RSS feedFrederik Cyrus Roeder
Frederik Roeder is a German health economist. He studied hospital management, health economics and international business at the universities of Goettingen (Germany), Bayreuth (Germany), Maribor (Slovenia), and Tongji Shanghai (China). He has worked as a Visiting Professor for Health Economics at the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences and as a Visiting Professor for Healthcare Management and Economics at Ilia State University (Georgia). Fred Roeder is the Managing Director of Healthcare Solutions, a service focused on know-how transfer and policy advise for healthcare systems in transition.
Michael Schlander
Professor Michael Schlander MD, PhD, MBA is a health economist at the University of Heidelberg and a professor of health care and innovation management at the University of Applied Economic Sciences, Ludwigshafen. He is the founder and scientific director of the Institute for Innovation and Valuation in Health Care (Inno Val HC) a not for profit institute based in Eschborn, Germany. Professor Schlander who is also a physician has written ground-breaking studies on the role and limits of current evaluation methodology in adminstrative assessments of medical innovation.
Nicoleta Acatrinei
Graduate in economics and in theology, Nicoleta is currently preparing a PhD at the Swiss Federal Polytechnicum (ETH) in Zurich. She has spoken and written on topics related to ethics, economy and theology in Switzerland, China, Denmark and others. She is the author of "St Jean Chrysostome et l'Homo Oeconomicus" a scholarly work that explores the theological roots of market ethics. She has joined Medicine & Liberty in 2009 as our research fellow in charge of Ethics in Economics.
Francis Thevoz
Dr Francis Thevoz is a Cardiovascular surgeon by training. Past-president of the Société Vaudoise de Médecine he is also a former councilor of the City of Lausanne where he served as Director of finances. He is currently a member of the finance commision of the city's parliament. Francis will notably participate in the development of MedLib's, Privamed-Pro project.
Sophie Crespo
Sophie Crespo MD, our special projects & editorial consultant based in Geneva, graduated from Basel University Medical School. She holds specialist titles in intern al medicine and anesthesiology.
Contact: sophiecrespomd@medlib.ch
Fabienne Gay-Crosier
Dr Fabienne Gay-Crosier, joined MedLib's Medical Advisory Council in 2014. She is past president of the professional policy commisssion at the Swiss Society of Clinical Allergology and Immunology and is a firm advocate of professional independence for physicians. Author of "Geneva's White Paper on Allergy" Fillon Impr. Oct. 2015.
Loredana D'Amato Sizonenko MD
Dr D'Amato Sizonenko is a geneticist specialized in rare diseases. She is presently Coordinator for Switzerland of Orphanet, an international database of information on rare diseases and orphan drugs for all publics, designed to contribute to the improvement of the diagnosis, care and treatment of patients with rare diseases.
Martín Krause
Martin Krause is the diirector of the Centro de Investigations de instituciones y Mercados de Argentina: professor of Economics at the University of Buenos Aires.
Philip Stevens
Philip Stevens, Director of Policy at International Policy Network, London is the author of numerous health policy publications, including Fighting the diseases of Poverty (2007), Free trade for better health (2006) and The 10/90 Gap and the diseases of poverty (2004). He has also held research positions at the Adam Smith Institute and Reform in London and holds degrees from the London School of Economics and Durham University.
Shahnaz Radjy
After graduating in Biology at UPenn in Philadelphia, Ms Shahnaz Radjy was active in humanitarian action in Bolivian hospitals, and founded an A-TIC internet venture in Bolivia. She has also organized events for the International Labor Organization in Geneva and worked for the Davos World Economic Forum. Shahnaz is now based in NY and works as senior communications specialist for Vitality.
Bart Madden
Bartley Madden is an independent researcher who has developed "Dual Tracking": a fast lane for access to experimetal medicines, that also introduces an open database on new therapies. Bart Maddens concept is supported by Vernon Smith, Nobel prize in economics 2002 and by other reputed US economists. He has authored a monograph: "Dual Tracking, More Choices Better Health" edited by the Heartland Institute, Chicago.
Stefan Metzeler
Graduate from the Ecole Polytechnique Fédéerale de Lausanne (EPFL). Information and technology specialist, owner at Amadeus IT solutions. Swiss representative fo the International Society for Individual Liberty ISIL.
Contact: smetzeler@medlib.ch
Pierre Bessard
Executive Director of the Institut Constant de Rebecque, Lausanne, and President of the Liberales Institut, Zurich
Henri Siegenthaler
President of the Swiss Society for the Independence of medicine and editor in chief of « Der Arzt und sein Patient / Le Médecin et son Patient » Journal. Author of "Serons nous tous euthanasiés?" Ed.Cabedita (2015).
Pierre Lemieux
Professor of economics at the University of Québec in Outaouais. Author of "Le Droit de porter des armes"(1993), "Comprendre l'économie (2008) and other works such as "Public Health Insurance under a Non Benevolent State". Editor of Liberty in Canada online tribune.
Georges Lane
Georges Lane is a Professor of economics at the University of Paris-Dauphine where he teaches insurance economics.
Philip Stevens
Philip Stevens, Director of Policy
Philip is the author of numerous health policy publications, including Fighting the diseases of Poverty (2007), Free trade for better health (2006) and The 10/90 Gap and the diseases of poverty (2004). His writings on health policy have appeared in a wide range of international newspapers. Philip has also held research positions at the Adam Smith Institute and Reform in London, and spent several years as a management consultant. He holds degrees from the London School of Economics and Durham University.
Ernest Truffer
Swiss ENT surgeon and medical philosopher. One of the founding members of IATROS, a world organization of private and independent physicians. Writes regularly on medical ethics and other issues in various medical journals and in his blog.
Ernest unfortunately passed away on March 11th, 2015 and wil be deeply regretted by all those who knew him. The founding principles of Medicine and Liberty were strongly influenced by his profound understanding of the medical mission and his uncompromising attachment to Hippocratic ethics.
Gabriel Calzada
Professor of economics at the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos, Madrid. Founder of Medicina en Libertad (MedLib.es) and of Madrid's Instituto Juan de Mariana.
Gabriel is president of Francisco Marroquin University in Guatemala and member of the presidential board of the prestigious Mont Pelerin Society
Victoria Curzon Price
Professor of economics at the University of Geneva. President of Institut Constant de Rebecque, Lausanne. Member of Geneva Parlliament. Past president of the Mont Pelerin Society.
Rudolf Mayer
A practicing Opthalmologist in Lausanne. Active in Swiss medical professional politics he is a staunch defender of medical autonomy. He is on the editorial board of the Swiss medical journal "Arzt un Patient" (Physician and Patient)
Alphonse Crespo
Alphonse Crespo founder and executive director of Medicine and Liberty. Swiss orthopedic surgeon, author of Esculape Foudroyé (Les Belles Lettres 1991), ISBN 2-251-39008-1 and of numerous essays and articles such as Black Market Medicine an Ethical alternative to State Control, Outlawing Medicine or The End of Welfare and its effect on the Poor. President of the Cercle de philosophie politique Benjamin Constant at the Institut Libéral a Swiss think tank founded in 1979. Also conducts Med-Consilium a Swiss accident insurance consulting & assessment independent service.
Serban Sichitiu
Reputed paediatrician practicing in Lausanne. He was one of the founders of Switzerland's Patient and Physician Union active in the defense of patient and phyisician rights and liberties.
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News
From Switzerland and beyond: news that affect medical practice and healthcare
J.Robert Ouimet : An Apostle of Spirituality in Entrepreneurship leaves us
July 27, 2018
J.Robert Ouimet, an outstanding entrepreneur and phiilanthropist in Canadian society, passed away in Montreal on July 18th 2018. His action demonstrated how spirituality, philanhropyand entrepreneurship can belnd together for the benefit of all.
J.Robert Ouimet with Nicoleta Acatrinei in 2009
Bart Madden :The Right to Try Medicines
July 22, 2016
Bart Madden describes his Free to Choose & right to try medicine concept in an enlightening presentation that thoughfully summarizes novative concepts designed to open patient accesss to innovation in respect of their fundamental rights.
A enlightening article by the Foundation for Economic Education also makes a persuasive and concise case for Free To Choose Medicine.
ESL 2015 Conference Berlin
April 11, 2015
European Students for Liberty held their 2015 annual conference in Berlin. "Opening Boarders" was set as the main theme of discussion. No better and inspiring venue for such a topic than post-1989 Berlin! The event counted illustrious freedom speakers such as Tom Palmer, Pierre Bessard, Frederic Jollien, Christian Michel and many others. Over 500 participants enjoyed every minute of this outstanding reunion of friends of liberty.
HSA's in front page of AGEFI
October 24, 2010
AGEFI, Swiss economic journal publishes an interview of Alphonse Crespo on the potential of HSA's to mend Swiss health care.
Health Banking enters the Swiss health care reform scene
July 2, 2010
At last, in the land of banks, press and radio media discover the Health Savings Accounts (HSA) model that has notably put Singapore at the forefront of quality affordable health care. Articles from Guillaume Vuillemey, Georges Lane and Alphonse Crespo published by Lausanne's CMV medical journal make a stir. Learn more about HSA's
US Democrat's health care reform equated to a suicide pact
March 22, 2010
US Senate opens door to Pelosicare
November 23, 2009
The democratic majority in the US senate ignores strong signals from public opinion and votes to pursue the Pelosicare process towards mandatory insurance.
Swiss Health Insurance: Federal Parliament votes urgent measures to cut costs
September 10, 2009
Sept 9thIn an attempt to control the soaring costs of mandatory health insurance, the Swiss National Council voted to double patient co-payments and refused further premium subsidies.Four out of five Swiss worried about high mandatory heath insurance premiums
September 5, 2009
A DemoSCOPE market study presented September 3rd 2009 by Santé Suisse indicates that only 16% of the Swiss population judges that high mandatory health insurance permiums are not a matter of concern.
Obamacare debate turns ugly: Ad from American Voters' League barred from access to media
August 22, 2009
Sovietizing healthcare does not only imply State intrusion into health care provision, it also includes control of the press. The times of Pravda obedient servant of "offiicial truths in the former USSR may not be altogether behind us. Subtle pressures from powerful quarters seem to lead some US press media to ignore opponents to Obamacare and in some case even to ban their TV ads as the League of American Voters sourly denounces.
Small print of US health reform decrypted by Citizens' Council
August 15, 2009
Citizens' Council on Health Care carefully examines a list of 25 articles embedded in America's 2009 health care reform project. What comes to light seriously challenges official pledges that the imminent health care overhaul will not harm Americans' individual liberties.
Source: CCHC
More on Nationalized Medicine Myths by AAPS: Administrations can protect people from Medical errors
August 8, 2009
Another myth exposed by AAPS News of the Day
Will fewer beople die under government health care and can bureaucrats reduce medical errors? Only the naïve will believe that.
Decrypting Government Health Care Takeover: Eric T. Singer on compensation of health care industries
August 6, 2009
Growing distrust of health care overhaul hits Obama's ratings & damages his credibility
August 2, 2009
A recent NY times poll shows growing unease on consequences of rushed health care reform and dwindling support for Obama care. Obama's denies pushing for Government health care yet favors public an overhaul that would exponentially increase government involvement.
Health care ovehaul: a critical test for American democracy
July 30, 2009
The Swiss democratic system ensures that no major reforms are implemented without careful and lengthy parliametary assessments that examine all opinions and aim at some degree of consensus. Although their seasoned democratic process is not foolproof and has not stopped the Swiss from implementing reforms that fail to yield expected results (particularly in health care), it has protected them from the mischiefs of demagogy and has kept tributes to special interests within affordable limits.
Americans may not be so fortunate. The scramble of US legislators to push health care reforms (that have failed elsewhere) without due consideration of caveats from professional and patient groups will put American democracy at test.
Health Insurance Mandates Mean Mismangement and Inflation : The Maryland example
July 28, 2009
Mandatory insurance not only creates more problems than it solves... it also brings inflation into the health care sector. Maryland is no exception as the Wall Street Journal points out.
Taxes, trillions, tricks and tradeoffs transpire as Capitol Hill charts health care takeover
July 26, 2009
Health care coverage at any cost is the buzz word in US health debate. Mandatory insurance and government public health schemes buckle for enforcement as details of Congress health reform roadmaps come to light
Read the Chicago Tribune article
Coverage through health savings accounts & high deductible catastrophic insurance does not seem to be considered as an alternative by lawmakers. Such a combination is affordable for most, it gives patients autonomy, it enhances competition of providers & rewards quality of care. It also limits administrative costs and keeps bureaucrats at bay... Maybe that's the problem!
AAPS Myth-busters set the clock right: Insurance is not care and care does not mean insurance!
July 25, 2009
The unisured in America may lack coverage but they do not lack access to care! Life-saving medical care is not denied to american residents, legal or illegal, insured or uninsured. Allegations that people die from lack of insurance have no factual basis as AAPS and Greg Scandlen point out.
Canada or the UK - paragons of government run health care can certainly not boast the same record: in fact evidence demontrates that denial of life saving care is a common occurrence in socialized medicine.
American Medical Association endorses Government control of medical care! Should American physicians dump the AMA?
July 23, 2009
Update July 23rd:
While AMA wavers - AAPS stands firm on principles: Kathryn Serkes speaks out in Fox News on Health care refom.
On July 16th, the American Medical Association sold out to Obamacare by endorsing Congress legislative projects that will inevitably lead to government control of medicine and to rationed care.
By naively selling out to politicians, the AMA betrays core medical principles such as the Hippocratic covenant and patient centered medicine. Our Swiss Federation of Doctors does not fare better - by sitting around negotiation tables with savy politicians & cunning bureaucrats for too long, physician representatives end up promoting the views of politicians rather than those of practitioners & patients.
Read the Association of American Physicians & Surgeons (AAPS)'s online commentary:
Mayo Clinic predicts problems with government sponsored insurance
July 20, 2009
Top medical centers such as the Mayo Clinic warn against the delusion that government sponsored insurance will be able to meet the quality requirements of modern medical care.Medicare & Medicaid often fail cover real costs of complex state of the art treatments. An extension of such programs will undermine the qualtity of American medicine. Obama will and health bureaucrats will survive. Many patients wont!
Drawbacks of Europe's State-run Healthcare Jauged by Experts: An Associated Press release by Maria Cheng
July 6, 2009
Maria Cheng, Associated Press medical writer for Europe & Africa interviews experts from UK, Spain, France & Switzerland on the advantages and drawbacks of Government control of their respective health care systems. All voice the same caveat: American citizens should be VERY careful before inviting more Government into their health care.
Another Myth on Universal Health Care Debunked by AAPS: Bureaucrats Can Lower Infant Mortality
July 5, 2009
Proponents of bureaucratic medicine try and harp on emotions: who would dare oppose universal care if it did indeed lower infant mortality in America? The truth is that it wont and AAPS is there to show it.
Swiss Doctor Associations Bow to Mandatory Insurance Predators
July 1, 2009
After calling for “pencil strikes” to retaliate against lab test rationing, Swiss doctor associations now lamely call for physicians to get back to the paperwork… despite the fact that federal health authorities regally ignored their demands. The causes of the inglorious turnabout remain unclear. What is evident is that once again, predatory health insurance cartels have the last word… and as always at the expense of practitioners and patients.
Source: Courrier du Médecin Vaudois No 4, June-July 2009 p.11
AAPS Exposes Trendy Myths on Electronic Medical Records
June 30, 2009
Regulators love the idea of electronic medical records. They are however somewhat disconnected from the realities of medical practice. Regulated virtual medicine will invariably offer its share of virtual therapy. The Association of American Physicans and Surgeons (AAPS) debunks trendy myths in its News of the day.
US Doctors Determined to stop Government Takeover of Medicine will Make their Voices Heard Today at an Unprecedented Virtual Town Meeting
June 25, 2009
An unprecedented virtual Town Meeting of doctors to explain their opposition to government medicine & discuss ways to take back medicine for patients will take place on June 25th trhough a LIVE WEBCAST & TELECONFERENCE at 7:30 – 9:00 pm EDT and 7:00 – 8:30 PDT.
US physicians concerned by the takeover of their profession by bureaucrats an the predictable effects on patient care can participate by telephone or online.Click HERE for Dial-instructions & web access
A TAKE BACK MEDICINE PETITION is also on the way!
Click HERE to sign the Petition
$4 Trillion: The Cost of US Health Insurance Reform according to latest estimates
June 21, 2009
Obsolete Bismarckian-type insurance models pushed in Obama's health care reform project could cost American taxpayers over $4 trillion according to an independent assessment released by the Health System Innovations network.
Lugano: Leftist anti-freedom commando wrecks a Pestalozzi conference hall & forces cancellation of Liberisti Ticinese event on Pensions featuring Jose Piñera & Ignazio Cassis
May 31, 2009
The Liberisti Ticinese had to cancel their Conference on Pensions featuring Jose Piñera and Ignazio Cassis scheduled on May 29th. Their conference room at the Pestalozzi Hotel was wrecked shortly before the meeting by a commando of leftist activists. Although the Liberisti had received threats from local socialist and communist factions and suffered internet sabotage attempts from unidentified sources, no one in usually tranquil Ticino expected the theme of Pensions to spark violent anti-freedom action. Gabriele Lafranchi, organizer of the meeting is not deterred by this "red fascist" attempt to sabotage his pro-freedom association. The police has now identified the vandals.
The Pestalozzi venue raided by the leftists, owes its name to a major Swiss paedagogue whose educative action was designed for destitute families, orphans and vagabond children. Pestalozzi would have been as stunned as the organizers by the attack.
Guest-speaker Jose Piñera, a Harvard trained Chilean scholar, pioneered the global pension reform movement that enabled "proletarian workers" to own capital - making Communist class-war rethoric obsolete. Communists have never forgiven him for this.
Interview of Jose Piñera on his Pension Reforms (in French)
According to Poll: 86% of Swiss Doctors ready to opt out of mandatory insurance conventions
May 22, 2009
Only 14% of Swiss doctors will bow to further degradation of their working conditions. A recent poll indicates that a staggering majority are ready to opt out of existing TARMED fee conventions if their medical associations lead the way.
Consequence of overworked nursing staffs: Transfusion errors claim another victim in a Bern public hospital
May 21, 2009
After the death of three babies from a wrong perfusion and that of a transplant patient who received an organ from the wrong donor, Swiss public hospitals now face a problem with transfusion errors (15 per year in 2006). The latest vicim was a 73 year old Langenthal patient suffering a broken arm who was given blood from another group during surgery and died.
Commentary: The problem here is not one of dwindling Swiss meticulousness, but rather that of growingly understaffed public hospitals and overworked nurses. A direct consequence of hospital "reorganizaton" programs driven by federal and cantonal health policies bent on cost-containment (i.e. rationing).
Prof. Gabriel Calzada's Instituto Juan de Mariana rewarded by prestigious Atlas Fisher Venture award for promising think tanks
April 17, 2009
WASHINGTON, DC, April 15, 2009 - The Atlas Economic Research Foundation announced this year's recipients of Dorian & Antony Fisher Venture Grants awarded to the most promising young think tanks in the world. Selected from over 100 candidates the Instituto Juan de Mariana was one of the five think tanks considered to represent “great investments” for the future of liberty.
Professor Gabriel Calzada founder and president of the Instituto Juan de Mariana is also a member of Medicine & Liberty's MedEcon academic board and is currently developing Medicina en Libertad , MedLib's Spanish chapter.NHS hospital's dirty linen exposed: 21 NHS hospital fail hygiene tests.
April 3, 2009
St Bartholomews a NHS star London hospital and twenty other NHS hospital congomerates failed hygiene tests and were advised by UK "quality" watchdogs to improve their cleanliness standards. Poor hygiene is one of the main sources of antibiotic-resistant infections that severely affect outcomes in hospital care.
Swiss rationing of health care creates unrest: Geneva doctors vote unanimously for strike actions! Lausanne doctors follow suit.
February 19, 2009
Hard government cost-cutting action will hit medical lab-tests as from July this year. In protest, Geneva's medical association assembled on February 18th voted unanimously for strike action. The strike is scheduled for March 24th.
"Rationing of care imposed by insurers is destroying medical practice" declared Dr Bertrand Buchs, vice-president of the Geneva association.
Lausanne doctors met on February 26th and voted to follow suit.
Swiss MP Jacqueline Fehr calls for parliamentary action against mandatory sickness insurance cartel's lobbying activity. The issue to be debated by federal assembly shortly.
February 16, 2009
Blatant lobbying and rent-seeking from SantéSuisse - Switzerland's powerful health insurer cartel - may no longer remain immune from parliamentary sanction: Armed with a legal study from Professors Regula Kägi-Diener and René Rhinow, socialist MP Jacqueline Fehr formally challenges the participation of mandatory insurance officials in key parliamentary health care commissions and calls for stricter separation of powers. Her proposal is to be debated by the Swiss federal parliament shortly.
Swiss insurance cartel wins again! Federal health ministry slashes medical lab fees: rationing of lab tests awaits Swiss patients. Doctors brace for protest action.
January 30, 2009
The Swiss Interior ministry announces drastic cuts in medical lab test fees. Insurers will be able to slash down reimbursements by approximately 20%. This unilateral move will force many general practitionners to give up office labs and will slow down access to diagnosis for great numbers of patients.
This further step towards rationing of care demonstrates the power of insurer lobbies in the Swiss mandatory health insurance model. SantéSuisse, the powerful insurance cartel has relentlessly (and successfully) pushed government to conduct a ruthless cost-cutting agenda that is now hurting the quality of Swiss medical care. Doctors are considering organizing protest actions (i.e. strikes!) against yet another government strike on their tools.
Swiss health parliamentary commission yields to insurance lobby and partly upholds ban on new medical practices.
January 17, 2009
Sante Suisse's powerful pressures on Swiss health policy makers ultimately resulted in a proposal of the Parliament's health commission to prolong the ban on new private medical practices until the end of 2011 for specialists but to ease of the restrictions for General practitioners.
Source: Le Nouvelliste Jan 17th 2009
Swiss Federal Ban on New Medical Practices : Token Amendment in View ?
January 14, 2009
According to Journals 24 Heures and Le Temps Federal interior minister Pascal Couchepin will shortly present a possible ease on the federal ban on new medical practices, decreed in Switzerland since 2002. Prior to bringing his proposal to the public, Couchepin discussed his plan at length with Claude Ruey, president of the powerful health insurance lobby SanteSuisse. It is likely that some degree of rationing of private physician practices will remain in force although the Cantons may have some leeway for amending current restrictions.
FDA eases its restrictions on access to information from pharmaceutical and medical device producers
January 12, 2009
The FDA has finally agreesd to let pharmaceutical producers inform doctors about the full range of potential uses of their products. In so doing the regulatory agency shows compliance with constitutional guarantees on freedom of information and sets an example for drug approval administrations in other parts of the world.
Swiss Minister Couchepin's cost containment frenzy to hit practitioner labs. Swiss Federation of doctors braces for retreat. Patients bound to loose.
January 9, 2009
Throughout his career Swiss Minister Couchepin has always been a loyal friend of Swiss banks (whom he helped to bail out) and of sickness insurance cartels. It looks as if he is also a friend of big lab consortiums. He confirms by pushing for absurdly low reimbursement for lab tests at physician offices. As usual, the Swiss Federation of Doctors, barks while preparing to yield to Couchepin's cost containment bites.
By placing hurdles on GP diagnostic lab testing, health policy makers pave the way for queues and rationing for diagnostic investigation. Shortly after Christmas a four year old child died in Aarau after being discharged from the emergency ward of the Cantonal public hospital without a simple blood test that would have shown that his fever was due to septicemia. Blood testing is a simple tool that can save lives. Rationing by constricting access to it will not bring health costs down. It will increase human suffering.
Privatization of Polish hospitals and other East European market reforms attract Swiss Pharma.
January 4, 2009
Roche draws close to 6% of its global business from Eastern Europe and expects this to grow. After the Baltic States, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Georgia, Poland is now engaged in wide scale privatization of its public hospitals. Market reforms in tEeas European countries have significantly increased revenues and now enable individuals to invest more on their healthcare. Roche advocates a parallel development of private insurance in order to further access to new therapies and ensure the success of reforms.
Source : "Le Temps" Jan 3. 2009
French Social Security shaken by a series of questionable deaths in public hospitals
January 1, 2009
A three year old infant suffering from a sore throat killed by a massive injection of magnesium chloride in a Paris Hospital at Christmas time. Two days later a patient is left to die from food suffocation while the hospital staff (who had probably forgotten all about the Heimilich maneuver) search for a misplaced key to the first aid kit: this happened at the PItié-Salpetrière a renowned Paris public hospital. On December 28th a 56 year old dies from a heart condition after the ambulance team unsuccessfully contacts 27 hospitals in the Paris area for an intensive care bed.
Time for WHO (and Michael Moore) to reassess their criteria for judging healthcare systems.
The Darzi NHS Report : a bureaucratic ode to political wishful thinking
December 30, 2008
The NHS is not ready to find a cure to the logical fallacies of central planning. Despite its good intentions, the Darzi report presented to parliament by UK secretary of state for Health demonstrates that politicians and administrators still suffer from the delusion that they can manage healthcare and that an isntitution as obsolete as the NHS can be fixed to provide quality.
American citizens not ready for rationed government healthcare shows a CMPI survey
December 23, 2008
A recent survey conducted by CMPI (Center for Medicine in the Public Interest) demonstrates that near two out of three millenial americans do not support health care reforms that restrict access to treatments or medicines. Voters were also equally unsupportive (62 percent) of health care reforms that would increase regulation and oversight in doctor-patient decision-making.
A sick Brit not worth a penny more than £15'000 according to NICE - the NHS's covert rationing agency
December 3, 2008
The NHS recently refused potentially life saving medication to a kidney cancer patient because the therapy would have cost £ 30'000. NICE the NHS's notorious rationing institute decreed that six months of a citizen's life was not worth investing more than £15'000 in terms of treatment.
Read the article in the New York Times
Shortage of doctors makes front page news in France. Scarcity now hits radiology, opthalmolgy and neurolgy.
November 24, 2008
French evening TV news (TF1) highlighted the scarcity of specialists that is hitting patients in France. Waiting lists for consultations in specialties such as opthalmology, radiolgy and neurolgy have touched a critical point and can oly get worst. Exhausted physicians are quitting public hospitals while no relief will be found from new generations. A numerus clausus implemented in order to control doctor demography has successfully turned students away from medical schools. The degradation of working conditions of French physicians will predictaly make this worst.
UK Cancer patients have to fight malignancy, they also have to battle the NHS for their rights to choose new treatments
November 4, 2008
Read the article in the Daily Mail
Masachussets Safety-net Hospitals hit by State Payment Cuts
October 23, 2008
Masachussets defaults on Medicare payments to two safety-net hospitals. Government bail outs don't work in health care
Swiss Sickness Insurance Cartel Toughens up its Campaign for Cheap Medicine: Patient-Doctor Union reacts.
September 10, 2008
SantéSuisse, Switzerland's powerful insurance lobby now sues doctors who fail to follow arbitrary cost-containement guidelines. Dr Serban Sichitiu, member of our steering committe and honorary president of the Swiss Patient-Doctor Union will brief members of this association on these new attacks on Swiss quality medicine on Sept. 18th in Montreux.
Swiss Doctors Federation Baited Into Shaky Deal with Cantons
August 22, 2008
The Swiss Doctor's Federation announces a "deal" with Swiss cantonal health authorities that will suposedly end the current ban on new medical practices. As from 2010 these will be allowed... on condition that Cantonal administrations give permission! Rabid regulation of doctor demography is the name of the game .. and protection of Swiss doctors from an influx of european physicians is the name of the bait.
Swiss Health Insurance Lobby Makes Hazardous Call for Medication Price Controls
August 12, 2008
Santé Suisse, the powerful Swiss health insurance lobby pushes for tougher price controls of drugs, including those of generics. It demands that Swiss pricing be aligned on that of France, Italy and Austria. Driving market mecanisms will not help Swiss health care.
Notorious UK Health Rationers Flippantly Deny Care to Kidney Cancer Patients
August 8, 2008
UK's most uncaring health administrative body: NICE, now hits hard at kidney cancer patients by cutting their access to new treatments that double their life expectancy. Philip Stevens, a friend of Medicine & Liberty and director of Health at London's International Policy Network publicly denounces the Institute's arrogance
Read the article in TIMES
Rationing of Swiss medicine violates humanitarian principles: A call to Swiss president Couchepin
July 8, 2008
Current Swiss health care policy is bent on rationing hospital beds and doctor practices. This leads to ill effects that violate basic human rights of patients. Dr Henri Siegenthaler, president of the Swiss Society for independent medicine describes and denounces this alarming process in an open letter to Swiss President Couchepin and other health policy makers.
READ THE LETTER (in French)
Swiss Health Observatory predicts severe shortage of doctors
July 2, 2008
A study from the Swiss Health Observatory and the Institute for Social and Preventive Medicine of the University of Lausanne demontrates that trends in physician demography will severely impair basic medical services for the next generation.
Swiss parliament renews ban on new medical practices for two more years
June 12, 2008
Less than 5 days after a large majority of Swiss citizens massively voted against a constitutional initiative designed to restrict patients' choice of doctors, Parliament has extended to 2010 its current ban on the opening of new private medical practices. This ban protects established doctors from competition of newcomers and increases waiting lists. Major physician associations and their lobbies offered only token resistance to the parliamient's decree.
Swiss massively reject constitutional amendment on health insurance
June 1, 2008
Approximately 3 out of 4 swiss citizens (close to 90% in the Vaud Canton) voted NO to a constitutional article on health insurance that anointed third party payers with devastating powers. The amendment was backed by the powerful health insurance lobby and by health bureaucracies. The vigorous campaign waged against the article by doctor associations spectacularly upturned polls that for several weeks preceeding the vote recurringly gave the YES as winner.
- To start with WE will choose your doctor... once this is settled WE will proceed to choose your illness!
New study on doctor-patient relationship demonstrates attachment of Swiss to freedom of choice
May 7, 2008
A recent study published by the Vaud Society of Medicine shows that more than 80% of Swiss support liberty of choice for patients. This is deemed essential for a healthy and efficient therapeutic relationship.
read the study (in french)
Mc Cain takes a strong stand in favor of family-centred health insurance reform
April 29, 2008
Health insurance again at the center of American electoral debate: Whereas Obama & Clinton's recipes taste like a promise of more government, Mc Cain advocates family centred healthcare.
Anti-patent activism will not solve African medical infrastructure problems warns Thomson Ayodele
April 29, 2008
Geneva hosts the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Intergovernmental Working Group's reunion on public health, medical innovation, and intellectual property. Thomson Ayodele from the Initiative for Public Policy Analysis, a Lagos-based public policy think-tank exposes the adverse effects of undermining patent proctection and calls for a pragmatic approach to African healthcare in an article published in The Nation
8th intellectual property day reminds us that innovators are the key to human progress
April 24, 2008
April 26, 2008, marks the 8th World Intellectual Property (IP) Day. This event celebrated by all member countries of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) reminds us that a society that fails to recognize and reward the work of creators cuts itself from innovation and progress.
As Dr. Kamil Idris, Director General of WIPO states "World Intellectual Property Day provides an opportunity for people of all nations to reflect on the importance of creativity and innovation in building a better world."
Physicians must be aware that only medical industries that invest in research and development can produce the curative tools that have changed the picture of diseases such as cancer, coronary disease or psychosis.The various shapes taken by current attacks on innovation must be fully understood and opposed. The fate of present and future patients is at stake.
AAPS news: rigged data puts US health insurers in trouble
April 10, 2008
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuoma has issued subpoenas to Aetna, Cigna, UnitedHealth, WellPoint, and other insurers in a broadening investigation of possible fraud in setting insurance reimbursements that cost consumers hundreds of millions of dollars.
European Health Consumer group opposes restrictions to drug ads
April 9, 2008
The Health Consumer Powerhouse takes a healthy stand on drug advertising
European commission plans to lift discriminatory ban on pharma advertising
April 8, 2008
The Guardian announces that Pharmaceutical companies may soon be able to freely advertise their products. The move is opposed by adversaries of free markets and of freedom of speech.
CMPI publication on doctor harassment
March 18, 2008
"The Hazards of Harassing Doctors: Regulation and Reaction in Transatlantic healthcare" powerful essays on physician empowerment published by the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, NY(2008)
AAPS news : unfunded liabilities sap Medicare
February 24, 2008
Unfunded liabilities of Medicare and other entitlement programs are so huge that even shutting down the Pentagon would not help significantly, reports AAPS
Swiss doctors brace against referendum threat to patient freedoms
February 19, 2008
Swiss citizens will vote on June 1st 2008 on a federal constitutional amendment that, according to the Swiss federation of physicians(FMH). will restrict patients' fredom to choose their doctor.