Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Presidential Photo-Ops and Those Pesky White Coats

After the botched Presidential photo-op yesterday to promote the government's unprecedented intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship, I wonder if the President is aware of the latest thinking on white coats and that England has proceeded to ban them.

Ah, but no matter. It's better living through bureaucracy and politics...

-Wes

4 comments:

megapotamus said...

I saw this live... jeez. The lameness really came through long before I ever saw that photo of the lab coats being passed out. I didn't even want to believe that. EVEN ME! If you check my page you will understand.

Marco said...

The powerful symbolism of the white coat is fascinating. I have several friends who are docs, and even I (a Ph.D. Scientist) feel a bit awed and intimidated by them when they're wearing their whites. But, I know they're the same person as they are in T-shirt and jeans.

Marco

VeganLinda said...

I'm curious from a doctor point of view what you think will help our current health care situation or if you think it is just fine the way it is...

I have a son with a CHD. He is almost 10 and had open-heart surgery at 2 1/2 years old, but will probably need more surgery down the road. If my husband were to unemployed, we would not have the money to pay for surgery. We would lose our insurance and probably not be covered because of my son's condition. I am watching the possible changes in health care carefully.

DrWes said...

VeganLinda-

Our current health system needs revision, no question. How we do that is another issue entirely. The thought that a 10yr old boy has to be covered through an insurance scheme that involves a disinterested third party (an employer) that you still have to pay in to and yet cannot derive any benefit for the money invested in that insurance, plus have no negotiating power over what will be covered and what your financial responsibility will be, is a travesty. Every parent of a recently-graduated college student who remains unemployed is in the same boat. I am not in the insurance business, but rationing by way of pre-existing conditions that one has no control of seems irrational as well.

Our challenge will be to devise a fair, equitable system that rewards the very people to whom health care matters - the patients - while maintaining a modicum of quality at reasonable, sustainable cost.