I picked up a magazine while I was waiting — one hour — for my doctor’s appointment on Thursday last week, Medical Economics. I can’t imagine why doctors would want patients sitting around reading this kind of stuff. Among other things, it contained letters from doctors, one of which advises not taking Medicaid or Medicare patients in order to increase income of doctors.
I’ll suggest one more. Cut down on the practice of "over-booking" because those store clinics are going to eat doctors alive. People aren’t going to put up with waiting in a doctor’s office an hour to see a doctor for 15 minutes or less. Those days are soon going to be history. Airlines and restaurants can get away with this, maybe, but even they are having hard times.
Both the Democrats and the Republicans are sniffing around the edges of national health care. The further down in the polls a candidate is, the more aggressive he is in his push for health care. John Edwards comes out and says he would cancel the Bush tax-cuts to pay for it. He can afford to say that. He isn’t going anywhere. But you don’t hear Senators Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton sayng that.
Speaking of those store clinics — it’s not just Wal-Mart. Pharmacies like Walgreen’s, CV, and chain stores such as Kroger’s are all opening walk-in clinics. It’s not going to help the people in the boondocks much, probably, because they need high traffic — lots of people coming in. No chance for the Kucinich plan, either. He wants to do away with the insurance companies and take the profit out of providing health care! Imagine that!
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