Pat Rants

August 17, 2008 -- My lifelong pal Pat Olson has had a distinguished career as a US Navy flight surgeon. He opines on "...a practice of socialistic medicine called the US Navy."

He goes on:

Does it promote itself as socialistic? Obviously not. Is it a perfect system? Obviously not. But even its critics admit that with access to care for servicemembers and their families regardless of rank or ability to pay, in terms of objectively verifiable outcome measures it outperforms the US private sector.

This leads me to something I see as the Dark Side of medical informatics. As long as we have a 'pro-competition' insurance industry, rewards will go to those who cherry-pick. Beyond HIPAA, you've got the specter of cyber sleuthing medical records for the familial trait here, the genetic deletion there, that incurs increased risk. It terrifies me to think of a child being denied care because of something in a record somewhere and broadcast unknowingly to the wolves of the insurance industry.

Okay, I'm outta control...

But we agree, Pat, we agree.