So the Affordable Care Act got upheld by the Supreme Court. I don't know what your opinion of that was. Mine, if you care, was some relief that we are at long last on our way (if still not quite there) to no longer being the only industrialized nation on the planet that denies some of its citizens access to care.
I am also stunned that it happened. As I bet you are too. Roberts?
My job involves supporting people who work in the healthcare field, people who are working hard to improve the quality of delivery and create healthier populations, which in turn keeps costs down.
Right now, by the way, is the part where I have to tell you that I'm speaking for myself and not my employer. This is an annoying thing (again, my opinion only!) that's partly PR and partly on the order of those DVD warnings in which the movie studios beg you not to sue them over the commentary tracks, because movie studios and I and my bosses live in an absurdly litigious country.
Point being, if I were to point out my belief that even Dick Cheney looks upon Antonin Scalia from his throne of deformed baby skulls and thinks there walks a man who might eat a kitten just to taste the mew, that's not reflective of anyone's opinion but mine. Also, I'm blogging pseudonymously. I'M A PHANTOM OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Now let's move on.
Anyway, I bring up my employment because part of what we do involves evangelizing about fancy terms like patient-centered medical home and the chronic care model and meaningful use of electronic health record systems. These are important words. These are words that just might help fix some of the problem.
And so, in the context of that mission, and in the wake of this history-changing decision, I'd like to share a video I watched recently that you might like. It's about an hour long but, regardless of your political leanings, it will almost certainly show you a few things you didn't know about healthcare systems that (mostly) work. I am on my way to becoming an expert in this field, and it showed me things I thought were about as likely to exist as sexy mer-lady underboobs. So, without further ado: