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Primary care about to collapse, physicians warn
Yahoo! News ^ | 1/30/06 | Maggie Fox

Posted on 01/30/2006 12:56:31 PM PST by libertarianPA

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The group has proposed a solution -- calling on federal policymakers to approve new ways of paying doctors that would put primary care doctors in charge of organizing a patient's care and giving patients more responsibility for monitoring their own health and scheduling regular visits.

I'm not a health care expert, but I know enough to know that MORE government intervention is not the answer. If anything, these doctors should tell government get out right now and let the health care industry become more competitive and more attractive to these young doctors.

If there's one thing I want the state governments to do is to initiate tort reform. But that's it!
1 posted on 01/30/2006 12:56:34 PM PST by libertarianPA
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To: libertarianPA

Too late. It has already failed.


2 posted on 01/30/2006 12:57:47 PM PST by mtbopfuyn (Legality does not dictate morality... Lavin)
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To: libertarianPA

Why would these stupid doctors want more government interference in their work? What could they possibly gain other than increased ways to defraud the patient and the feds?


3 posted on 01/30/2006 12:58:45 PM PST by caver (Yes, I did crawl out of a hole in the ground.)
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To: libertarianPA
U.S. doctors have long complained that reimbursement policies of both Medicare and private insurers reward a "just-in-time" approach, instead of preventive care that would save money and keep patients healthier.

Doctors say, "Just don't get sick!"

4 posted on 01/30/2006 1:01:07 PM PST by Lunatic Fringe (North Texas Solutions http://ntxsolutions.com)
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To: mtbopfuyn

It's only a matter of time before the government starts to determine which doctors can go into special practice and which must go into primary care.

Right now, what's the incentive to go into primary care when your fees are pre-determined by medicare and the government regulates insurers to the point where they must deny any claim for procedures or therapies that aren't guaranteed solutions?


5 posted on 01/30/2006 1:09:51 PM PST by libertarianPA (http://www.amarxica.com)
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To: caver
What could they possibly gain other than increased ways to defraud the patient and the feds?

Bingo!

6 posted on 01/30/2006 1:10:29 PM PST by Shalom Israel (Pray for the peace of Jerusalem.)
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To: libertarianPA
The only purpose of primary care physicians is to provide lawsuit targets for trial lawyers.
7 posted on 01/30/2006 1:11:14 PM PST by E. Pluribus Unum (Islam Factoid:After forcing young girls to watch his men execute their fathers, Muhammad raped them.)
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To: caver
Why would these stupid doctors want more government interference in their work?

Because it's worked so well in the past. /sarcasm

8 posted on 01/30/2006 1:12:45 PM PST by <1/1,000,000th%
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To: libertarianPA; caver

The harsh truth is that the government has already confiscated huge amounts of money from the people who are already at, or near an age to be eligible for Medicare. That large chunk of the population has been forced into a position where they have little choice but to support the continuation of the government-paid health care system, since the government already has their money. Doctors know this all too well.


9 posted on 01/30/2006 1:14:43 PM PST by GovernmentShrinker
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To: libertarianPA
"Primary care physicians -- the bedrock of medical care for today and the future -- are at the bottom of the list of all medical specialties in median income compensation," the ACP said.

Well, yeah, what do they expect? Human med doctors make more than veterinarians, yet they both had to go to medical school. Is that fair?

10 posted on 01/30/2006 1:15:04 PM PST by Yo-Yo
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To: libertarianPA

HillaryCare is here.


11 posted on 01/30/2006 1:49:30 PM PST by ikka
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To: libertarianPA

bump


12 posted on 01/30/2006 1:56:18 PM PST by kimosabe31
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To: caver

I think the biggest thing these docs are asking for is a restructure in the reimbursement plans of most of the HMOs. They will reimburse the regular family doc who is smart enough to diagnose a huge range of problems next to nothing- while a specialist who has one small field to dwell on a huge chunk of money. In my opinion, both are very important to our medical practices.


13 posted on 01/30/2006 2:00:47 PM PST by Cate
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To: libertarianPA

People need to quit going to the Dr. for every little ache/malady...and make them pay cash.....


14 posted on 01/30/2006 2:03:02 PM PST by dakine
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To: GovernmentShrinker

"The harsh truth is that the government has already confiscated huge amounts of money from the people who are already at, or near an age to be eligible for Medicare. That large chunk of the population has been forced into a position where they have little choice but to support the continuation of the government-paid health care system, since the government already has their money. Doctors know this all too well."

That bears repeating! And as another poster said, people need to quit going to the doctor for every time they sniffle.


15 posted on 01/30/2006 2:05:54 PM PST by caver (Yes, I did crawl out of a hole in the ground.)
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To: Yo-Yo

"Well, yeah, what do they expect? Human med doctors make more than veterinarians, yet they both had to go to medical school. Is that fair?"

AGGGH

LET THE FREE MARKET WORK

SHORTAGE OF PRIMARY CARE DOCTORS = PRIMARY CARE DOCTORS EARN MORE MONEY = MORE PRIMARY CARE DOCTORS = PRICE STABILIZES DEPENDING ON THE ELASTICITY OF PRICE.

A freshman microeconomics student could solve this.


16 posted on 01/30/2006 2:07:13 PM PST by adam_az (It's the border, stupid!)
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To: libertarianPA

Isn't this request what HMOs were set up to do ????? In an HMO you must go to a primary care physician first; so where's the real gripe ?

Medicare. Medicare. Medicare. Forcing doctors to see patients for lower rates than they want to charge.

Get the government out of healthcare, go to high deductible type insurance, rein in the trial lawyers, and see the vast majority of problems disappear.


17 posted on 01/30/2006 2:08:03 PM PST by cinives (On some planets what I do is considered normal.)
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To: libertarianPA
Can't we hire Paco and Jose' from the restaurant down the street to "do these jobs that Americans aren't willing to do"?


LOL
18 posted on 01/30/2006 2:15:37 PM PST by taxed2death (A few billion here, a few trillion there...we're all friends right?)
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To: libertarianPA
It's only a matter of time before the government starts to determine which doctors can go into special practice and which must go into primary care.

This is already happening. The federal government, through its grants supporting research and teaching hospitals, has a great deal to say about how many specialists are trained. I am told that since Hillary decided that specialists are too expensive, the government has tried to curtail the supply in some fields.

I know a young medical-school graduate who wanted to be a surgeon. (He had a real talent for surgery.) But he was told that there were not enough surgery slots. He ended up in psychiatry.

19 posted on 01/30/2006 2:40:03 PM PST by Logophile
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To: libertarianPA
It's only a matter of time before the government starts to determine which doctors can go into special practice and which must go into primary care.

That's exactly what Hillary's healthcare was all about.

20 posted on 01/30/2006 2:43:24 PM PST by Howlin (Why don't you just report the news, instead of what might be the news? - Donald Rumsfeld 1/25/2006)
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