Health Care

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With the single exception of a forced buyout in the 90s, I've never lost money in a health care stock, I currently own three or four. The problem with health care is the HMO industry. The problem with the HMO industry is that it's a problematic business model facilitated by a bought and paid for government. This won't change until politicians do, and I don't mean just the faces.

Here are some of Bob's medical industry donors, I stopped at "C":
3M
American Family Life Assurance Company
American Dental Association
American Medical Association
American Society of Interventional Pain
Corning Incorporated

addendum:
(2/3/08)- Helvidius, a local blogger, argues that the principal problem is that the HMO/Medicare model substantially decouples individual use and cost, which you couldn't really argue, and he further traces this to Roosevelt and WW II, which I had never heard but have no problem believing.

I sent him Bob's email address.


addendum2:
(5/1/08)- Here's a letter in this morning's Greenville News, and I'm thinking I need to take Amanda to DC with me. I particularly like where she says "Free clinic patients cut our hair, fix our cars, serve us lunch, care for our children and help build our homes". That's some people getting it done.

Help support S.C.'s local free clinics
For 667,000 uninsured South Carolinians, basic medical care has become an unaffordable luxury. April 27 to May 3 is Cover the Uninsured Week, a time to focus on the national crisis that leaves millions of Americans without access to health care. The number of uninsured Americans is steadily increasing. Chances are someone you know is living with the daily worry that an unforeseen illness could result in financial ruin, or worse, they will go without treatment because it is unaffordable.

In the midst of this complex problem is a dedicated group of professionals and volunteers who are working to make it better -- South Carolina's free clinic network. The South Carolina Free Clinic Association represents 32 community-based medical centers staffed by hundreds of volunteer doctors, nurses and pharmacists who offer free medical services to those in need. In 2007, South Carolina's free clinics served more than 34,000 patients, providing 110,000 medical visits.

The demand for these services is growing. In 2007, free clinics added over 8,900 new patients to our caseloads. The rising costs of health insurance and the large number of uninsured workers create an extremely diverse pool of South Carolinians with nowhere else to turn. Some free clinic patients are unemployed or between jobs, but many are working. Free clinic patients cut our hair, fix our cars, serve us lunch, care for our children and help build our homes.

The need is great -- and we cannot address it alone. Free clinics depend on financial support from local foundations, individual donations, and special event fundraisers. Please consider giving your time and support to your local free clinic. Until we find a solution to the national health-care crisis, free clinics are there in your community providing hope and medical care for those who need it.

Amanda Berrier/Columbia
The writer is executive director of the South Carolina Free Clinic Association.