Discussion about this post

User's avatar
LT's avatar

Can one imagine how much better US healthcare would be minus 12 million illegal migrants? Like education, criminal justice and housing, the added burden to the system makes wait times, cost and outcomes less optimal. My Daughter, spent a couple years in Barcelona on a student visa. Before she was granted the visa, she had to have proof of medical clearance along with health insurance. Countries in the EU do not have the capacity or the will to provide care for millions of undocumented migrants. The simple fact remains, undocumented immigration has a negative impact on us all, especially on healthcare. Hospitals along the Mexico-US border are struggling to even keep their doors open due to the influx of migrants.

Lastly, tort reform is needed and expanded, whereby pain and suffering is limited in jury awards. In California we do have MICRA (Medical Injury Compensation Reform Act) which currently caps awards for medical malpractice to $390K for injury from medical errors and $550k for wrongful death. Not perfect by any measure, but needs to be further expanded to include loser pays court costs!

Expand full comment
J. Livingston's avatar

Letter recently received: Sansom is now rebranded as Sutter, as part of the recent Sutter health systems takeover. I too sense the extreme pressures local physicians are now under, which comes out inadvertently in ways that probably surprise even them when one asks even simple questions about process and procedures .

As one of the elderly who knows what the next chapter of my own health care experience will be.......albeit at some still unknown date and circumstance ....... I wonder who will help me transition in this final chapter. Someone who only knows me as a name on an electronic record, after a few 15 minute data-driven encounters? While insurance plan provider changes toss us about like chaff in the wind.

Expand full comment
54 more comments...

No posts