A Texas-Size Medical Lesson
by Froma Harrop
McAllen, Texas, spends more per person on health care than any other metropolitan area in America, except for Miami. Why would this poor border town spend $15,000 a year per Medicare enrollee? Rochester, Minn., home to the famed Mayo Clinic, only spends about half as much. Find the answer, and we have the formula for national health-care reform — that is, controlling costs without cutting quality.
Atul Gawande, a Boston surgeon writing in The New Yorker, has landed on an explanat ...
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Posted by: ValRae Lenius
Comment: #1
Fri Jun 12, 2009 10:22 AM
Whoops, I posted this to the wrong page.....sorry about that:
Report this post Posted by: ValRae Lenius
Comment: #1
Fri Jun 12, 2009 10:16 AM
Re: "McAllen's Medicare Model One that need s fixing nationwide".
Dear Froma, I read with interest your article in regards to the exceptional spending ($15,000) per Medicare recipicant in McAllen, Texas. And, I immediately saw a potential statistical flaw with this argument.
I am wondering if those statistics could be skewed, because approximatly 6 months of the year, "the Valley" is flooded with "Winter Texans". And, without a doubt, the majority of those Winter Texans are Senior Citizens who more than likely are utilizing doctors there during that stay.
I know from personal experience from relatives and friends from Iowa, Minnesota, etc that they do use those services. So, I am wondering if you are utilizing the CENSUS DATA (which would not include the influx of Winter Texans) and office visits billed to Medicare to come up with your model? And, using the Mayo Clinic statistics is not a fair comparison, in my thinking.
Thanks for thinking about this and maybe giving me feed back...if you have time?
ValRae Lenius Canyon Lake, Texas
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Posted by: Bill Bird
Comment: #2
Thu Jun 11, 2009 5:59 AM
Healthcare reform will never occur until we get the insurance companies, including Medicare, out of the decision-making process. Most doctors are involved with insurance compaines as members of their panels whereby they exchange access to patients for a discounted fee. Patients then pay a co-pay or a small portion of the normal charge. This takes the patient out of the process because they have no real financial incentive ask questions about other low-cost effective treatments. Insurance plans should pay set amounts and the doctors should be allowed to balance-billl for the difference between the insurance reimbursement and the normal charge. Patients need to return to being the purchasers of healthcare instead of the recipients.
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