The American health-care system is vastly more expensive than any other countryâs, but our results are not vastly better.
The Affordable Care Act attempted to begin untangling the factors that contribute to this untenable situation. While it certainly has improved things like access to care and coverage of pre-existing conditions, the cost of care is still so high that more government intervention routinely pops up as the only remaining solution. Think âBernieCareâ or a public health insurance option.
The health-care conundrum is too big to point at any single contributor, but hospitals routinely fight perceptions, if not outright evidence, of charging too much â especially to the privately insured.
Earnest Tyrone âErnieâ Stout, 81, passed away January 13, 2021 at Brookdale Senior Living in Colonial Heights following complications due to Alzheimerâs disease. He was a remarkable man and lived a full life. If Ernie ever touched your life, you know how wonderfully kind and generous he was.
He was the son of David and Hazel Miller Stout of Johnson City and the grandson of Dewey Stout of Johnson City, who was instrumental in starting Johnson City Parks and Recreation and was elected to Johnson City Park and Recreation Hall of Fame.
Ernie grew up in Johnson City, where through his grandfather Deweyâs influence, he learned to love sports. Even though he was stricken with polio as a young boy, Ernie went on to become one of Science Hill High Schoolâs outstanding athletes in both football and track. He received the Good Sportsmanship award in track in 1957-58. He played football in Bristol in the Shrine Bowl in 1958. Later in life, Ernie was one of the original
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by County Judge Justin Lewis
(Tuesday, December 15, Update) I once posted Dr. W. Edward Deming’s quote, “In God we trust, all others must bring data.” This still holds true, with the caveat that we need to check the data closely.
Last week I reported that numbers were holding and there were some positive indicators, then over the weekend those numbers shot through the roof. So what changed?
Last week the DSHS updated my line list, the daily report I get on cases, with 135 new cases in one day. Those cases were all given a report date of December 3, 2020. However, once I started combing through the data, it was readily apparent the “new” cases actually were a backlog that reached back into October. I have paid close attention to the individual lines of data because there have been database reporting issues in the past. I do not want to report inaccurate or misleading information, and those times I have questioned the data presented to me, I have held off reporting