Health 2.0 Empowers You

“One sine qua non for any future sustainable U.S. health system is the necessity to empower, rather than undercut each citizen’s right to choose health care and take responsibility for his/her own wellness. Countless chronic diseases result from the neglect of basic wellness measures. The blame for underutilizing such proactive, cost-saving approaches lies directly with the official policy of blind reliance on drugs and surgery, whatever the cost. The public has been lulled into medical apathy on the false assumption that if something goes wrong, fix-it mechanics will tune up your body the way a garage tunes up your car.”–Deepak Chopra

“[S]pecial interests are especially numerous and influential in the health-care system. Health care comprises one-sixth of our economy… since cutting costs is tantamount to cutting profits for many of these special interests, it is reasonable to expect (an) all-out war to defeat reform.”–former Sen. Tom Daschle

The premise of this site is the empowered health care consumer. As patients, as consumers, and as providers, we have to partner with the payers, whether they be employers, governments, or ourselves. Often we undermine our own health, thinking we will get a last-minute bailout. When we get the bill and realize there is no bailout, we’re angry.

Well, welcome to the future, in which “Health 2.0″ can produce healthy communities through readily available information. There is plenty of reputable health information online, most of it since Web 1.0, including such well-known sites as WebMD and Medscape. There are sites such as EmpowHer dedicated to women’s health issues, We will point to the trusted places here. We will also help by pointing to reputable insurance providers and ways to navigate the health care system, often entered by consumers when they are at their most vulnerable.

Our vision is to be a trusted source for an empowered consumer. To do that, we will build a community of people who can share experience and information. Aggregating and filtering information that already exists, we hope to create some shortcuts you can use.

If you would like to add your wisdom to this site, let’s talk.

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Tagged as: Deepak Chopra, Health, Health care, health care reform, health insurance, Medscape, WebMD

Paula

Re medical websites, I have been told by a friend who is a senior professor at a major medical school that the Mayo site is the best, and the only one he will recommend. Paula
Paula

Have been following your health care posts via Facebook…great job!

Why do we have to choose between a private and public system? It seems like we could develop a “volkswagen” level public system, and allow individuals to purchase private insurance for higher levels of care.

We have personally designed as much of a “terraced” plan as the current system will allow–concierge medical service, with high deductible private insurance purchased for major medical needs. It is expensive at the front end, but an order of magnitude cheaper when something goes wrong.

While I like government funded plans, we need to learn from the problems in other countries. Eg, Canadian friends complain about the need to choose between public and private care. And about the cap on services–one MRI in all of BC, creating endless waits for tests. Needless to say, outcomes are not often good in these situations.

My answer to Obama question re biggest problem in healthcare? My vote is for barriers pre-existing conditions create for insurability. Almost everyone I know has run into this one–and as you correctly point out, entrepreneurs are the hardest hit, on both insurability and cost issues.

As for the integrative medicine vs science based medicine, when are these folks going to read Thomas Kuhn? Scientific “proof” is merely our best guess, as substantiated by known facts and logic. If we suppress anomalies and experiments, we never move ahead. Certainly we must create a barrier for charletans posing as integrative health professionals. However, honest inquiry into potential solutions should be promoted–with resulting products made available to people willing to take some risk.

Glad you are tackling this issue.
http://www.stealthmode.com hardaway

I have always depended on the Mayo site. I will insert a link to it:-)
Sue

Health is great. But most people get unavoidable illnesses at some point. There is a horrible lack of transparency and standardization in the system. Try getting a firm price estimate from your provider before a procedure. It is almost impossible. And unlike other services, say, auto service, if they break something putting it in (say they waste 10 IV needles trying to get one inserted) they charge you for each set-up no matter whose fault the screw-up was. Your mechanic would never try that.

Doctors seem to have resisted stepping into the computer age. Instead of having you enter your information electronically, you are given a thick sheaf of forms and told to fill them out, where they are stuck in a file and largely ignored. If electronic forms were developed, otherwise-missed conditions could be flagged for attention automatically, alerts could be generated, follow-ups could be scheduled.

I am frustrated with the system as it stands and think there is much to improve.
WebPixie

The Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) plans are excellent. Low deductibles for things like ER visits, low co-pays for everything else. Also, no waiting periods for pre-existing conditions, integrative health (acupuncture, etc.) is covered by some plans. The monthly premiums are affordable because there are dozens and dozens of plans and insurnce companies to choose from.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that it's precisely the plan that Obama recommended (promised?) during the campaign. Let's hope he can make it happen!

Better yet, let's get together and HELP him and Congress make it happen!
http://www.preferredhospitals.com Gregg Masters

Health crisis? Yes indeed….Perhaps this may be one more forum to keep the focus on the need for meaningful reform of the cratering employer sponsored health insurance “system” that leaves 45-46 million Americans uninsured, let alone the growing population of under insured as more and more employers carve back if not eliminate health care coverage.

Bloated and inefficient hospitals, overpaid specialists, procedure driven compensation systems and primary care docs fleeing their practices daily do not bode well for the project increased demand for primary care services or so called “medical homes”.

Bravo!
WebPixie

You are so right, Sue! What we all need is the kind of health insurance available to Federal Employees. Better yet, the kind that members of Congress have available to them and their families.
WebPixie

The Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB) plans are excellent. The monthly premiums are affordable because there are dozens and dozens of plans and insurance companies to choose from. The insurance companies COMPETE for your business.

There are various levels of coverage to choose from, so you can choose the plan that best suits your needs: Low deductibles for things like ER visits and low co-pays for everything else. Also, there are no waiting periods for pre-existing conditions. Integrative health (acupuncture, etc.) is covered by some plans.

I could go on and on, but the bottom line is that it's precisely the plan that Obama recommended (promised?) during the campaign. Let's hope he can make it happen!

Better yet…
Let's get together to HELP the new Administration and Congress MAKE it happen!
http://www.preferredhospitals.com Gregg Masters

Health crisis? Yes indeed….Perhaps this may be one more forum to keep the focus on the need for meaningful reform of the cratering employer sponsored health insurance “system” that leaves 45-46 million Americans uninsured, let alone the growing population of under insured as more and more employers carve back if not eliminate health care coverage.

Bloated and inefficient hospitals, overpaid specialists, procedure driven compensation systems and primary care docs fleeing their practices daily do not bode well for the project increased demand for primary care services or so called “medical homes”.

Bravo!
WebPixie

You are so right, Sue! What we all need is the kind of health insurance available to Federal Employees. Better yet, the kind that members of Congress have available to them and their families.

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