Re: Tales From the Front

In article <1143555801.458468.81010@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
"Bassslapper" <dr_george@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

A true HMO emphasizes profits over health and veils that in insisting
on prevention so they can avoid having to pay out. Prevention is the
best form of medicine but do not even remotely think that the HMO's are
worried about the health of their subscribers. The only health they are
concerned about is the bottom line. That is fine from a business
perspective but when ti comes at the expense of health and treatment
for patients, I think it is wrong. And the write-offs are absorbed by
the providing doctor or hospital so the only way to make up for the
loss of money is to increase patient volume, leading to a minimization
of the time the doctor can spend with the patient.

You are talking about what I call the "fake" HMOs. They are nothing but
insurance plans using private practice doctors and regular hospitals.
The doctors at my HMO are on salary, and the hospitals are all run by
the HMO.

Many doctors prefer working at my HMO, even though the pay is less,
because they just practice medicine. They don't deal with money, and
they don't supervise employees.

From their web site:

"Kaiser Permanente is the largest nonprofit health plan* in the United
States, serving 8.2 million members in 9 states and the District of
Columbia. We are an integrated health delivery system, which means that
we provide and coordinate the entire scope of care for our members,
including:
? preventive care
? well-baby and prenatal care
? immunizations
? emergency care
? screening diagnostics
? hospital and medical services
? pharmacy services
As a nonprofit health plan, we are driven by the needs of our members
rather than the needs of shareholders."

I have belonged for over 30 years, and am quite happy.

--
Dan Abel
dabel@xxxxxxxxx
Petaluma, California, USA
.

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