Bible: Caring for and serving the poor:
"What does the Bible have to say about helping needy people -- the poor, the homeless, the orphans, and the widows? Are there Bible passages which say we are supposed to have compassion and to be giving to the less fortunate? What biblical foundations are there for service to others?
How to care for the poor? How are we to provide for the hungry? Here are instructions from the Bible. Looking for slogan for a promotion about helping the needy or feeding the poor? Use a phrase from one of these Scripture verses as a slogan. "
A nice collection of Biblical quotations about helping the poor.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Bible: Caring for and serving the poor
Sunday, May 15, 2011
amednews: Bill seeks outside review of relative values in Medicare services :: April 11, 2011
amednews: Bill seeks outside review of relative values in Medicare services :: April 11, 2011:
A Democratic lawmaker has proposed changing the way the Medicare program identifies physician services for which it pays too little -- or too much -- by requiring independent contractors to review doctor fees annually.Sphere: Related Content
Since 1992, a panel convened by the American Medical Association and representing a wide range of specialties has recommended thousands of pay changes to the individual services doctors provide to Medicare patients. The bill would add a layer of review on top of the 29-member AMA/Specialty Society Relative Value Scale Update Committee, known as the RUC.
Critics of the committee say it lacks transparency and is responsible for continuing payment discrepancies between primary care physicians and specialists. But supporters, including the AMA, disagree. They say the use of outside contractors would be duplicative and add an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy to the process.
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is required to consult with health professionals on adjusting relative values for services. Because the process is budget-neutral, any value change that results in Medicare paying more for a service means it will pay less for one or more other services. CMS routinely accepts the majority of the RUC's recommendations, although it is not required to do so.
Rep. Jim McDermott, MD (D, Wash.), introduced the Medicare Physician Payment Transparency and Assessment Act of 2011 on March 30. The bill explicitly would require independent contractors to identify misvalued physician services on an annual basis and recommend adjustments. The national health system reform law already states that the Health and Human Services secretary 'may use analytic contractors,' but the new measure would make this mandatory.
'For two decades now, this panel has been dominated by specialists who undervalue the essential and complex work of primary care providers and cognitive specialists, while often favoring unnecessarily complex, costly and excessive specialty medical services,' Dr. McDermott said. 'The result is clear -- there is a shortage of family doctors, patients don't necessarily get the services they need and medical costs are increasingly driven higher.'
Saturday, May 14, 2011
John Kenneth Galbraith understood capitalism as lived – not as theorized / The Christian Science Monitor - CSMonitor.com
Government's role
While Friedman never really appreciated the limitations of the market, he was a forceful critic of government. Yet history shows that in every successful country, the government had played an important role. Yes, governments sometimes fail, but unfettered markets are a certain prescription for failure. Galbraith made this case better than most.
Galbraith knew, too, that people aren't just rational economic actors, but consumers, contending with advertising, political persuasion, and social pressures. It was because of his close touch with reality that he had such influence on economic policymaking, especially during the Kennedy-Johnson years.
Galbraith's penetrating insights into the nature of capitalism – as it is lived, not as it is theorized in simplistic models – has enhanced our understanding of the market economy. He has left an intellectual legacy for generations to come. And he has left a gap in our intellectual life: Who will stand up against the economics establishment to articulate an economic vision that is both in touch with reality and comprehensible to ordinary citizens?
A nice and too brief overview of Galbraith v Friedman, by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz. Sphere: Related Content
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Uwe E. Reinhardt: How Efficient Is Private Charity? - NYTimes.com
Uwe E. Reinhardt: How Efficient Is Private Charity? - NYTimes.com: "Although in absolute dollar terms the United States ranks high in that category as well, as a percentage of G.D.P. many European nations outrank us (see Table 1, Annex A, on page 7).
Citizens of other countries may remind us that there is a trade-off between channeling dollars from citizens to charitable or civic activities through the government’s budget and channeling these funds through the budgets of private organizations that we label charitable, whether they truly support charitable or civic activities.
Many charitable or civic activities financed in the United States with private giving are financed elsewhere through government — health care, education and museums among them.
Why do Americans make so different a trade-off between private charity and government than people in most other nations?
One persuasive reason is that through private charitable giving, the donor can direct where his or her funds go. Americans do not trust their government as much as citizens elsewhere seem to. Yet it is not always clear in whose pockets private charitable donations end up.
A second reason is that many Americans have the notion that private charities are more efficient than government can ever be.
My experience is that to many Americans this notion, which is nothing more than a hypothesis, is an axiom, a statement so self-evident that it does not require proof.
The relative efficiency of private “charity” and tax-financed governmental “charity” is an empirical question. The proper criterion is what fraction of our charitable donations actually flows directly to the activities that we seek to support."
I find it strange this article of faith that ALL private operations are inherently more efficient than ALL government ones. When I hear this, I ask the person if they've ever tried to question their cable bill, or, even worse, tried to change providers! Sphere: Related Content
Drug Company Payments to Doctors | Dollars for Docs - ProPublica
Drug Company Payments to Doctors | Dollars for Docs - ProPublica: "Drug companies have long kept secret details of the payments they make to doctors for promoting their drugs. But eight companies have begun posting names and compensation on the Web, some as the result of legal settlements. ProPublica compiled these disclosures, totaling $320 million, into a single database that allows patients to search for their doctor. Receiving payments isn’t necessarily wrong, but it does raise ethical issue"
ProPublica has many more articles on the influence of Pharma money on medicine at this link.
Financial Ties Bind Medical Societies to Drug and Device Makers - ProPublica
Financial Ties Bind Medical Societies to Drug and Device Makers - ProPublica:
"SAN FRANCISCO — From the time they arrived to the moment they laid their heads on hotel pillows, the thousands of cardiologists attending this week’s Heart Rhythm Society conference have been bombarded with pitches for drugs and medical devices.
St. Jude Medical adorns every hotel key card. Medtronic ads are splashed on buses, banners and the stairs underfoot. Logos splay across shuttle bus headrests, carpets and cellphone-charging stations."
Coal Cares: Who needs Global Warming?
"Why Free Inhalers? Because COAL CARES.
Coal Cares™ is a brand-new initiative from Peabody Energy, the world's largest private-sector coal company, to reach out to American youngsters with asthma and to help them keep their heads high in the face of those who would treat them with less than full dignity. For kids who have no choice but to use an inhaler, Coal Cares™ lets them inhale with pride.
Puff-Puff™ inhalers are available free to any family living within 200 miles of a coal plant, and each inhaler comes with a $10 coupon towards the cost of the asthma medication itself.
This reminds me of the advice Jim Carey gave his client in "Liar, Liar," "Stop polluting the air, a******!" Sphere: Related Content
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