Some post-ACC.10 blog coverage to look forward to: Our ACC member bloggers will be giving their take on the differences in the US & UK health system in the form of two hypothetical CV patients, Thurgood Powell and Mortimer Schnerd. From Dr. Fisher:

We thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast two heart patients - one with insurance and one without insurance - from our two health care systems, to illustrate how these patients obtain health coverage, might be managed, and how things look from the patient's perspective.

...

For the purposes of the exercise, we'll take two patients, Mr. Thurgood Powell, a highly successful 57 year-old businessman making $250,000 (£166,128) per year with his company PoshPosh Entertainment, and Mortimer T. Schnerd, a pleasant 43 year old man who is unemployed but working part-time in the local K-mart, earning $17,400 (£11,562) per year. Both men will experience heart attacks, both men will present to Emergency Rooms in both countries, and both men with require 4-day ICD stays and require the implantation of an automatic defibrillator and follow-up for the first year after the heart attack. Beyond that, heck, who knows. But that will at least give us a starting point to discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly of both health care systems and to compare and contrast the two systems. We will purposely refrain from political commentary in our posts (that's for you to do in the comments section!). We only ask that the commentary discussion be respectful and civil. I would be thrilled to hear what the British think of their health care system/costs/etc. over on Sarah's blog and the U.S. perspectives on this blog.

So there you have it. Look to their blogs (Dr. Clarke and Dr. Fisher) for the full discussion, and I'll be posting my response here as well. 

Other posts from Dr. Clarke today:

• Want to know more about AF??!! See this new website and other trial results from the ACC!: The ACC and Heart Rhythm Society have launched a new website just for AF !!! Take a look!
  
  
• DAT post DES…how long??: The aged debate goes on! How long should we be giving dual anti-platelet therapy (DAT) after DES? Current guidelines suggest 12 months….
  
  
• Cryoablation for PAF: STOP-AF: Whilst anti-arrythmic drugs (AAD) are not without morbidity or mortality, and radiofrequency ablation requires mutliple lesions and can be associated with complications, cryoablation offers PVI with a single continuous cryolesion. But what are the complications?

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