Welcome Home!!!

[unclejimbo]

jamesla and ginmar, Welcome Home from Iraq. Thank goodness you both made it back safely.

If you are ever in the neighborhood (LA, Torrance to be precise), please feel free to drop in. We'd love to have you!

Until then, relax and enjoy being home.

Comments

[drsaddam.livejournal.com]

Hi James! kyburg told me to ask you. I may be working for Kaiser in the future, after I go to nursing school.

What do you think about the points raised in this NY Times article on Kaiser (http://www.livejournal.com/users/drsaddam/90978.html)? Is it a model HMO?

[unclejimbo.livejournal.com]

Hi there.

Well, as with all things, there are positives and negatives with the Kaiser HMO system. A major strength is the ability to do preventative medicine to forstall conditions before they become acute. I was at a symposia this past weekend where the topic was how to prevent hip fractures and how to reduce the numbers of cases.

A major weakness, you do not decide who you see, you see who the HMO tells you to see. And if the HMO decides against a treatment plan, you're alternative is to look outside your plan and pay for it out of pocket.

Ideally, in my honest opiion, the best course would be a National health plan along the Kaiser model as a primary insurance for all Americans (Paid for by taxes) and those who choose additional coverage to have more flexibility could purchase it to get more flexibility.

(A bit rough, I'll admit, but I think it is likely to be the way to go. It is a model used in Japan with their health care system and prices for doctor visits were extremely reasonable when kyburg got sick on our trip to Tokyo last March.