It only takes one to make a difference

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-fi-anthem-20100716,0,5284043.story

If you are too lazy to read the whole article, here is a quick rundown:

-insurance firm wants to up rates 39%

-a hospitalized math GENIUS goes, "wtf mate?" and works while he is sick in his hospital bed

-Genius man finds a weird error and reports it to the insurance firm

-insurance firm canceled the original 39% price hike and is now increasing rates by an average of 14%

Win: genius

Fail: insurance quality assurance

But seriously... wtcrap. A small firm out does a multi-billion-dollar company and does better error checking than the company that knows its own system best... and this error isn't about pennies and nickels... it's about TENS OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS. that is HUGE! And especially in this new era of the Obama healthcare reform (or better known as insurance reform), missed errors like this adds up and becomes a ridiculous burden on the consumers and government.

Assessment:

1. Insurance companies suck.

2. WTF? were the insurance companies doing their job?

3. "Yes, let's just cut corners on these numbers, we won't pay for it anyways"

Plan:

1. Investigate all insurance company's book keeping

2. Maintain better control of for-profit insurance firms (I guess that's what ObamaCare is for)

3. Possibly to decrease healthcare cost and insurance overall, limit litigation awards on the MD side to decrease defensive medicine... but that's a whole different story....

4. Maybe just socalize healthcare completely... that will solve everything...

Yes, I am talking to you Patient BMI 79

Seriously, lose weight. Yes, for the women, having extra fat cells increases your chance of getting cancer of the breast or endometrium... and for the men, you could get breast cancer, or worse, you will end up with boobs.

All jokes aside, I have really felt frustrated with dealing with obese patients. Could you really just take care of yourself, just a tiny bit? Why let yourself go and get yourself categorized as obese or morbidly obese (yes, that's a BMI of 40+) and with that categorization, all the health problems that come with it?! Just imagine... a 5 foot 7 inches person weighing TWO HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE POUNDS. That's like me, but DOUBLE my weight.

Sadly enough, most patients in the hospital are these patients. They are obese patients with X number of medical issues, and they go into surgery for Y, go home and resume the vicious cycle until something happens where the medical system can no longer prolong their life. I have seen a few rare instances where patients make a complete 180 and change their lifestyle and are now living better than ever. And that makes me feel like I am doing something. But for everything else, you either become jaded, or your paycheck is big enough where you don't care, or you are just really optimistic and truly care despite the fact.

Assessment:
1. Obesity is a big contributing factor to MANY medical problems
2. Healthcare isn't about saving lives, it's about prolonging a life that should have technically ended
3. Losing weight would save yourself so much in the long run
4. Healthcare dollars are being wasted on those who depended on the system because they are unable to look after themselves

Plan:
1. Somehow get people to lose weight, or let darwinism handle it
2. Create a practice that takes care of people who take care of themselves, or seek practice in a setting where medical care is appreciated
3. For the health care reform, create caps on health insurance coverages BASED on the effort of the patient (i.e. patient gets treatment, but then still does not work for a healthier lifestyle, then coverage will eventually run out)
4. Create a big hole and......