PROVE and other things

Have I mentioned this website yet? I've found it very helpful when it comes to information.

PROVE

The full name is Parents Requesting Open Vaccination Education. They're based in Texas.

While I'm on the subject of vaccines and education, I'll go off on a major tangent and talk a little about a completely unrelated topic. There's a meeting coming up in my area, sponsored by AAPS, and it's about Obama's health care plan. It sounds like a question and answer thing as well as a way of letting your concerns get heard by lobbyists -- because let's face it, that's the group that's most likely going to hear your concerns nowadays. What got to me though was the list of questions they used to "tease" people who look at the flyer (link warning... it's a .pdf).

Inside those questions, two jumped out at me: Is medical privacy a lost cause? and Will there be any doctors left?

Now, I have heard rumors that Obama's health care plan has inside it a clause that would create a gigantic medical records database, with no opt-out and accessible to anyone without the patient's permission. I believe these rumors because Google is almost there (see Google Health as well as this post and this article from Wired), though obviously with many more restrictions. I can believe that Google and other big database players, along with many corporations, are trying to change things to make such a database even more profita... I mean, useful. ;)

There's a reason medical records are private. They're just too valuable. I don't think I need to go into all the reasons... I'm sure you'll think of them if you try.

As for the question of doctors, there was some news not too long ago that said GP's are considering dropping out of practice and moving to different fields or out of health care altogether. A woman I know who's studying to be a midwife said some are planning on becoming nurses since the only difference between a GP and a nurse at this point is that a nurse can't perform surgery. Nurses don't have to carry malpractice insurance because they're often under a doctor or specialist and the specialists can afford the insurance.

So, the choice for doctors? Become a specialist or a nurse. From what I'm hearing, it's the only way to survive financially.

Or maybe study computers and start selling medical records online. :P :)

I'm just not sure how Obama's health care plan will get rid of them. I guess I'll have to research this (if I can) during the week. At least I have this blog here to remind me.