘there is nothing wrong,it will go away-I am scared what the doc will do’-some may be genuinely not aware of symptoms.
It is the duty of the Doctor to check the patient thoroughly and find if something is wrong.
( I am reminded of a quip in Tamil movie-the Doc
asks the patient’What is your problem”
Patient” you are the doctor ,you find out.’Fact is many doctors do not read pulse, use Stethescopes ,call for
patient History in person,family history of ailments.They cursorily
ask for symptoms and straight away prescribe medicines without even
asking for contraindications of the drug on the patients. Or worse
still, refer to multitude of tests to be run through.
Doctors must presume that the patient is illiterate in matters of
Health , check them thoroughly , physically examine them , ask for
detailed Family history of ailments and interact with patients
patiently.As I see it, it would take take a minimum of 20 minutes for
this procedure.Tell me, how many doctors spend such time with
patients?
Lure of money makes them hurry through appointments.Many Doctors are
‘hangers on’ to the patients, as in the case of Michael Jackson,who
prescribe what the patient wants and not what he needs.
Patients are also responsible in that they respect the Doctor who
refer them to fancy tests and costly medicines.They should remember
that costly tests/medicines need not be the best.
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Health Care- US.
One thing is sure .US Government is subtle in promoting Big business. In India, it is done quite openly and brazenly.In Tamil Nadu,A state in India,the State Government arbitrarily deducted premium for personal health care from govt.employees for a multinational insurance company.Federal Govt. openly sold Spectrum band licences for about Rs 2000 crores which could have fetched Rs.60,000 crores, other wise.(Rs 50=1$).This is just a tip.Be happy in America, for there seems to be atleast some subtlety.None can save us from the politicians or from big businesses.
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Health care-cost of Medicine.
As I see it the major cost factor is the cost of medicines.Pharma
companies must be asked to donate at least 1% of their turn over to
healthcare programme
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/55847/
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Cost of Medicine in Health Care
by Venkata Ramanan[Comment posted 2009-08-07 05:36:23]
Referring to Bob’s statement on cost of medicine in health care, I
furnish statistics here below.
“Of each dollar spent on health care in the United States 31% goes to
hospital care, 21% goes to physician services, 10% to pharmaceuticals,
8% to nursing homes, 7% to administrative costs, and 23% to all other
categories (diagnostic laboratory services, pharmacies, medical device
manufacturers, etc.[7] Reports on the percentage of costs that go to
profits varies from 25-30%.”
(Linkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_care_in_the_United_States#Health_care_spending)GDP of USA is:GDP (purchasing power parity): $14.29 trillion (2008
est.) $14.11 trillion (2007) $13.83 trillion (2006)
GDP (official exchange rate): $14.33 trillion (2008 est.)(
source;http://flagcounter.com/factbook/us)One can see where the Dollar goes.Why do not the Hospitals,Physicians
,labs and the Pharma industry contribute?
other than pharma Industries,others could charge less or do pro bono
service.pharma, I still can contribute 1% of their Turn over.
Let’s see what Pharma companies make in terms of US $
The following is a list of the 20 largest pharmaceutical and biotech
companies ranked by healthcare revenue. Some companies (eg, Bayer,
Johnson and Johnson and Procter & Gamble) have additional revenue not
included here. The phrase Big Pharma is often used to refer to
companies with revenue in excess of $3 billion, and/or R&D expenditure
in excess of $500 million.
Revenue Rank 2008 Company Country Total Revenues (USD millions)
Healthcare R&D 2006 (USD millions) Net income/ (loss) 2006 (USD
millions) Employees 2006
1 Novartis Switzerland 53,324 7,125 11,053 138,000
2 Pfizer USA 48,371 7,599 19,337 122,200
3 Bayer Germany 44,200 1,791 6,450 106,200
4 GlaxoSmithKline United Kingdom 42,813 6,373 10,135 106,000
5 Johnson and Johnson USA 37,020 5,349 7,202 102,695
6 Sanofi-Aventis France 35,645 5,565 5,033 100,735
7 Hoffmann?La Roche Switzerland 33,547 5,258 7,318 100,289
8 AstraZeneca UK/Sweden 26,475 3,902 6,063 50,000+
9 Merck & Co. USA 22,636 4,783 4,434 74,372
10 Abbott Laboratories USA 22,476 2,255 1,717 66,800
11 Wyeth USA 20,351 3,109 4,197 66,663
12 Bristol-Myers Squibb USA 17,914 3,067 1,585 60,000
13 Eli Lilly and Company USA 15,691 3,129 2,663 50,060
14 Amgen USA 14,268 3,366 2,950 48,000
15 Boehringer Ingelheim Germany 13,284 1,977 2,163 43,000
16 Schering-Plough USA 10,594 2,188 1,057 41,500
17 Baxter International USA 10,378 614 1,397 38,428
18 Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Japan 10,284 1,620 2,870 15,000
19 Genentech USA 9,284 1,773 2,113 33,500
20 Procter & Gamble USA 8,964 n/a 10,340 29,258
Source: Top 50 Pharmaceutical Companies Charts & Lists, Med Ad News,
September 2007[21]
[edit]Market leaders in terms of sales
The top 15 pharmaceutical companies by 2008 sales are:[22]
[23]
Rank Company Sales ($m) Based/Headquartered in
1 Pfizer 43,363 US
2 GlaxoSmithKline 36,506 UK
3 Novartis 36,506 Switzerland
4 Sanofi-Aventis 35,642 France
5 AstraZeneca 32,516 UK/Sweden
6 Hoffmann?La Roche 30,336 Switzerland
7 Johnson & Johnson 29,425 US
8 Merck & Co. 26,191 US
9 Abbott 19,466 US
10 Eli Lilly and Company 19,140 US
11 Amgen 15,794 US
12 Wyeth 15,682 US
13 Teva 15,274 Israel
14 Bayer 15,660 Germany
15 Takeda 13,819 Japan
( source;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharmaceutical_industry)
I think pharma companies can contribute.
http://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/55847/)comment:
Health Care Budget
by Venkata Ramanan[Comment posted 2009-08-07 05:45:55]
I forgot to include Medicare budget in my comment.
‘national health spending totaling around $2.5 trillion in 2009, and
projected to grow to $4.4 trillion by
2018’,(http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/158463.php))
.14 trillion US $ is not a small amount in a budget of% 2.5 trillions.
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