Where does all the money go in healthcare?  It is not coming my way.  Not to sound like a communist but Marx was right; the ones doing the work, doing the production do not see the profits or even a living wage often.

          For a long time I have been thinking about ways to make Medicare more cost-effective.  Dismantling it will NOT save us money; it will just put more seniors in danger and cost more money in the long run.

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          So, Obama says this new bill forces the insurance industry to work with truth and fairness.  Is he really that naïve?

          Things the new bill does not fix:

• On the Today show this morni/
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          Last week on “This Week in Northern California” the moderator closed the show asking that people write in about whether Blue Cross/Anthem’s rate hikes in California for private parties would affect public opinion about reform.&n… Read full post »

          I am so frustrated!  (again)   Treating diabetes and hypertension and cholesterol is getting more and more impossible as insurance fades from people’s lives.  The patient feels fine and sees no reason to take any medicat/… Read full post »

          Another example of what I was saying about the uninsured.

          Raul was a corporate middle manager who lost his job and his insurance last year.  He has some heart disease – atrial fibr… Read full post »

Things are out of control.  I can tell from my own medical expenses the last few months.

I don’t think most people know how medical prices work.  It helps to know the history.  When Medicare started it paid a percentage of any physician’s prices so one had to set the prices/… Read full post »

          I am falling farther into depression and I am angry.  Today I just wanted to tell patients to shut up and go away.  That is not my usual style.  December has been  exhausting.

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          There has been a lot of talk lately about fraud and Medicare.  Investigative journalists show us empty store fronts that bilked the system out of millions of dollars.  I saw one perpetrator bragging about how he did serial scams.

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          I just came from a dinner sponsored by Quest Diagnostics but I had to leave before I got the steak and lobster dinner.  I was too distressed.

          There were five Quest sales reps there, all… Read full post »

          Went to a “town hall” tonight.  What a waste of time.  Most of us were in a second room watching on a screen.  All the questions were from people in the first room.  Whackos on a soapbox.

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          Just found out that Medicare is considering changes (again), about nine things affecting family doctors.  One change involves the payment for office visits.  Currently there are two kinds of billing.  Routine office visit codes are/… Read full post »

          It’s Monday morning.  Yesterday my book club had a “spa day” and we discussed Olive Kittredge  by Elizabeth Strout.  It won a Pulitzer and some people don’t understand why.  But the complexity of all th/… Read full post »

I am a family physician in Salinas California, a solo physician, barely making it financially and a single mother of a special needs 16-year-old.  On top of all that I struggle every day to give healthcare to the ones who fall between the cracks.  Frustration dogs my every decision.  I/… Read full post »