The most important rule in health care is "first do no harm".  Unfortunately Congressional Democrats seem totally oblivious to this rule. 

Many  Democrats are so egotistical that they think anything they do will  be an improvement.  They seem incapable of understanding  that changes can make a situation worse instead of better just like giving a patient the wrong medical treatment can worsen the patient's condition.  The wrong medical treatment can kill.   Making the wrong changes in the health care system can reduce  access to health care and reduce the quality of health care.

In one of my favorite episodes of M*A*S*H*   Captain Hawkeye Pierce is appointed the unit's chief surgeon.   Major Frank Burns complains to a general when Hawkeye decides not to immediately operate on  a badly wounded soldier who comes in.   When the general arrives Hawkeye has been playing cards while the man was receiving a blood transfusion, etc. to stabilize his condition.   Hawkeye tells the general he can now safely operate because the patient has been stabilized.  Operating too soon would have jeopardized the patient's chances of  survival.

Congressional Democrats continue to push a health care plan substantially similar to the one adopted by Massachusetts which is a failure according to the Boston Globe
 
The program has failed to provide the universal care it was supposed  to guarantee.  Coverage is not affordable.  The cost  of the subsidized program has gone from $630 million in 2007 to $1.3 in 2009.    High deductibles mean people who buy compulsory coverage may not be able to afford to use it. 

Low income families aren't the only ones who have trouble affording health insurance.   Many with incomes well above the poverty level like Ron Norton of Worcester, Mass.,  make  too much to qualify for government assistance but not enough to afford insurance.

The key to successful medical treatment is an accurate diagnosis.   The problem with American health care is the high cost of health care rather than lack of insurance.  High costs make it difficult for persons to afford insurance.

Doctors take x-rays or run tests as appropriate before choosing treatment for any major medical problem.  Congress needs to do the same with health care.  Congress needs to determine the specific causes of high costs to see if they are unnecessary. 

For example, are doctors, hospital administrators, insurance executives, etc. receiving higher incomes than patients can afford to provide them?   Are hospitals or other medical facilities making excessive profits by overcharging insurance companies?  Are so called non-profit hospitals or clinics actually functioning as if they were profit making organizations?   Are the uninsured including illegal aliens really responsible for high costs or are they being used as scapegoats by the health care industry to cover up the real cause?  Are courts forcing unnecessary costs on the industry?

This is breast cancer awareness month so perhaps a breast cancer analogy is appropriate.  Thirty years ago the treatment for all forms of breast cancer was usually  a complete mastectomy.  Today some, but not all, forms of breast cancer can be  successfully treated with a  simple lumpectomy that  removes only  the small tumors, provided the cancer is detected early enough.

Thirty years ago toxic chemicals were used to treat breast and other cancers.  Today a growing number of  cancers can be treated  with milder chemicals that  may attack only the cancer cells  without  damaging other  healthy cells.  In some cases radiation can be targeted to cancer cells without harming healthy cells. 

The American health care "problem" doesn't require radical surgery or toxic chemicals.  Improving American health care only requires  a lumpectomy  and mild chemicals.

 

The nation's best insurance program will receive a lot of publicity this weekend.  Jerry Lewis will conduct the annual  Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon this weekend. 

The Jerry Lewis Labor Day telethon has been a tradition since the first Labor Day telethon  in New York City in 1966. Lewis and former comedy partner Dean Martin had previously conducted a telethon in New York City in 1955, but it wasn't on Labor Day.  Jerry Lewis and all the other performers donate their services and receive  no payment. 
 
Most people don't think of MDA as being an insurance program because it doesn't charge fees from those who need its services.  You don't have to have donated to MDA in the past to benefit from its treatment programs.  Patients don't have to donate money to MDA to continue receiving treatment, but they or their families often help MDA raise money so  that it can continue to assist them and others.

MDA not only provides treatment and other services, such as summer camp for children patients, but it also researches the nature of the over 40 neuromuscular diseases it covers and attempts to develop treatments that can cure those disorders or delay their progression.

"The only requirement for receiving an evaluation at an MDA clinic is the written recommendation of a physician in whose judgment a person may have one of the   neuromuscular diseases covered by the Association’s medical services program."  This requirement is reasonable because MDA doctors would have less time to treat MDA patients if they had to spend their time diagnosing unrelated disorders.  

Similarly,  paying only costs not covered by  a patient's  regular insurance  allows  MDA to  help more people than it would be able to help otherwise.  MDA can't raise its insurance rates to cover  cost increases like traditional private or public insurance programs,  so it needs to limit its costs to treatment that isn't already covered by other insurance programs

MDA is an example of the type of organization we need more of.  Other examples are  St. Jude's (supported by the late comedian Danny Thomas and his daughter Marlo) and the Shriners' hospitals.  What they offer is pure insurance.  People who can afford to help pool their resources so that whoever needs help can obtain it.  The practice is a survival from the days when Americans helped each other without worrying about any immediate benefit for themselves.  They helped because they knew that if they needed help others would help them.

MDA's research focuses on muscular dystrophy, but the treatments and knowledge that research produces can benefit people with other disorders.  One of those treatments saved Jerry Lewis' life  several years ago when  he had a major heart problem.   Recently, MDA researchers announced they have found a way to use a patient's skin cells as stem cells to treat ALS.  Being able to use skin cells as stem cells will help treatment of many other unrelated disorders.

This year's telethon will be broadcast on local  stations throughout the  country as well  as on cable and satellite on Chicago's WGN.  Those who prefer the Internet can find the telethon on MDA's website.    The website currently has highlights from last year's telethon available.  A new fund raising activity this year  is an online auction that will run through  Sep. 4.