tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post5411110894759646915..comments2023-04-27T03:36:36.821-05:00Comments on The Periodic Table: Mr. B.http://www.blogger.com/profile/02067666077743889680noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7815564874722496808.post-31872964272709542752007-06-04T07:11:00.000-05:002007-06-04T07:11:00.000-05:00Bravo to you for finding and reprinting this artic...Bravo to you for finding and reprinting this article.<BR/><BR/>As a new retiree who is worried about the unbelievable cost of health insurance these days, I have been researching lots of articles and blogs on the web. A lot of what I have been reading confirms what this article says: our healthcare system is supposed to be the best in the world, and it's often just the opposite: expensive and potentially dangerous to patients.<BR/><BR/>One example is the dialysis industry. The more I read about it, the less I like it. It seems to be all about making money.<BR/><BR/>I found one blog in particular that makes the connections between two big for-profit dialysis companies, Fresenius and DaVita, the anti-anemia drug Epogen, and how there are incentives in the Medicare program that encourage overuse of these drugs in for-profit clinics--even though overuse can cause strokes, heart attacks, and death!!<BR/><BR/>The blog is called "Budget Bribery and Medical Costs" and the link to it is: http://www.mydd.com/story/2007/4/25/143725/620<BR/><BR/>I urge everyone to check it out. It goes into the politics of how, at a time when so many people in the U.S. can't afford healthcare and the Medicare program is constantly threated with cuts, these dialysis companies are managing to get politicians from both parties to vote for increasing the Medicare reimbursement rates for the dialysis centers every year. <BR/><BR/>I think this is outrageous and just wonder what other people think, and whether there is anything that can be done about it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com