What They Said Before the Train Wreck: The Top 10 Worst Quotes Pushing ObamaCare

 

A train looking for a track.  MRC   A Media Reality Check. 

If we truly want health reform, we need to rethink the process.

I did not have my computer this past weekend, however I reverted to an older edition of my ‘software’….#2 yellow pencil and a yellow legal pad.

Thoughts flashed through my cranial space.

“ObamaCare”………..whose care is it, anyway? Obama is not delivering the care, so why should his name be on it.?  The plan was orchestrated by Ezekiel Emanuel,  a well known authority and academic expert on health policy matters. also  elder sibling of Rahm Emanuel, known for his family traits of high achievers, and lack of humility or ability to be diplomatic. Rahm and Zeke used to go at it, something like this,

Emanuel and his brother Rahm frequently argue about healthcare policy. Emanuel mimics his brother's end of the conversation: "You want to change the whole healthcare system, and I can’t even get SCHIP [State Children’s Health Insurance Program] passed with dedicated funding? What kind of idiot are you?"^[8]

Dr Emanuel spent thousands of hours and several years developing the plan. He was head of the NIH at one time as well.  He was pretty high up in medical organizations and must be an expert on health care, yes?  NO ?  He has an outstanding bibliography having written papers on euthanasia, rationing, death panels, end of life and other optimistic and positive views on life.

I don’t believe he has seen a patient in many years, nor ever operated a medical practice business.  The law rightly should be named after the author, let’s call it “Ezekiel Care”, or  “Emanuel Care”.   That sounds holy and authoritative.  After all the law is over 1200 pages long, only slightly shorter than my bible at 1400 pages.

Obamacare is written much like the bible….a multitude of The  Secretary of HHS shall………it does sound a bit biblical, indeed.  Many ‘thou shalt’s under penalty of ……. Obamacare reads a bit like hail and brimstone.    And it will truly end with an apocalypse. I am still figuring out who the 7 horsemen will be in this apocalypse.

However, as usual I digress…

Health Reform is too important to be in the political arena, nor reformed by the ingrained establishments of Congress, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) or the Center for Medicare Services (CMS).

Americans are now highly suspicious about both parties and see much self interest in Congress, progress bogged down by process and parliamentary.  There is little if any creative thought going on in those mighty buildings.

In order for Americans to have faith and trust in a health system, the system cannot be devised or run by those in Washington, D.C.  Perhaps even a referendum must be organized to win approval of a totally new organization.

Health is a ‘like no other’ service.  It involves life or death matters (not only) with almost a religious sense of ethics, priorities and privacy matters.

Reform must be proposed by neutral agnostic non political principals. Who will be these leaders?  That in itself will determine the ultimate outcome, success or failure of what is proposed. It will take Jeffersonian creativity to accomplishment and a strong believer in the Constitution.  It has a great deal to do with freedom and individual rights. 

All of our leaders and Supreme Court Justices are sworn to uphold the  U.S. Constitution, however often fail to deliver on their oaths.

The task is awesome to develop a consensus among patients, providers, insurers, hospitals and regulators.

Empty Mandates are worthless, the proposal must have genuine timely deliverables to succeed. It should not be a  ‘ Ponzi scheme’ dependent upon the early success of capitalization to work. 

We need to begin again….Repeal Obama Care.

 

Technorati Tags: rahm emanuel,ezekiel emanuel,obamacare,ponzi scheme,mandates,hhs,cms,stimulus package,media reality check,mrc

ObamaCare Going Over the Cliff

I know most of us who had this figured out are not going to say, "I told you so." The rope is already unravelled. There is not going to be a quick fix, except to have the Dems do a mea culpe. Time to sit down and re-do health reform, this time with non politicians and a real CEO, not a head of CMS nor HHS running the show. Most of us are running out of patience, having run out of money a long time ago. I ccurrentlly have very limited access to the internet so that is it for today Happy Veteran's Day to all.

Obamacare Will Be Repealed Well In Advance Of The 2014 Elections

That is less than six months from now.  Forbes magazine this week has an op-ed by Steve Hayward.
“Prediction: even if HealthCare.gov is fixed by the end of the month (unlikely), Obamacare is going to be repealed well in advance of next year’s election.  And if the website continues to fail, the push for repeal—from endangered Democrats—will occur very rapidly.  The website is a sideshow: the real action is the number of people and businesses who are losing their health plans or having to pay a lot more.  Fixing the website will only delay the inevitable.
This video is from 1993 when Hillary-care was being discussed. Many of the same concerns as we see today, however much further down the road.

CBS Audio Transcript  mp3
Monday's CBS This Morning revealed how "a trusted Obama health care adviser warned the White House it was losing control of ObamaCare". Major Garrett underlined that "the warnings were dire and specific, and ultimately ignored" by the Obama administration. Instead, they "relied on appointed bureaucrats and senior White House health care advisers" to implement the health care law. Garrett also pointed out how "the White House became secretive about the law's complexity and regulatory reach" because they were apparently "fearful of constant attacks from congressional Republicans" over the controversial issue.Garrett also pointed out how "the White House became secretive about the law's complexity and regulatory reach" because they were apparently "fearful of constant attacks from congressional Republicans" over the controversial issue.
Despite this bold statement there are many clinging to a sinking ship.

As Obamacare rolls out fitfully there  will be many confounding variables….stay tuned.

Technorati Tags: obamacare,major garrett,white house.healthcare.gov,steve hayward,forbes,repeal obamacare

Sherpa Health vs. Obamacare and Healthcare.gov

 

One thing for certain (if there is any) is that “Obamacare” elicits a guttural reaction for many people.  If you are in favor of it then you might be a left wing liberal, a socialist, or maybe even a ‘Pinko”.  If you are against it then you are a right wing conservative, possibly a racist, or worse.

A lofty goal, to insure all our citizens should be removed from the  political stage.

Not only was Nancy Pelosi correct in her statement “We won’t know what is in it until we pass it”.  Even after it’s passage into law most people will not find out what is in it until they look over the policies on the Healthcare.gov website (if you can use it).   The ultimate test is how badly you want it….using the web site is a mixed experience. On some days it works, partially, on other days it is like the old Microsoft “blue screen of death”…

The latest exciting news is that a ‘band of brothers’ has a website named “Sherpa Health” It took three 20 something's and three weeks to created the site.

To quote from the web site, “"The Health Sherpa is a free guide that makes it easier to find and sign up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. We only use carefully vetted, publicly available data," the site reads. "The Health Sherpa is not affiliated with any lobby, trade group or government agency and has no political agenda."

I tried Covered California, then the National Healthcare.gov to start.  It took several days, however I think I am registered, however there was no way to immediately confirm my registration.  There was a rather vague message about how I wanted to be notified, email, telephone, regular mail (or morse code….just kidding)

Three Guys Built a Better Healthcare.gov    and while it does not have some of the complexity and linkages to ‘back end’ processes of HHS, IRS and eligibility authorizations it serves as a very friendly usable site for the ‘unintelligent’ (including me)

"It isn't a fair apples-to-apples comparison," Kalogeropoulos said. "Unlike Healthcare.gov, our site doesn't connect to the IRS, DHS, and various state exchanges and authorities. Furthermore, we're using the government's data, so our site is only possible because of the hard work that the Healthcare.gov team has done."

But it does cast light on the difference between what can be done by a small group of experts, steeped in Silicon Valley's anything-is-possible mentality, and a massive government project in which politics and bureaucracy seem to have helped create an unwieldy mess.

HHS and CMS spent hundreds of millions of dollars to erect Healthcare.gov.  For a few dollars less (reportedly for a few hundred dollars).  Sherpa Health does give credit to HHS for the background data bank which is used by Sherpa Health.

Even at this early date there have been surprises, insurance cancellations, healthcare.gov failures, and there will be more regarding penalties, individual mandates, employer mandates, and conflicts such as HIPAA regulations. The early success or failure may be a telltale sign for the financial future of the Affordable Care Act.

Good luck to us all.

Full Committee Hearing - The Online Federal Health Insurance Marketplace: Enrollment Challenges and the Path Forward

 

This morning I awoke to my alarm set to the time of the Senate’s committee hearing on the Affordable Care Act and the botching of it’s “Go live”  date.  Usually “Go Live” dates are immense are of importance and a clear sign of significant change in an industry.

It is still uncertain if the ‘baby’ was born. 

         

President Obama continues to alter his signature promise in selling the Affordable Care Act back in 2009 and 2010.

"If you like your plan, you can keep your plan," he said back then.

But that simple pledge has had to change as the Affordable Care Act has been implemented and a small percentage of Americans, albeit millions of people, have received cancellation notices from their insurance companies. And for the second time in two weeks, he's tweaked the line.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Debunking 4 Obamacare myths: Both sides get it wrong

On FactCheck.org a website published by Annenberg Public Policy Center, the myths are further analyzed.  The number of experts is legion. Our senators asked many questions but failed to see the what the light of discontent is about and the depth of concerns.

The committee discusses that the Health Benefit Exchange is not the Affordable Care Act. I don’t think anyone thinks it is,, However no one indicated that discontent rises not in the HBX, but in the uncertainty of what the remainder of the ACA will cause to happen or not happen.  The front page open to the public (if and when it works) is not reassuring to the public.

The discontent of consumers is  trust and faith have been lost in regard to the entire program.  Technology cannot replace a trust in the basic tenets of the act. There are many flaws, each a small one, however failure is usually results from multiple errors.

There are proponents of Obamacare who are endlessly optimistic, and offer enduring patience as one of the solutions.

There has been a growing discontent among those not of the mind that given more time the Affordable Care Act will work. If that is the case, there is sufficient time to place matters on hold and delay certain mandates while the law is modified to give authority to redirect the law as needed.

To push on in the face of serious doubt and to ignore the possible demise of the entire act would not  be more than foolhardy. 

Technorati Tags: hbx,health benefit exchange,obamacare,affordable care act,online,federal insurance program

Point and Counterpoint

 

There are those on both sides of the argument as to whether the Affordable Care Act will flourish or die on the vine. 

Unfortunately the ACA has been linked with ‘Obama” and is more commonly called Obama care.

Recently in a street level survey Watters of the FOXNEWS channel reported that many people thought Obama care and the Affordable Care Act were two different laws.  When asked which was better, some responded Obama care since it had President Obama’s name on it.

Point:  Obama’s name gives the law high visibility, if it succeeds he will be remembered for his signature accomplishment…..good or bad.

Counterpoint:  President Obama’s name attached to any bill or law invited political exploitation and the merits of the plan are soon forgotten.

Viewpoint: Obama care Will Survive Its Botched Rollout

Point:  The HealthCare.gov debacle, and the cover-up and blame game that followed it, have reinvigorated Obama care's critics, who argue anew that the law represents expensive government overreach. So it's worth stepping back from the website mess to remember the deeper problems that made this law necessary in the first place -- and, by extension, why the issues with HealthCare.gov, which seem so important today, pale in comparison.

Counterpoint: The Health Benefit Exchanges are not the Affordable Care Act, however it was promoted as a key catalyst for enrolling previously uninsured among the uninsurable, young adults, and people just above the poverty level with large subsidies for premium payments. 

Point: The Websites are a disaster, and much hype was broadcast about it’s opening, ready or not, even when those responsible knew it was not ready for prime-time.

Counter-point:   Statements made in the recent past by HHS and President Obama included:

HBX would be ready

If you like your doctor or insurance plan You will not lose their doctor, hospital, and no one would lose their insurance plan.  (read the fine print)….

If these major statement were incorrect, a lie or a deception who would or should trust anything coming from the executive branch, or HHS.? (Fool me once, fool me twice, fool me three times…well you already know the answer)

Point:  If the HBX is considered fairly simple to build and it is a disaster, how will HHS manage to roll out the rest of the ACA which is far more complicated and involves hundreds of insurers, thousands of doctors and hospitals? This part of the ACA requires successful completion of each phase for the law to function without serious damage to health care financing but also to the economy in which health care spending is 17% of GDP or 1/6th of the economy.

Counterpoint: No problems….according to proponents the law will work because it is a good thing to counteract all the bad things about our health system.

The first problem with the status quo can't be repeated often enough: The U.S. spent 17.7% of its gross domestic product on health care in 2011, 50% more than the next highest among countries in the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development. The average for developed countries is less than 10%. Yet unlike every other developed country, a big chunk of Americans didn't have insurance -- almost one in six Americans last year.

Of course, for those with access to care, the U.S. is a good place to be sick. Americans received 103 MRI exams per 1,000 people in 2011, more than any other rich country, including Belgium (77), Spain (66) and Canada (50). The discrepancy was even higher for CT scans. And deaths from cancer are lower in any given year than for many rich countries -- 194 for every 100,000 people in 2010, which was better than the U.K., Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark.

Americans on average get less care and die younger, despite spending more as a country. As Eduardo Porter noted in The New York Times last week, the U.S. has an alarmingly high infant mortality rate -- higher than any OECD nation, with the exception of Mexico and Turkey. And not just a little bit higher. In 2011, 6.1 infants died for every 1,000 live births. The corresponding figures were 2.3 in Japan; in Sweden, 2.1; and in Iceland, 0.9.
The U.S. is also lagging at the opposite end of life. An American born in 2011 can expect to live 78.7 years -- less than somebody born in almost any European country, and 26th out of 36 in the OECD.

Point:

You could also measure the inadequacy of American health care through the amount of health-care resources that are available to the population as a whole. The U.S. has fewer hospital beds per person than most developed nations; a fraction as many psychiatric care beds; and trails every European nation in medical graduates, at 6.6 per 100,000 people. (Germany and the UK have almost twice as many.)

Counterpoint:

The reason for this is the two decade old campaign to save money by forcing smaller and less efficient hospitals to merge, or close. Rising overhead coupled with another reimbursement paradigm change ‘the DRG or diagnostic related group. The DRG mandates a set fee by disease category, not what occurs during the hospitalization, nor the actual cost of the events. (Another one size fits all government mandate)

Waiting for a hospital bed in Beijing.  Are we headed for this?

The entire article from Health Benefit Exchange can be read here;

Attribution:  Health Benefit Exchange Publication

 

Technorati Tags: affordable care act,health benefit exchange failures,aca,obamacare,healthcare law,watters,foxnews,hhs

Affordable Care Act and Health Benefit Exchanges

Health Train Express is searching for a ‘volunteer’ to help with research and writing for the blog.  We are struggling to keep up with the surge in interest in health reform.The ideal candidate would be a graduate student in MPH program or in a health related MBA program.  Full attribution will be given to writers, and your contribution would be subject to the ‘Creative Commons” copyright regulations. You may use this material as a reference.

The blog is focusing on the credibility of the ACA. Your activity is very important at this time to  ‘expose’  Obamacare. 

The lastest information regarding premiums, exclusions, and special conditions are brought to  you courtesy of Matthew Taber .  Keep in mind that these figures are from the Federal HBX, subject to change, delayed deadlines, and inaccurate statements.

Scroll down to the bottom of the page for a viable legal alternative to the Affordable Care Act.

 Click here

“October 28, 2014

Keep in mind all of the data concerning premiums and subsidies (subsidies on federally run state exchanges are illegal per ACA) are completely screwed up but below should give you at least an idea of what they could be.
*Note on smokers.  Insurers charge a tobacco surcharge of up to 50% of total premium. Tax subsidy can not be applied to the tobacco surcharge *
Healthy single non-smoker  30 year old living in Cypress TX making $26,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $2,614 per year
Subsidy      -  $737 per year (covers 28% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,877 per year (7.22% of household income, 72% of overall premium)
Healthy single non-smoker 30 year old living in Nashville TN making $26,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $2,006 per year
Subsidy      -  $129 per year (covers 6% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,877 per year (7.22% of household income, 94% of overall premium)
Healthy single non-smoker  30 year old living in Riverside CA making $26,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $2,790 per year
Subsidy      -  $913 per year (covers 28% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,877 per year (7.22% of household income, 67% of overall premium)
Healthy single smoker 30 year old living in Pinehurst NC making $26,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $3,139 per year
Subsidy      -  $1,262 per year (covers 40% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,877 per year (7.22% of household income, 60% of overall premium)
Healthy single smoker 30 year old living in Gulf Shores AL making $26,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $2,650 per year
Subsidy      -  $773 per year (covers 29% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,877 per year (7.22% of household income, 71% of overall premium)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Healthy family with two children living in Cypress TX  making $40,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $8,866 per year
Subsidy      -  $6,901 per year (covers 78% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,965 per year (4.91% of household income, 22% of overall premium)
Health family with two children living in Nashville TN  making $40,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $6,805 per year
Subsidy      -  $4,840 per year (covers 78% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,965 per year (4.91% of household income, 29% of overall premium)
Healthy family with two children living in Riverside CA  making $40,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $9,465 per year
Subsidy      -  $7,500 per year (covers 79% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,965 per year (4.91% of household income, 21% of overall premium)
Healthy family with two children living in Pinehurst NC  making $40,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $10,649 per year
Subsidy      -  $8,684 per year (covers 82% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,965 per year (4.91% of household income, 18% of overall premium)
Healthy family with two children living in Gulf Shores AL  making $40,000 a year
Silver plan  -  $8,989 per year
Subsidy      -  $7,024 per year (covers 78% of overall premium)
Amount you pay  -  $1,965 per year (4.91% of household income, 22% of overall premium) “

You can avoid all of the above stipulations by using a ‘Direct Payment” program, such as MedicalAccessUSA and by purchasing a ‘catastrophic health insurance plan”  If you are curious and want more details, click on the ‘Contact Us’ black tab on the upper right hand corner of the landing page.  No obligation, this is an informational demo site only.

Author disclosure:  No guarrantees of coverage or benefits should be accrued to this message.  Informational purpose only.

 

Technorati Tags: medicalaccessusa,aca,affordable care act,direct payment,healthy family,health benefit exchange failures,hbx

CORDS : Coordination of Rare Diseases at Sanford

 

Not to be confused with ‘Stanford University School of Medicine, CORDS offers a centralized web site for patients with Rare Diseases, and Researchers in the field of rare diseases.

  Register Here

Mission statement, as stated on web site.

At Sanford Research, we are committed to finding cures and advancing therapies for rare diseases. There are approximately 7,000 rare diseases affecting 25 million Americans and 350 million people worldwide. Many new developments in the diagnosis and treatment of human disease rely on research that involves the collection and analysis of data, but research into rare diseases is challenging due to a lack of information, the low numbers and geographic spread of individuals affected by rare disease, and data collected and stored in separate databases. To help address these challenges and advance research into rare diseases, we established the Coordination of Rare Diseases at Sanford (CoRDS).

Click here to view CoRDS Metrics & a list of diseases represented in CoRDS.

These diseases, although serious with morbidity and mortality are rare and often do not qualify for research grants because there are so few patients with each of these diseases.

The aims of the Affordable Care Act may optimize treatment for these rare diseases.  As the Affordable Care Act rolls out we will see how well it addresses this challenge.  Will it affect the number of children and adults who are not eligible for  health insurance.?

Activities such as this from a small rural hospital system in South Dakota do much to illuminate the  research, progress and patient advocacy for rare diseases. It was originally founded to fund raise for Breast Cancer by  Mr. Denny Sanford.

In 2007, Mr. Sanford made history with his gift of $400 million to Sanford Health—the largest donation ever to a health care organization.

 

Technorati Tags: #cord,#sanfordreseardh,#rare,#cords

Twitter and the Affordable Care Act

 

Statistical analysis of social media interest in health reform. (The Affordable Care Act)

What was it that caused twitter activity to spike on the 24th ? Tweet me the answer @glevin1l or reply here in comments.

#tags by #symplur.

 

Technorati Tags: #hcsm,#hcsmcourse,#symplur,#affordable care act,#twitter

Educating in Health Care with Social Media

 

What you can learn using social media..

Edutopia, and Mimi Ito  bring a fresh perspective about social media, and it’s entertainment value for education.  It applies to adults as well as children.

The requirements  for Continuing Medical Education  for medical license renewal converts a previously enjoyable learning experience into an exercise in frustration signing up for useless CME courses in order to meet a mandate for CME.

Learning should be fun, creative and stimulating. Social Media has the capability to accomplish all of that.  The most creative people are those activating “their inner child”

Mimi Ito elaborates in this video. Much of this applies to adult education and professionals as well.

On the flip side of this, Social Media Courses for physicians, termed residencies to align the format with CME courses and CME credits have grown and presented by several large established educational institutions.  Who could have predicted that physicians would line  up to apply for a  social media residency ?  Lee Aase as head of Mayo Clinic’s Social Media Department.

Lee Aase has been known for his traditional social media, and now his lead role in health care social media as demonstrated by his writings, and lectures.

"Mayo Surgeons Use Twitter as Teaching Tool", ABC5 Eyewitness News (St.Paul-Minneapolis), 16 April 2009

"Why Doctors Are Tweeting During Surgery", ABC Good Morning America (New York), 16 April 2009

"Mayo Turns to Social Media to Reach Out to Potential Patients", St. Paul-Minneapolis Star Tribune (St. Paul-Minneapolis), 19 April 2009

"How to Use Social Media: An Interview with Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic", American Express Open Forum, 23 June 2009

"Social Media Smarts: Interview with Lee Aase", Online Marketing Blog, 3 August 2009

"Mayo Clinic's Lee Aase: Simple Marketing in Action", Simple Marketing Blog, 13 August 2009

"Social Media Case Study from Lee Aase of Mayo Clinic", Gaspedal's Business Blogging Blog, 14 October 2009

"Lee Aase, Mayo Clinic: The future of health brands and social media", Trajectory4brands.com,

 

Social Media Use in the United States: Implications for Health Communication:  as published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research

Social Media has large implications for patient education, physician education, physician-patient education and peer-to-peer knowledge transfer.

 

Technorati Tags: lee aase,mayo clinic social media,education,cme,medical education,edutopia,mimi ito

The Affordable Fiasco

For the past two weeks I had unsuccessfully attempted to access the Covered California online enrollment website.

I had been met with a variety of problems, none of which I had not experienced on other websites, private or governmental.  Some of the messages….

“error 404”

“page unavailable”,

“blank screen with whirling circle”,

“website is busy”,

“please wait”,

“blank screen….”

“try again later”,

“refresh to submit information again, do not click on back arrow”.  I have also had some success although on different occasions I hit a stone wall at different places on Covered California, and each time the ‘glitch’ occurred at a different stage of ‘’enrollment’. 

Along the way I came across an article by Paul Ehrlich about the 13 greatest error messages from computers.

The upside was that none of the messages were DOS errors, i.e.  Abort, Retry, Fail which is usually just before the “Windows Blue Screen of Death”

  Anyone who has seen this screen knows the next event is the computer shutting down and if you are lucky it will re-boot on it’s own. 

“To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.” So goes an old quip attributed to Paul Ehrlich.  So one sees that this is not an Affordable Care Act failure, at all.

Never once did I receive positive reinforcement nor a ‘successfully enrolled’.  On one occasion I did see a screen with the different plans, and calculators which revealed subsidized plans and premium rates based upon your level of near poverty or destitution….It is hard to believe how many of us are on the thin line and impoverished, living from paycheck to paycheck.

I discovered a secret path and backdoor by searching on Google.  It took me to another non-official looking site that allowed me to look up plans and premiums.

Finally after two weeks of unenthusiastic attempts to register I submitted to the old fashioned  “P.O.T.S.”  It worked ! I was able to reach a person in one minute without going through a telephone triage system. The entire process took about five minutes. I will receive a mail (snail) within ten days informing me of eligibility and plans I from which I will chose.

This ‘foolproof’ system cost a lot less than $ 650 million dollars, and has been around for at least one hundred years.

(My telephone---the worst that happens is, there is no dial tone.)

For the young crowd (those who are mandated to obtain health insurance, to pay for the rest of us old codgers  P.O.T.S. is the abbreviation for  “Plain Old Telephone Service”  This was in the age before transistors and silicon valley.

My answer to Californians is to dial  800-300-1506 . Overly simple for most and it worked the first time.  (Don’t tell anyone else, until you have enrolled)

In all  fairness here is what the  HHS blog had to say,

We’re listening — and improving every day

October 21, 2013

---

---

We know using HealthCare.go has been frustrating for many Americans. The initial consumer experience of HealthCare.go has not lived up to the expectations of the American people. We are committed to doing better.

We’ve been gathering feedback since the day we launched – from our customer service representatives, social media channels, and through hundreds of thousands of online surveys and comments. And we’re listening.

We’ve been making changes to respond directly to your feedback and will continue to do so. A few of our most important changes so far:

• You can now preview plans and prices available in your area without filling out the online application.
• You can find out, with an improved calculator, whether your income and household size may qualify you for lower costs on your monthly premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
• You can apply for coverage 4 ways: By phone, online, by mail with a paper application, or with the help of an in-person assister.
• We’ve been adding educational online content where you tell us you need more information: About estimating your income, accounting for people in your household, eligibility rules, and more.

And please keep the feedback coming – on this blog post below, on any of our social media pages, or by using the little “Was this page helpful?” survey that appears near the bottom of most pages on the site.

We won’t rest until every American who needs affordable, high-quality coverage can get it - using whatever method works best for them.

 

Technorati Tags: covered california,health benefit exchange failures,pots,telephone,blue screen,paul ehrlich

Physicians Digital Marketing Guide for 2014

 

Most physicians shy away from marketing. Our ethics discourage self-aggrandizement and most marketing falls into that category.

However there are alternative positive reasons for promoting your medical practice.

Charitable and Philanthropic Goals

      

Public Health Informational Content

      

Mission positive statements

      

Clarity and Distinction from other Medical enterprises

Informational, educational and training opportunities

  

Location Information using Mapping technology, Directions to facility

With these ideas in mind, today’s lesson will be on Digital Marketing for 2014.  The information is time-limited due to the nature of electronic media.

White papers on digital marketing, social media, organic marketing, are readily available online,in digital form and for downloading as printed documents.

Conventional 20th Century marketing in industry publications, journals, meetings,and even emails are passé. 

 

Emails are considered spam and frequently deleted without being opened. Email is also considered a viral threat is attachments and/or links are opened.  Readers will frequently not click on a link in the body of the email.

Online marketing can be a challenge to analyze what, when and where potential clients (patients) read online content.

Recent experience and reports from media experts also reveal the fluid and ever-changing tools and structure of social media platforms.

Social media is dynamic and must be interactive, with Q&A capabilities. Social media platforms allow for business pages (Facebook, Google +)

Not only is what you say important, but how you say it, where it is placed in your content, and who reads your material.

Modern search algorithms have morphed into natural language processing and semantic interoperability.  If your content is designed properly it will favor  a ‘viral message’

 

 

Technorati Tags: digital health products #hitsm #hcsm,marketing,medical marketing,semantic,semantic interoperabilitiy,viral messaging,social media,facebook,google +,twitter,search,charitable,philanthropic,mission,goals,public health,cme,education,training