Placebo Journal - Medical Humor With A Purpose

1. Cynical Ploy

America's Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross Blue Shield Assn., who cover more than 200 million people, want to sit down and negotiate a better healthcare plan for the future of our country. God bless them. They do this out of the goodness of their heart. Not.

As Obama and his team continue to secretly work on a government run option for the uninsured, these insurance companies have gone to Capitol Hill to offer a plea bargain. It goes something like this and I am paraphrasing: "We'll cover everyone and won't even gouge them (just because they have medical problems) as long as everyone in the country is required to buy insurance to stuff our coffers with sweet, delicious cash."

The feedback from Congress has been cold but even though I am being cynical myself, they do have a point. They are using the auto insurance model that requires all drivers to have coverage. The other option is a government run health care plan which, to be honest, scares me. Boy, it sure seems that everything right now is trending in the same direction. Obama has only been in charge for a little over two months and the government is taking control of more and more things. I still believe in personal responsibility and that we Americans need to take care of ourselves and our messes; whether it be our finances or our health. Herbert Spencer, a famous English philosopher and prominent liberal political theorist, once said over 100 year ago that, "The ultimate result of shielding men from the effects of folly is to fill the world with fools."

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2. Placebo Journal Update: April Issue Is Ready To Print!!!

You only have a few days left to subscribe. Get your subscription in by March 30th to make this issue!!!

TriLickthis - the buttery triglyceride medication
Sh$tter - If you have IBS, should you send your friend a "plop"?
Goodbye to Stupid Pharm Tricks
The Hills Have Lyme - Rated R

If you want something that is all humor and guaranteed to make you a little incontinent then:

Make no doubt about it, Americans are going out of the country for medical treatments and surgeries. I think it says a lot about our system and a lot about the American spirit. We are, by nature, shoppers and big ticket items will spur people to compare prices. A recent article in the NY Times shows how the uninsured or ones with high deductibles are really getting creative and doing their research. If you check out the piece you will find that it actually has some good advice and resources to use to make sure you are making the right decision for your knee or hernia surgery, for example.

The bigger picture, however, is that may drive down prices and this is a good thing. I have mentioned this before in another blog where Hannaford, a company in Maine, has an international option for hip surgery. I like that capitalism is being used but I am a little dismayed by the backdoor approach of the managed care companies. This article states that "Blue Cross Blue Shield of South Carolina, for example, has started a subsidiary company, Companion Global Healthcare, to offer medical tourism services to individuals and businesses". The same managed care companies that refuse to let Americans price shop between states for a better healthcare plan are all for letting us shop for cheaper surgeries even if it is out of the country. In fact, they will help us do it! Well, I say what is good for the goose is good for the gander. Let's make the market for managed care wide open to drive down their rates instead of letting them increase by double digits every year. Let the shoppers loose on them and I guarantee you will see their rates drop.

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The Service Employees International Union (SEIU)and California Nurses Assn. announced that they are jointly organizing employees at large medical facilities across the country I guess they got together and said "Let's stop all this fussing and a feuding" and then had one big group hug. This sure seems like a good thing but is it? Many times I wish doctors would unionize in order to wield some power but a wise man once said, "With great power comes great responsibility". That man was, of course, Uncle Ben from the Spiderman movie. If this nurses' "super union" works for the betterment of patient care then I guess I am for it. An example would be to keep the ratio of patients to nurses down in the hospitals. When hospital nurses are overextended mistakes happen. But if the "super union" just pushes for more pay then this is a bad thing. Look at the UAW and how much money they got auto workers? That industry is almost as dead as, well, good old Uncle Ben.

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On March 17th, USA Today did an piece on the China drywall controversy. In a nutshell, it goes on to describe how houses in Florida built with this stuff have been emitting a sulfur-like odor. One person describes how his TV and air-conditioner have failed from it and then he went on to develop sleep apnea and sinus problems from it. Maybe. It turns out this info came from a huge class action lawsuit from tens of thousands of homeowners. This is not to belittle their complaints because I sure don't want the smell of rotten eggs coming from my walls. It once again also puts a little more distrust in the products we get from China. Medical evidence from lawsuits, however, isn't exactly a double-blinded study.

I think my biggest issue is with our complacency on the simple things. This really doesn't have to do with this individual case but with the headline. On the second page of the USA Today Money section (in the actual paper) where the story is continued, the headline goes:

Health tests come back OK so far, but lawyers are skeptical

Doesn't that strike anyone else as odd? Who cares what the lawyers think? Shouldn't it say, "Health tests come back OK so far, but doctors are skeptical"? For one, lawyers don't know medicine. Secondly, of course these lawyers are skeptical because they are suing and are biased. It is a stupid headline that no one questions....except me, I guess. It is as if a headline came out stating:

Supreme Court decision overturns first amendment, but doctors are skeptical of legality.

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As weird as this may sound, I have seen a lot of Somali patients here in frigid Maine. Many years back there was a large influx from both Atlanta and from Somalia. The reason I am discussing this is because of a NY Times article which brings up a point about autism in this culture. I really think, as the media goes, this piece was fair in laying out all the evidence as it is available; which is none. I highly recommend that you read it. Here in Lewiston-Auburn, I have not seen a lot of autism in this group but I don't want to speak for the whole community. Maybe there is and I am misssing it. The question is whether this whole phenomenon is even real or not. This is where the scientific method is needed with rigid guidelines. Without it you can get the involvement of crazy conspiracy people who just muck things up. Oh, wait a minute, they already are involved. Damn! Check this out from the article:

Antivaccine groups have noticed. In November, J. B. Handley, a founder of Generation Rescue, which advocates treating autistic children with wheat- and dairy-free diets, vitamins and chelation to remove mercury, wrote an open letter to “Courageous Somali Parents.” He warned them not to trust the state health department and suggested they slow down their children’s shots and get exemptions to school vaccination requirements. He also offered to pay for some to attend an antivaccine conference. The appeal has had an effect. Many parents, including Ayub’s, now say that their children’s autism began after seizures that started after they got shots.

“People in the Somali community have gravitated to that theory, and many are resisting immunization,” Dr. McLellan said.

Isn't that just great. Since many Somalians that live here will visit their homeland, can you imagine what would happen if they went without vaccines?

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Until next time, keep smiling, keep laughing and keep out of the sample closet.

Doug

King of Medicine