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October 30, 2008
Mental Health Parity
Did any notice the irony of the bailout being piggybacked through on the mental health parity bill? It is beyond my ken which bill helped the other. American Medical News (AMA) reported the parity law as "a provision in the law" but I think this is backwards. This has even more irony than when EMTALA was piggybacked as part of the Budget Reconciliation Act.
The parity law requires that employer-based group health plans that have more than 50 members and cover medical and surgical plus mental health or substance abuse must set equal financial requirements and equal treatment limitations for both med-surg and MH/SA.
Continue reading "Mental Health Parity"
Posted by Robert Maddox at 8:45 AM | Comments (1)
Hubris
The word of the day from dictionary.com is hubris. And that reminds me that what I am really against is not the nemesis but the hubris of medicine which brings the judgment of the God. We face the overwhelming presumption of medicine every day, whether in the TV ads, or the internet claims, or the simple act of taking a pill.
A friend sent me a claim from a doctor that if a person suffering from any symptoms of a stroke (simplified now in several forms for the public and doctors alike) will get to him within three hours, he can save his life.
Posted by Robert Maddox at 8:28 AM | Comments (0)
Return?
Apologies to anyone looking for regular posting here. There have been dozens of notable studies to comment on, as well as many events influencing the practice of medicine since May. I still have stacks of them lying around. Is any one interested in heart attacks, strokes, treatment of fever in children, mental health parity, or the many other interesting developments?
But it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same. That is the lesson my mentor tried to teach me, but it has been a hard one. The huge stacks of studies that are generated every day contribute very little to the health and well-being of suffering people. Doctors and nurses listening to patients and occasionally offering advice are much more valuable.
Posted by Robert Maddox at 12:35 AM | Comments (3)