Recently in health care reform Category

Did you know September is Pain Awareness Month? Statistics show that over 76 million people in the U.S. are affected by chronic pain. The National Institute of Health estimates that the cost of managing America's pain exceeds $100 billion per year. This includes healthcare expenses, loss of income and lost productivity in the workplace. Several reports show that pain, often associated with chronic conditions, affects more Americans than diabetes, heart disease and cancer combined. 

I don't know about you, but I have a hard time making heads or tails of what's going on with health care reform. All I know is most people are highly emotional about it. Some of my fellow bloggers are much more adept on the subject than I am. 

The issue of health care reform has ignited some nasty political debates. So, rather than ignore the topic because I feel ignorant about it, I feel compelled to at least offer up some resources, commentaries and articles that I feel are worth sharing. My motto of course being that you should read and try to form some kind of an opinion rather than stick your head in the sand.... 

Posted earlier today on The Huffington Post:
Weekly Pulse: Pelosi Makes Her Move

The Huffington Post posted this story yesterday:
A NY Times Reporter Confirms Obama made a backroom deal to kill the public option.

The New York Times offers a collection of articles and commentaries.

The Washington Post has been tracking the national health care reform debate thoroughly. Be sure to check out the "major players" at the bottom, and if you have extra time, dig deeper into their "Daily Dose" and Healthcare Rx features.

CNN offers up the CNN Political Ticker on health care. Once there, you can sign up for twice daily email updates of Ticker emails.

The Wall Streat Journal provides us with a Health-Care Overhaul, a collection of the latest news stories and polls related to health care reform.

Yahoo News offers trending articles from major news sources on hot topics including health care reform. For the latest, just type in "health care reform" in the search field.

C-Span.org offers videos of actual debates and other political topics related to health care reform via its Health Care Hub.

To read Obama's health reform proposal, his proposed budget and to see how proposed reform would benefit your state, visit HealthReform.gov.

Read what the Democrats see as the Top 10 Immediate Benefits of health care reform.

Want a minute-by-minute update on all things related to the Obama Presidency? Then check out Politico.com's Politico44; for specifics on all the nit picky details of what's happening with health care reform, and I mean every meeting, every possible detail and discussion, check out their LivePulse or their version of breaking news on the health care fight.

For a Libertarian view of what's happening read Reason.com's articles related to health care reform.

Want an independent view of what's happening with health care reform? Check out The Real News Network's section on health care reform. According to their website, The Real News Network is a non-profit news and documentary network focused on providing independent uncompromising journalism.

Also worth checking out is WhoRunsGov.com an online publication of The Washington Post. What is it? According to the site, it offers profiles of government decision-makers with an interesting twist -- it allows ANYONE to make contributions to the profiles, although they do say they are subject to approval by their editorial team. Real interesting reading to learn who's who, why and how. 

I'm sharing this recent blog post by Joe Paduda, as it so clearly demonstrates on so many levels what is wrong with our health care system. It also shows how not having the right partner to assist with managing complex claims contributes to our health care system's weaknesses. While the claim discussed here is not a workers' comp claim, it very well could be.

There are stories galore of workers' comp injuries that spiral out of control because there are so many "specialists" working on the case. Specialists are brought in to treat this, that or the other symptom, yet nobody stops to assess the real underlying issues. No matter where a claim falls on the health care spectrum, the need to partner with vendors who understand and can help keep things on track is essential. Knowing when a claim has become complex is just as important.

Many believe health care reform is dead. But why? As the guest writer of Joe's post says, why are we all okay with allowing these kinds of things to happen? Why is it okay to allow such massive waste? Why is it okay to allow millions of dollars to be spent on care that really doesn't matter, when the money could be put to much better use? Why? Why? Why?

Okay, I'm finished throwing my temper tantrum. But only temporarily. 

No matter where you stand on the issue of health care reform, you have to be concerned. The topic gets the best of friends hissing and spitting at each other over the details. What to do? Read. Listen. Get informed. Take action. This is the biggest reform issue we will tackle in our lifetime. Rather than take a stance based on your political affiliation, take the time to understand the real issues and how it will impact us and the generations to come.