Okay, this is scary….

Thursday, February 26, 2009

By Helen Smith

In reading about Obama’s new $634 billion health fund, I came across this:

The budget figures also represent significant shifts in how the United States will pay for medical care.

For example, experts have identified hospital readmissions — especially for elderly patients — as a sign of poor care and unnecessary expense. About 18 percent of Medicare patients are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days of an original visit. The new approach would establish flat fees for the first hospitalization and 30 days of follow-up, sometimes done by separate facilities. Hospitals or clinics with high readmission rates could be paid less.

I am not sure what the details are but just from reading the above, how is punishing hospitals or clinics who re-admit sick patients by paying them less going to provide good care? It’s like the insurance programs that dock doctor’s pay the more patients they see–and reward them for seeing fewer. Many just see fewer, regardless of whether the patient is better or not. But maybe I am naive and good care isn’t the point. Maybe the point is to make a certain portion of the American population including the president feel good that all Americans have insurance, even if patients are left sitting outside the hospital door.

Perhaps I have this wrong, maybe there is more to this “new approach” than I have heard about. Maybe….

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Dads on the Air

Dads on the Air (31 Aug 2010): Fatherless Day 2010

With special guests:

Barry Williams
Stephen S Holden and
Warwick Marsh.

Despite all the evidence available in the form of a multitude of credible research and statistics, which clearly shows the immense damage being done to the bonds of family kinship in our Australian communities, the unrelenting push for a fatherless society continues.

The fact that this mountain of evidence continues to be ignored, is a sad reflection on the way our parliamentary system of government has been hijacked, by the anti-male zealots within the political parties and the bureaucracy.

Hundreds of thousands of Dads will not see their children this Fathers Day 2010, yet this did not even rate one mention during the recent federal election. It is no wonder the wider community has turned their back on the main parties, who have ignored the many concerns of their constituents for far too long.

Speaking about some of these concerns, Barry Williams, President of the Lone Fathers Association Australia, describes the current Family laws as being in breach of anti discrimination legislation. He plans to take 4 points of discrimination to the Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick.

We also speak with separated father Stephen S Holden author of The Other Glass Ceiling, who details some of the anti-father legislation and how easily it can destroy a fathers’ relationship with his children.

We end the show with Warwick Marsh, of Dads4Kids, who speaks about the importance of dads in a child’s life, and the celebration of fatherhood this special weekend on Fathers Day.

Listen Now (MP3)

Dads on the Air (24 Aug 2010): The Plight Of Modern Man

With special guest:

Paul Mischefski.

This week we feature an interesting pre-recorded interview with investigative journalist Paul Mischefski of Mens Wellbeing, who speaks on a range of issues facing modern man in the 21st Century. In particular, there is considerable discussion around the way Domestic Violence issues are dealt with in Australia and elsewhere.

Paul throws much doubt on the way information is gathered and how studies are conducted, which is reflected in poor domestic violence policy formulation by our governments. The resulting damage to generations of innocent men and boys by such discriminating anti male Domestic Violence propaganda, is incalculable.

The ‘Mens Wellbeing’ website provides much helpful and informative information, including the following:

At their deepest level, most men yearn to participate in some small or large way in the creation of a better world, and in doing so serve their families, loved ones and community. How to fulfil this yearning in these complex times is a conundrum that leaves some part of just about every man struggling for clear direction within himself about what it means to be an authentic, healthy man in our society.

Being a man in the 21st Century is no easy task. In just one generation, the expectations on men have changed dramatically. Our roles as fathers, lovers, workers, community members, brothers and friends have all changed from what was expected of our fathers, in some cases almost beyond recognition. This rapid rate of change has left many men without adequate role models and in a state of confusion about what it means to be a man in the modern era.

Listen Now (MP3)

Dads on the Air (17 Aug 2010): Men's Health, Alienation and Votes

With special guests:

Ed Dabrowski
Greg Millan and
Joseph Goldberg.

The rights, and roles of men and fathers, have never been under more pressure at any time in human history. The gradual stereotyping and marginalizing of men and fathers in our communities, is witness to the decimation of the family structure as we know it. Children born today only have a 1 in 3 chance of remaining in meaningful contact with both the maternal and paternal sides of their family, in the event their parents should separate.

It would not be unreasonable to assume therefore, that with a Federal election in Australia looming, the media and the major parties would have had something to say about an issue which has destroyed millions of parent/child relationships, as the result of a 35 year reign of terror waged on families, by the International Family Justice Industry.

Predictably however, with the exception of the NCPP, the silence has been deafening. Not one question raised by the mainstream media, not one caller to a Radio or Television station, not one comment was heard on this subject, by any of the candidates representing the major parties. It also raises the serious question as to why there is such apathy amongst the multitude of victims of this travesty of justice? Where were their voices?

On today’s program we will discuss some of the causes and ways to deal with the ongoing debasing of maleness. Our first guest today is Ed Dabrowski of mensvote.com, who discusses the policy positions of the major parties, concerning men as fathers and the issue of family values, in an attempt to understand the platforms of the political parties concerned.

Next we speak with Greg Millan of Mens Health Services , who has just launched his latest book ‘Men’s Health & Wellbeing: an A to Z guide’. Greg is a men’s health consultant, who speaks about his new book and the men’s health services, who provide professional expertise in the design and delivery of effective programs and resources for men, as well as offering professional training designed specifically to help address the unique needs of men and boys.

We then speak with Canadian medical - legal consultant Joseph Goldberg, of Goldberg & Associates, who specialises in the area of Parental Alienation cases. Joseph has an intimate knowledge of this disorder, being an Alienated parent himself, and now has many speaking engagements and organises a number of symposiums which focus on the subject of PAS.

Listen Now (MP3)

Dads on the Air (10 Aug 2010): Equal Parental Involvement

With special guests:

Professor Thea Brown and
John Stapleton.

This week we have an interesting interview with Professor Thea Brown, from Monash University, who speaks about her paper “Shared parenting and parental involvement in children’s schooling following separation and divorce”.

Professor Brown was appointed as Professor of Social Work in 1988, serving as Head of the Department, the Director of International Programs and Deputy Head and is now Professor, Research. Her most recent research focus has been on separating parents and their children, on family violence and parental separation and divorce and on services supporting separating parents.

Professor Brown, speaks about the important need for Governments to act, in order to ensure that non-custodial parents continue to be involved with their childrens’ progress, especially in the area of their education. She points out the unacceptable policy differences in this area, which vary from State to State and from school to school.

We also spoke briefly with John Stapleton, who is in Thailand at present. Unfortunately the phone connection was not very good, and eventually dropped out. We hope to speak with John again in the near future.

Listen Now (MP3)

Dads on the Air (03 Aug 2010): A Vision Of Justice

With special guests:

David Dufour and
Coral Slattery.

An interesting program this week, where we discuss just some of the many issues facing Men and Fathers in 2010. First up we speak with American film maker David Dufour, Mediadads, who recently came out to Australia, to record material for a documentary he is making, about what it means to be male in 2010. Now back in America, he speaks about the interesting experiences of his journey.

An organization of volunteers that has put an immense effort, into providing a continuous supply of updated information regarding the many ramifications of poor Family Law legislation in Australia, is the Family Law Reform Association.

We speak with the secretary of this worthy organization Coral Slattery, and discuss some of the issues facing fathers. In particular the way the education system deals with the sensitive problems facing fathers, when they attempt to obtain access to their childrens’ educational progress.

Listen Now (MP3)

shatteredmen

During the campaign, Obama promised to reduce the number of uninsured Americans, improve the quality of care and save the typical family $2,500 a year in medical costs.

Ummm, I just saved about $25K on a new car. I did not buy it! I am fixing up the old one instead.

It sounds like the way they will be saving money with this universal health care is to limit how much health care each person can get. Many people in countries that already have this type of health care are denied many of the services that they could get if they could afford it and many are even denied it if they want to pay out of their pocket to get it. Why do you think so many come from Canada to get health care in the US?
Eye Doc

So 18% of sick elderly patients discharged from the hospital have to be readmitted within 30 days. What a shock, huh? And we're supposed to take that as a sign of poor medical care? That's completely illogical.

I'll tell you what will happen if this passes and gets implemented. Doctors and hospitals will start turfing the sicker patients to public hospitals and academic centers and refusing to admit them. They will say, "we're sorry, we just aren't equipped to deal with a problem of this magnitude, you'd be best off at the academic or tertiary care hospital down the street." Most hospitals in this country are already in serious financial straits. Does the Obama administration think they're going to sit still for this crap? Medicare patients better start writing to their representatives because it's going to get a whole lot harder to find hospitals that are willing to accept them if this thing becomes law.
real f

OK, I'll be the one to see the really dark side of this. Mostly older patients are the ones that need the most care. Who's going to suffer the most? OLD PEOPLE!

So, if you want to take care of more illegals, and their babies, and younger people who are more liberal, and vote more democratic, why not cut care for those who are more likely to oppose you? Especially as those who voted for Reagan get older and older... and oppose socialism/communism...
jjtaup

The point is, Obama looks very presidential.

Okay, this is scary….

Sex & Metropolis

Dads on the Air