It's that time of the year. No, not Halloween, but something almost as scary—open enrollment season. It's time to choose among the many plans offered through the various health exchanges as part of Obamacare, among the variety of Medicare Advantage and prescription drug plans offered by private insurers as part of Medicare (for those who are age-eligible), and, for the 62% of employees who are have the opportunity, time to sign up for an employer-sponsored health insurance plan. As we struggle to make sense of the health insurance landscape, it's a good time to consider why health care costs in the United States are so high and outcomes so relatively poor and, more importantly, what the future is likely to bring.
The first comprehensive physician rating and comparison database launches Monday in time for open enrollment on federal and state health exchanges, as well as for many employer-provided plans. The new version of the website Healthgrades.com uses about 500 million claims from federal and private sources and patient reviews to rate and rank doctors based on their experience, complication rates at the hospitals where they practice and patient satisfaction. The new way to find the best doctor comes at a time when many health insurance plans offer fewer choices of doctors and hospitals. Users can sort and compare physicians based on where they live and their insurance plans.
The Pentagon plans to train a 30-person response team to assist hospitals in the event of a more serious Ebola outbreak in the U.S., officials announced Sunday. Rear Adm. John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said forming the team is a "prudent measure" to assure the Defense Department can respond quickly to a domestic outbreak if needed. U.S. Northern Command will form the team, expected to include 20 critical-care nurses and five doctors specializing in infectious diseases. An additional five trainers will be on hand to teach hospital staff the proper methods for containing the spread of Ebola.
As public health authorities moved to calm fears about the risk from Ebola, lawyers last week urged health care and other clients to take precautions against spreading the potentially fatal disease ? and to mitigate attendant lawsuits. Since the Oct. 8 death in Dallas of Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, questions have surfaced about whether the hospital and the doctors and nurses who treated him followed adequate protocols. Two nurses who treated Duncan have been diagnosed with Ebola. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has attempted to assure the public that the disease is under control, but its handling of the situation was assailed during a congressional hearing on Oct. 16. Meanwhile, hospitals and medical providers crafted contingency plans in case the virus arrives at their doorstep.
At least one chapter of the Ebola saga neared a close Sunday, as most of the dozens of people who had direct or indirect contact here with Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian man who died of Ebola, had been told by officials that they were no longer at risk of contracting the disease. Mr. Duncan's fiancée, Louise Troh, who nursed him in their cramped apartment while he suffered from diarrhea and who was put under state-ordered quarantine, was set to be declared Ebola-free by officials at the end of Sunday. So, too, were the paramedics who drove an ailing Mr. Duncan to a hospital and health care workers who drew or processed his blood.
A Dallas nurse who cared for a co-worker who contracted the Ebola virus at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital said the facility was unprepared to fight the disease and she would "do anything" to avoid being treated there if she were ever to fall ill with the potentially deadly virus. "I can no longer defend my hospital," Briana Aguirre said Thursday on NBC's "Today" show. Aguirre claims that before Thomas Eric Duncan arrived at Texas Health Presbyterian nursing staff had not been trained in how to treat an Ebola patient beyond being offered an "optional seminar."