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23Apr, 2019
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Medicare For All – The 2019 Version: Reality Check Part 5 (Final)

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For our closing blog in this series, we will be addressing the “Medicare for All” movement.  The sheer volume of material this topic offers would allow this conversation to continue for much longer; however, there are more urgent and potentially more transformative issues in healthcare that need to be examined, therefore this will conclude this series. In the months preceding and following the 2016 Presidential election, we wrote extensively on possible remedies or modernization to the healthcare industry in the United States; however, our view on healthcare never has been, […]
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28Feb, 2019
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Medicare For All – The 2019 Version: Reality Check (Part 4)

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We strongly believe that healthcare costs cannot be resolved by a government takeover of healthcare without dramatic reduction of care, dramatic loss of well-paid employment, and without dramatic contraction in the national healthcare infrastructure of the United States.  Another possibility is regarding substantial increases in taxes to the U.S. economy, whether personal or corporate or both; however, that’s not my area of expertise. On February 23, 2019, at the U.S. House of Representatives, a bill was introduced as “Medicare For All Act of 2019” with 100 co-sponsors. At this pace, […]
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8Feb, 2019
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Medicare For All – The 2019 Version: Reality Check (Part 3)

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In our last few blogs, we have set the stage for a deeper conversation on Medicare For All (MFA).  We have looked at some of the macro and micro numbers, and there is a bit more to explore.  In our upcoming blogs, we will dive further into potential costs and ways to pay for MFA, as well as suggest some real tangible ideas on three “must do” items: Expand healthcare coverage to those not covered today Lower the cost of care Improve healthcare for our society The fact is, anyone […]
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4Feb, 2019
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Medicare For All – The 2019 Version: Reality Check (Part 2)

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In our last blog, we started to frame the issue and disclose the undisputable numbers regarding how much healthcare costs, how many are insured/uninsured, and what the per-capita cost for healthcare is in the United States.  Additionally, we talked about how attractive the idea is just to extend Medicare to all Americans. Well, some could say that maybe it means that Medicare will be only extended to the uninsured.  It is a reasonable idea to insure the 28.5 million uninsured Americans.  How many companies will just drop insurance if that […]
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24Jan, 2019
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Medicare For All – The 2019 Version: Reality Check (Part 1)

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First and foremost, happy new year! I have taken a break from writing these blogs for several reasons.  One, I have been super busy with new projects.  Two, I needed a break to get a wider perspective after the U.S. midterm elections.  Lastly, I needed to figure out how to address this new wave of healthcare reform called “Medicare For All” (MFA). First, I will admit that I have some internal conflicts.  In my earlier life in this profession, I loved providing care to those that needed the most care […]
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15Nov, 2018
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U.S Healthcare Post-Midterm Elections

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We interrupt our regularly-scheduled blog on the Blockchain in artificial intelligence (A.I.) to review the possible impact on healthcare, post-midterm elections in the United States. First, we write this blog from the epicenter of election controversy in Palm Beach County, Florida.  It is hard for anyone who has paid attention to the U.S. midterm elections to not know that there are major efforts underway for a recount of votes in this county (where President Trump is a part-time resident) specifically in the U.S. Senate race and for governor of the […]
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3Oct, 2018
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Healthcare and Blockchain Technology (Part 5)

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In the fifth and final part of our series on Healthcare and Blockchain Technology (BTC), we will look back on the progress, or maybe more the accumulative promise, of BTC in healthcare.  We have reviewed the potential and legitimate opportunity of insurance companies to use a well-documented feature of smart contracts in the blockchain for customer and claims management.  Additionally, we also discussed the very public interest the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Administration has in blockchain. Since we published our first blog on this subject, I have received material feedback.  […]
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13Sep, 2018
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Healthcare and Blockchain Technology (Part 4)

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In our last blog, we discussed the interest expressed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Administration (VA), in the use of Blockchain Technology (BTC) and Distributive Ledger Technology (DLT) for healthcare records of military service personnel, past and present.  We noted that the VA is embarking on a decade long conversion of their current EHR to a commercial product.  The cost?  Around $15 billion USD.  Though the VA has expressed interest, they have not incorporated any BTC/DLT into the new platform under development by CERNER®. A published Request for Information […]
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6Sep, 2018
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Healthcare and Blockchain Technology (Part 3)

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In Part 3 of our Health and Blockchain series, we will evaluate the Distributive Ledger Technology (DLT), and one application of this technology called Blockchain Technology (BTC), both of which offer exciting potential.  For clarity, both are essentially databases where control over data evolution is shared between entities, and in the case of the blockchain unrelated transactions are bundled into blocks, which are chained together using hashes and (in most cases) broadcast to all participating entities for batch processing, use “blockchains.”  There are two mutually exclusive extremes; one that thinks […]
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30Aug, 2018
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Healthcare and Blockchain Technology (Part 2)

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In Part 2 of our Health and Blockchain series, we will explore more about what makes Distributive Ledger Technology (DLT) so special.  Today, there are two models for blockchains, Public and Private.  The Public blockchains are accessible and readable by the public, making them widely used by cryptocurrencies.  Private blockchains have been proposed for secure business and government use.  Most of the potential healthcare applications are going to be private, as any public use would have to de-identified of personal health information (PHI). One of the fascinating features of the […]
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