When patients require specific therapies and an insurance company makes the frail or sickly patients jump thru hoops, denying or delaying care, it's time to move away from the insurance model.  

The push for reform is hitting its head against a wall of political posturing.  From the practical and 'get it done, already' point of view, this is crazy -- we've never been in a better position, given the nexus of the health care crisis and Obama charisma, economic sense and stimulus money, to effect change.

President Obama champions three goals for reform: 1) "increasing security and stability" and "shared responsibility" for coverage for those having insurance, for the uninsured, 2) giving all “quality, affordable choices,” and the sticky widget, 3) "slowing the growth of health care costs."

Diagnostic testing, especially imaging, has increased extraordinarily in the U.S. and in a very inefficient, if not ineffective way.  Here's a plausible explanation, why and what to do about it.

 Much of the work on health disparities has focused on comparisons between those without coverage and those who are insured; the uninsured come out wanting.