2012 conventions 2012 election 2013 session arts arts and culture author ballot measures basketball bomb books boy scouts budget bullying business charlie hales children clackamas climate change coal college courts crime culture culture club democrats drugs economy education environment family film fluoride food gay rights guns handguns health health care health insurance high school history housing immigration internet kitzhaber law legislature lgbt literary arts living marijuana marriage media medicine mental health military minor parties mohamed mohamud movies music native americans news newspaper obama olympics oregon our town parenting pers photography police politcs politics port portland portland business journal president prevention public safety religion republicans rnc romney rural salem sam adams sandy hook schools science shooting sports suicide supreme court taxes technology terrorism theater third parties transportation union university of oregon washington wildfire women

I am sure that like all other legislation the devil is in the details.  I am sure that some will benefit more than others .  I am sure that the initail 10 years will be rocky--for me, as a physician they may be ugly.

We need to keep in mind that  we care for most chronically ill people already , through our taxes  if they have Medicare or Mediciad OR through cost shifting . They are teated when they reach the ER in heart failure from untreated hypertension or are hospitalized with widely metastatic breast cancer. Not all preventive care saves money( believe it or not) but access to regular primary care , looking internationally,  does save money by catching things before they get to the end stage

 I do think medicine is one of the only services where what you pay depends so much on who you are.  What is the "cost" of an MRI?  That's unclear.  The charges may vary from $600 to $1800 depending on whether you have medicare , medicaid, private insurance or are self pay.  It will take years for medical costs and charges to be come rational, and there will be some very difficult adjustments along the way. Of course we are all afraid our coverage will be cut , since the sticker prices are so high. So is the providers overhead ...

Thank Gosh for Rep DeFAzio negotationg equity in Medicare payments across regions. 

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
view in context

Can I suggest the Alzheimer Family caregivers alliance  as a good resource .THey have a lot of information about common problems that can occur later and they do talk about caregivers as well as victims

http://www.caregiver.org/caregiver/jsp/home.

posted 3 years, 5 months ago
view in context

THis is an old post, but this sounds like a GREAT show .  I vote for the jobs we wanted as kids -firefighter, police officer, ballet dancer, candy maker, baker, gardener (my childhood dream), elementary school teacher or principal and superhero.

posted 3 years, 5 months ago
view in context

Oregon has the highest per capita use in the country of methadone according to the DEA .

I would appreciate a show about prescription drug diversion and abuse .  There were 700 deaths in Oregon 2003-2007 from prescription opioids. 

Some  victims  had a prescription, some got the drugs in other ways. I wonder how many babies are born to moms on chronic ,legal, opioids , I would bet that it is substantial.

There will be a prescription monitoring program begining in late 2010 to protect the public, I don't know how fleshed out it is .

  The CD summary from October 26, 2009 (which is listed as September 29 on their website) has a lot of information.  http://oregon.gov/dhs/ph/cdsummary (vol 58, number 20)

posted 3 years, 5 months ago
view in context