The health policy world is abuzz with a new film debuting in the States June 29 ... Michael Moore's documentary "Sicko" that details the travesty that is our national health care "system." Yesterday, I had the opportunity to hear Mr. Moore himself speak and introduce clips of his film at a House Judiciary Committee hearing with Congressman Conyers presiding. I had to wait for nearly an hour-and-a-half to make it in to the room for the actual briefing; the preceding press conference lasted three times longer than it should have ... I've never seen so many cameras. But the wait was worth it --- three people featured in the film testified, including one former Iowan (whose mother owns and operates Second Mile, a second-hand store in Grinnell) who works at a mission home in Los Angeles on the horrors of 'patient dumping,' a practice where nearby hospitals, including USC and Kaiser Permanente, drop patients unable to pay their hospital bills at mission homes and other public housing. Sometimes these patients are still wearing hospital gowns, ID bracelets, and retain IV lines in their hands or arms. I can't wait to see the film in its entirety. Clearly, Michael Moore has an agenda. And all agendas need to be carefully considered in light of what data is being presented and by whom ... for example, for as many horrific stories as there are in the film about Kaiser Permanente, I've heard as many or even more positive experiences patients have had with the nation's largest HMO. Nonetheless, all the positive stories do not lessen how terrible the worst stories really are, patient experiences that are far outside the bounds of the inevitable 'accidents' that occur daily in the practice of medicine. One of the neatest aspects of the afternoon, however, was seeing a fellow AMSA national leader testify at Conyers' request!
I am leaving tomorrow night for a long week in CA. I'll be attending AMSA's Primary Care Leadership Training Program at UCSF and catching up with friends and families in the Bay Area. I haven't been there in a year-and-a-half, so I am excited about visiting again. As such, I did laundry tonight ... hauling my cardboard box of clothes down to the other end of my dorm room floor. After throwing my clothes in the washer, I left my box (doubling as my laundry hamper!), a bag of hangers, and my soap on top of the washer, as I always do. When I returned to throw my clothes in the dryer, I discovered a theft ... someone stole my cardboard box!!! Unbelievable ... whoever it was neatly left my hangers and detergent but made off with my makeshift hamper. Ugh. Well, if I can leave DC with only losing a cardboard box (on top of my driver's license and debit card I lost in Georgetown three weeks ago), I'll be doing all right.
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Maybe they'll return the laundry box filled with ramen...(think back to ISU, you'll get it.)
I assume you've also heard the hospital horror story about the woman who died in a LA ER waiting room? If not, let me know and I'll send you the link.
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