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Politics : A US National Health Care System? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lane3 who wrote (17592)	5/6/2010 10:39:00 AM
From: longnshort	1 Recommendation Respond to of 42652

NHS Denies Cancer Drug as Too Costly (But Don’t Call it a Death Panel) h/t Brumar John on May 5, 2010 at 7:09 pm Sorta sounds like what I imagine a death panel might do (if one existed): Thousands of cancer sufferers are set to be denied a ‘miracle’ drug on the NHS that is routinely used in virtually every other Western country. The Government’s rationing body says Avastin is not cost-effective despite evidence that it can prolong the lives of bowel cancer patients by more than two years. [...] When used for bowel cancer Avastin costs around £18,000 for a course of ten months’ treatment given with chemotherapy. But a complex formula used by NICE, which looks at quality of life and overall cost effectiveness, says the annual cost is £36,000. This exceeds the maximum limit set by the body of £30,000, a figure which has not changed in ten years despite inflation. Ah, well, what’s a couple years of life compared to a socialist utopia? verumserum.com Interesting to know exactly what a life is worth in Britain. No indexing for inflation I note.

To: Lane3 who wrote (17592)	5/6/2010 4:06:38 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 42652

Doctors Seeing Patients In Groups May 06, 2010 The Denver Post: "Jeff Wilson saw a doctor recently about his high cholesterol — and five other patients with the same problem came to his appointment. It was a 'group visit,' a growing trend in health care that allows doctors to reach more patients and patients to get more face time with their physician, even if they have to share it." Patients "said they got far more information than in a typical, 10-minute one-on-one appointment. ... until recently, for-profit insurance companies weren't reimbursing doctors when they deviated from the one-on-one appointment. Now, through a project involving five of Colorado's big insurance companies and 17 doctors' offices, physicians are getting paid for seeing more than one patient at a time." Medicare and Medicaid will reimburse for group visits "as long as a physician spends at least a minute or two with each patient" (Brown, 5/6).