Health Reform # 5 is working out how to get doctors to charge less for their services. Some of the fees, particularly for specialists are just rapacious.
This is a highly protected, greedy, elitist profession. The greater the level of protection the higher their fees.
I went to the dermatologist the other day for a skin complaint. She picked it immediately as psoriasis which I'd inherited from my mother. She wrote out a script for some waxy stuff that calmed down in 3 days what my doctor couldn't treat for over a year. The fee, $175 for 15 minutes. A drover's dog could have done what she did - with a bit of practice. That's not bad dough it is? Just add it up, per day, per week, per month, per year. It's definitely an income that's not commensurate with the service delivered.
(Just don't get me started oln what my dentist charged to pull a tooth the other day. $560 for 40 minutes in the chair. Add that up.)
Changing the definition of primary health care and opening up primary health care treatment to other professional groups is probably the best way to bring about a reduction in medical costs. Nurses, fitness practitioners, pharmacists and naturopaths are obvious choices.
The second way to do it is to let medical graduates loose into surgeries after 5 years of study. If they don't know how to diagnose or treat a particular illness they can send their customer to someone more experienced. As likely as not they will send them to a fitness practitioner, pharmacist, nurse or naturopath.
Maybe doctors should do their first couple of years of practice in a surgery with someone a bit more experienced than themselves. Different practitioners will have different specialities. They'll be able to spread the work amongst themselves.
You don't need 10 years of study to fix a crook back, or write out a certificate because someone has a cold.
Support for fitness practitioners, nurses and naturopaths in private practice will deprive a lot of doctors of the work they've been doing, much of it ineptly. Goodness knows what they learn in medical school these days.
They'll have to smarten themselves up and lower their prices to maintain the payments on the Mercs.
On the track
No track.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and don't work so hard on the weekend that you have trouble raising a sweat for the rest of the week.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
Sunday, June 20, 2010
HEALTH REFORM 4 - Wednesday 16th June 2010
Health Reform #4 is amending the medical insurance legislation and establish a compulsory first party medical insurance levee based on people's income and their level of fitness.
On top of this people may choose to insure themselves against the gap between what the medical practitioners charge and what the government is willing to pay on their behalf.
Medical costs have reached 10% of GDP which means the starting price for the Medicare tax should be 10%.
Let's be realistic and make it 5%.
Take off 1% if you're close to your ideal weight. Under 25% fat for men and 35% fat for women
Take off 1 percent if you don't smoke.
Take off 1% if you're fit. You can run 35 x 20m laps in 5 minutes and do 20 situps and 20 pressups and 20 squats.
That brings down your compulsory, first party health insurance to 2%, thereby enabling the government to subsidize some of your medical costs and some of the costs of those unable to look after themselves.
This is the easy way to encourage people to keep themselves fit and healthy to the best of their ability. How much they pay becomes a choice.
It gives people and incentive to work on their fitness.
It gives fit and healthy people a reward for effort and pays for their gym membership. At the moment they subsidize the fat and lazy. That's not fair.
Sound easy? You betcha.
On the track
Out with the boys. Still sluggish.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and save yourself a poultice in Medicare fees; keep yourself in good shape, and what every you do, don't smoke.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
On top of this people may choose to insure themselves against the gap between what the medical practitioners charge and what the government is willing to pay on their behalf.
Medical costs have reached 10% of GDP which means the starting price for the Medicare tax should be 10%.
Let's be realistic and make it 5%.
Take off 1% if you're close to your ideal weight. Under 25% fat for men and 35% fat for women
Take off 1 percent if you don't smoke.
Take off 1% if you're fit. You can run 35 x 20m laps in 5 minutes and do 20 situps and 20 pressups and 20 squats.
That brings down your compulsory, first party health insurance to 2%, thereby enabling the government to subsidize some of your medical costs and some of the costs of those unable to look after themselves.
This is the easy way to encourage people to keep themselves fit and healthy to the best of their ability. How much they pay becomes a choice.
It gives people and incentive to work on their fitness.
It gives fit and healthy people a reward for effort and pays for their gym membership. At the moment they subsidize the fat and lazy. That's not fair.
Sound easy? You betcha.
On the track
Out with the boys. Still sluggish.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and save yourself a poultice in Medicare fees; keep yourself in good shape, and what every you do, don't smoke.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
HEALTH REFORM 3 - Tuesday 15th June 2010
Health reform 3 is getting people fit and healthy.
We don't have a $100B medical problem in this country, it's a $100B fitness problem.
The easy part is giving .
For governments and health bureaucrats it's easy solving fitness problems by giving money to the medical industry to patch people up. The thing they find hard and the thing they steer clear of is encouraging people to keep themselves fit and healthy.
Well I can tell you, it's not all that tough an assignment and I'll tell you how it can be done tomorrow.
On the track
No track. I'm still stuffed from the weekend.
In the meantime stay tuned, until tomorrow, when all will be revealed.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
We don't have a $100B medical problem in this country, it's a $100B fitness problem.
The easy part is giving .
For governments and health bureaucrats it's easy solving fitness problems by giving money to the medical industry to patch people up. The thing they find hard and the thing they steer clear of is encouraging people to keep themselves fit and healthy.
Well I can tell you, it's not all that tough an assignment and I'll tell you how it can be done tomorrow.
On the track
No track. I'm still stuffed from the weekend.
In the meantime stay tuned, until tomorrow, when all will be revealed.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
HEALTH REFORM 2 - Monday 14th June 2010
The Rudd Labor Governbment is trumpeting its recent healthfare initiatives as the greatest reform of the medical system since the beginning of Medicare in 1975.
That's bunkum. What's been delivered is Medicare 1975, version 35. All that's happened is the medical industry has gained another $10B in protection and more ambulances are being sent round to the bottom of the cliff.
The second great health reform challenge is to work out how to look after those who can't look after themselves and at the same time stop those who can look after themselves but don't from jumping on the gravy train.
A week or so ago I said that the Commonwealth Government is spending nearly 20% of its budget on healthfare. The states are spending close to 25%. Most of the money is being spent on people who are quite capable of looking after themselves and paying for their own medical treatment.
Hospitals are full to over flowing by people in just plain bad shape and people who can afford to insure themselves against a medical emergency.
Until the Governments of Australia work out how to deal with that there is no such thing as health reform.
On the track
Out with the boys in the freezing cold. Didn't have the energy to raise more than a walk this morning. Do you know I can't keep up with them walking. I can run faster, but can't keep up while walking. I just let them get ahead and then take a short cut. I'm on my own - but it's good thinking time.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and keep yourself in good nick.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
That's bunkum. What's been delivered is Medicare 1975, version 35. All that's happened is the medical industry has gained another $10B in protection and more ambulances are being sent round to the bottom of the cliff.
The second great health reform challenge is to work out how to look after those who can't look after themselves and at the same time stop those who can look after themselves but don't from jumping on the gravy train.
A week or so ago I said that the Commonwealth Government is spending nearly 20% of its budget on healthfare. The states are spending close to 25%. Most of the money is being spent on people who are quite capable of looking after themselves and paying for their own medical treatment.
Hospitals are full to over flowing by people in just plain bad shape and people who can afford to insure themselves against a medical emergency.
Until the Governments of Australia work out how to deal with that there is no such thing as health reform.
On the track
Out with the boys in the freezing cold. Didn't have the energy to raise more than a walk this morning. Do you know I can't keep up with them walking. I can run faster, but can't keep up while walking. I just let them get ahead and then take a short cut. I'm on my own - but it's good thinking time.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and keep yourself in good nick.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
HARD YAKKA - Sunday 14th of June 2010
The second round at Cameron's place.
Yesterday Cameron forced me to stop the chainsaw there was so much rubbish lying around. He said it would take a skip to get rid of all the stuff on the front lawn.
This morning, Christine and I bundled all of it onto the ute before he got there.
Kids of today don't know what hard work is. No-one's every showed them what men and bullocks can do.
By the end of the day and after 4 trips to the dump everything was all cleaned up. Skip, my arse!
Somebody said it couldn't be done and he with a chuckle replied
That maybe it couldn't but he would be one who wouldn't say so 'til he tried.
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin on his face if he worried he hid it
And he started to sing as he tacked the thing that couldn't be done, and he did it.
On the track
That was the track.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and don't let someone half your age tell you what you can't do.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
Yesterday Cameron forced me to stop the chainsaw there was so much rubbish lying around. He said it would take a skip to get rid of all the stuff on the front lawn.
This morning, Christine and I bundled all of it onto the ute before he got there.
Kids of today don't know what hard work is. No-one's every showed them what men and bullocks can do.
By the end of the day and after 4 trips to the dump everything was all cleaned up. Skip, my arse!
Somebody said it couldn't be done and he with a chuckle replied
That maybe it couldn't but he would be one who wouldn't say so 'til he tried.
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin on his face if he worried he hid it
And he started to sing as he tacked the thing that couldn't be done, and he did it.
On the track
That was the track.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and don't let someone half your age tell you what you can't do.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
TREATMENT FOR DEPRESSION - Saturday 13th June 2010
Gurdjieff said that it you're depressed one of the best things you can do is get out in the garden.
I think that's true.
Well, I'm not depressed but I had a great day out in the garden today working like buggery up at Christine's son's place in Hackett.
I used to help my Dad in the garden when I was a kid. He worked on Saturday morning. He'd come home, have lunch, get changed and go out into the garden. He was raised on a farm and turned gardening on a quarter acre block into an artform.
Life seemed to be one continuous routing of mucking stuff out of the chook house and spreading it on the garden and then barrowing new dirt back in it's place.
At the end of the day we'd often go down to the beach to get the chooks some seaweed and cuttlefish bones to scrape their beaks on.
There's nothing quite as satisfying as hosing down the paths and the tools at the end of the day and looking back to survey your work.
My Dad knew how to work hard
A few weeks ago I ran amok with the chainsaw cutting an old creeper and a tree off the carport.
Today involved more chainsawing, putting the rubbish on the ute and taking it to the dump.
Christine and Cameron got stuck into it as well. It was a great day.
Jeez I slept well.
On the track
The track today was the garden.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and if you feel depressed get out into the garden.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
I think that's true.
Well, I'm not depressed but I had a great day out in the garden today working like buggery up at Christine's son's place in Hackett.
I used to help my Dad in the garden when I was a kid. He worked on Saturday morning. He'd come home, have lunch, get changed and go out into the garden. He was raised on a farm and turned gardening on a quarter acre block into an artform.
Life seemed to be one continuous routing of mucking stuff out of the chook house and spreading it on the garden and then barrowing new dirt back in it's place.
At the end of the day we'd often go down to the beach to get the chooks some seaweed and cuttlefish bones to scrape their beaks on.
There's nothing quite as satisfying as hosing down the paths and the tools at the end of the day and looking back to survey your work.
My Dad knew how to work hard
A few weeks ago I ran amok with the chainsaw cutting an old creeper and a tree off the carport.
Today involved more chainsawing, putting the rubbish on the ute and taking it to the dump.
Christine and Cameron got stuck into it as well. It was a great day.
Jeez I slept well.
On the track
The track today was the garden.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and if you feel depressed get out into the garden.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
HALF WAY THERE - Friday 12th June 2010
I can't say it's been easy but the Blogarithm started on the 12th of December. It's now the 12th of June. Half way there. That's a milestone.
On the track
No track today. Had to get up very early and drive to Sydney. Came back very late.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember that nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
On the track
No track today. Had to get up very early and drive to Sydney. Came back very late.
In the meantime stay tuned, highly tuned and remember that nothing in the world can take the place of persistence.
John Miller
www.millerhealth.com.au
www.fitandhealthyonline.com
www.globalbackcare.com
www.crookback.com.au
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