Health Care Reform: Putting Patients First, Part Two

Continued from Part One, more discussion, prepared thoughts, and reactions from the bloggers in attendance at the event, "Putting Patients First" as hosted by Dr. Val, CEO of Better Health, LLC.

Dr. Wes posted his prepared opening comments of which these statements make me personally want to cheer - “The honest truth is, if I could help the uninsured, and unemployed and chronically ill while preserving my relationship with you – I would. If I could solve these problems while preserving my love for medicine – and the devotion of my colleagues, I would.  Fortunately, I believe we can."

“But we can’t do that and continue to fund the gravy train. And that gravy train is the multi-billion dollar health insurance industry with executives who made over $24M annually in 2007, the $800B pharmaceutical industry with executive compensations of over 25 million dollars the same year, the over $24 billion spent in one year in our country on new hospital construction, the nearly half a billion dollars in political campaign contributions from health care special interests a single year (2008), and the 55-80% increase in malpractice insurance premiums that your doctors have paid over the past 5 years.”

I also especially enjoy reading the comments from Mother Jones, RN who blogs at "Nurse Ratched’s Place" - “Every blogger expressed their personal viewpoint about healthcare reform at the conference. The bloggers were not told what to say, and I was not told what to tweet, or what comments to make before, during, or after the conference. We came to D.C. to add our voices to the healthcare debate. No, I didn’t agree with everything that I heard during the conference. I thought a lot of the information presented by the keynote speakers was bunk. I’m in favor of a public option healthcare reform bill, and I don’t like the disinformation being spread via partisan politics about this important issue. I get infuriated when members of Congress from both sides of the aisle play partisan politics while my patients languish in a healthcare system that’s literally killing them. I’m really very frustrated, and I’m just like everyone else in this country that wants to give our politicians a good swift kick in the butt. What gives me hope is seeing good people from both sides of this debate coming together at a healthcare blogger conference in Washington, D.C. Healthcare providers truly want to put patients first.”

She was one of the folks stationed in the “Twitter Gallery.”  A blogger who couldn't attend, Robin of "Survive the Journey", created a transcript of all the tweets related to the conference.  Visit her blog post to access the .pdf. Thanks Robin for doing so much work.  Another Twitterer, Evan Falchuk of the "See First Blog", posted a great round-up of reactions to the conference.

A final member of the Twitter Gallery was Kerri Morrone Sparling of "Six Until Me" whose round-up goes directly to the heart of the discussion: Government Health Care.  Her readers provide excellent commentary on the issue, especially those who have lived in the US and elsewhere.