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by PaulAdrian from KDFW-TV

Last Post 134 days, 14 hours Ago


How do we improve health care?
May 15, 2008 | 6:55 PM
Category: News
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More than one-out-of-every four Texans has no health insurance.  It's the worst record in the country.  The cost of health insurance for families climbed nearly 40 percent between 2001 and 2005. That's the 3rd worst record in the country. Without doubt, when it comes to health care, a lot of Texans are living dangerously.   

In 2003, led by the Governor, Texans were sold on the idea that tort reform might help with health care by bringing in more doctors. Has it?? Well, that's certainly open to debate. While supporters claim the reform is bringing doctors to the state in record numbers, a UT researcher found that the growth rate for doctors is worse now than before tort reform. As a state, we certainly have more uninsured people and health care costs have continued to skyrocket.

Love it or hate it, though, the impact of tort reform on Texans has been profound. Insurance companies are making huge profits. Fewer people can sue.

What happened in 2003 can happen again. The system can change to bring more or less tort reform in the future or perhaps, as a state, we should focus on health care itself rather than lawsuits as an answer to our health care crisis. Whatever happens, it'll begin with a discussion.  What do you think?? Was tort reform an answer for health care problems or is there a better solution for Texas? 

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Member Comments Total Comments: 7
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terrellmom read my blog view my photos
May 16, 2008 | 8:07 AM

Didn't tort reform just allow doctors to be careless without the fear of being sued? Life is hard without health insurance, paying overinflated costs for an office visit only hurts the public. Many people won't go to the doctor because of money, they wait until it's something very serious and then the tax payers pay for their care.

I don't know what i think should happen to our healthcare system but IMO the one we have is broken...unless you are in a wealthy class of society.
phrankw read my blog view my photos
May 16, 2008 | 9:14 AM

This is a great question Paul. In my opinion, hospitals should be operated like a business. Think about it; would it be fair for someone walk into your place of business and take an item without any way of paying for it?

Why is it that people can be arrested for stealing a fifty cent candy bar from a retail store, yet this same person can go to the hospital and run up thousands of dollars in health care and there is nothing the hospital can do to force payment from this person?

If someone needs health care but doesn’t have health insurance then they should be forced into a payment plan that can be legally enforced. Currently, if someone doesn’t pay for their care, there isn’t much a hospital can do to collect these funds. The only thing left to do is to pass these debts on to those who have money and/or insurance. The facts are simple; Someone will pay or the hospitals will be forced to close.
scottythecomic read my blog view my photos
May 16, 2008 | 10:51 AM

I've seen firt hand what socialized medicine is like and want no part of it.

By the same token, healthcare should be affordable.

How we reconcile the two I do not know.
hersheyissweet
May 16, 2008 | 12:22 PM

The real "fix" to this problem is insurance reform. Tort reform has done exactly what the first poster said.
dfwguy view my photos
May 16, 2008 | 6:16 PM

Scotty - are you for shutting down the Army's Walter Reed hospital it is pure 100% "socialized medicine".... (their Docs are gov't emplyees)
dfwguy view my photos
May 16, 2008 | 6:16 PM

Scotty - are you for shutting down the Army's Walter Reed hospital it is pure 100% "socialized medicine".... (their Docs are gov't emplyees)
Klutzy2508 read my blog view my photos
May 16, 2008 | 7:47 PM

The Hippocratic Oath

ÅEAR by Apollo the physician, and Aesculapius, and Health, and All-heal, and all the gods and goddesses, that, according to my ability and judgment, I will keep this Oath and this stipulation to reckon him who taught me this Art equally dear to me as my parents, to share my substance with him, and relieve his necessities if required; to look upon his offspring in the same footing as my own brothers, and to teach them this art, if they shall wish to learn it, without fee or stipulation; and that by precept, lecture, and every other mode of instruction, I will impart a knowledge of the Art to my own sons, and those of my teachers, and to disciples bound by a stipulation and oath according to the law of medicine, but to none others. I will follow that system of regimen which, according to my ability and judgment, I consider for the benefit of my patients, and abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous. I will give no deadly medicine to anyone if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. With purity and with holiness I will pass my life and practice my Art.

I will not cut persons laboring under the stone, but will leave this to be done by men who are practitioners of this work. Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption; and, further from the seduction of females or males, of freemen and slaves. Whatever, in connection with my professional practice or not, in connect
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PaulAdrian

I'm an investigative reporter who can't stand it when people do things that hurt others. This could be through scams or bad laws or pollution. But I believe in the power of journalism. If you have a tip, I'll try to do a story. Perhaps together, we can make our world a little bit better.

Member Since: 4/5/2007


 

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