Category Archives: Health Care Reform

Quora Query: Will Trump Turn Out To be the Best Thing That Happened to the Affordable Care Act (ACA)?

[From 2016, slightly modified]: No. We are in for a rather wild ride, and I don’t mean that in the most pleasant or interesting way. The Trump administration – or should I say anti-administration since Trump has appointed government haters … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quora Query: Does it Really Happen That Doctors Let Their Patients Die Because the Patient’s Family Can Not Provide Money for the Treatment?

[From 2014, Slightly Updated]: While there is much wrong with the American Health System, one of the things that is right is that patients are generally not allowed to die because of inadequate finances; at least not precisely in that … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quora Query: What Would the Patient Experience Be Like if You Designed a New Hospital?

[From 2013, slightly updated] Great question. I have spent my adult life in these places – hospitals – and I both love them (they feel like…..home) and hate them (so, so far from home). Were I to design a new … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quora Query: Why Do Many Americans Think That Healthcare is not a Right for its Own Taxpaying Citizens, and Should it not be Considered as, or More, Important by the American Public Than is Education?

[Originally from 2012, slightly updated] I think first of all one need ask if the premise is correct: DO MOST Americans think that health care is not a right? And then I would ask: From where did you come up … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quora Query: When a Hospital “Works Out a Payment Plan” for You to Pay Off a Large Bill Over Several Months, Does the Hospital Charge Interest?

[Originally answered 2012, slightly updated] A very cool and complex query. 1. First of all, it depends upon the hospital. My suspicion is that most charge some interest. 2. If you are obliged to pay ANY amount, you can and … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quora Query: Who Should be in Charge of Administrating a Hospital?

The question is ( or should be): What does it take to administer a hospital and who should do it ? [In a previous comment] Doctor Ford is correct that much of care provision is performed by our nursing colleagues, … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quora Query: What Percentage of US Health Costs are Spent on Administration?

There are several answers to this. I am sorry to self promote, but if you go to my blog – Notes from the Southern Heartland (https://www.ajlayon.com) and look at the 3-part series “Problems in Paradise” I go over this in … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quora Query: What Will it Take for the United States to Acquire Universal Healthcare?

There are two sets of answers to this query: Political and operational/organizational. Let me address each in its turn. The Political Issues: There is, to my analysis, nothing special about the United States and its people that make a rational … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quora Query: Is the UK NHS the Best Healthcare System in Europe?

This gallery contains 1 photo.

How, indeed. Perhaps the first principle in answering this query is to point out, briefly, how healthcare systems are judged and ranked. This is done in multiple ways: Ease of access; waiting times; quality of each encounter, this itself is … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Quora Query: Why do you believe that people who abuse the healthcare system in the US should be enabled, through not telling them, in no uncertain terms, that their non-emergency issues are just that…non-emergencies?

There are several fine answers to this query – see, particularly, the one by former Nurse Mara Obelcz on Quora. And just as there are several answers to your question, there are several – many – reasons that people come … Continue reading

More Galleries | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment