A Government Healthcare Plan? You Can't Be Serious

The American Thinker ^ | June 29, 2009 | Matthew Council

[Scanian]

Excessive Government involvement is what's wrong with our current healthcare system.

One prominent example: FDA regulation and Medicare/Medicaid policies are suppressing new drug and device options and increasing healthcare costs. The FDA's approval process for new technologies costs companies between 250 and 800 million dollars. It takes an average of 8.5 years to move through the FDA's clinical and approval phases and there is no guarantee of approval. Out of 5000 compounds discovered in the pre-clinical stage, only about 5 will make it through. The cost of approved and non-approved drugs and devices are passed on to the physician practice, hospitals, surgery centers and patients. As a result, competition is shrinking and new treatments that can potentially save lives, cure chronic illnesses and decrease treatment costs are delayed by red tape and a high cost of entry.

Doctors are being squeezed, and that means supply will also be diminished. In the midst of rising costs, Medicare and Medicaid have made Fee Schedule cuts every year for the past 7 years. Medicare's 2008 fee schedule only covered the practice/facility overhead and left nothing to pay the physicians.

In 2007, the American Medical Association surveyed 8995 physicians to determine their responses to the 2008 Medicare payment cuts. 59% of the physicians said they would stop providing patient care to Medicare patients, 60% will close a satellite office, 72% will discontinue nursing home visits and 68% will reduce workflow hours by 2016 if the cuts continued.

What did our government run healthcare plan do in response? They created the Health Professional Shortage Area Incentive Program (HPSA provides a 10% bonus to Providers in shortage areas), which will inevitably result in more cuts and increase physician scarcity in other areas.

Our current Government Healthcare Plan throws money at symptoms of the problem

[Condor51]

Excessive Government involvement is what's wrong with our current healthcare system.

Yes, and no.

• Yes, like the FDA and new Drug approval process mentioned.
  
• YES with the DEA 'telling' Dr's how much morphine they can give a terminal Cancer patient with six months to live or they'll be labeled a drug pusher and banned from medicine. This is COMPLETELY ABSURD.

• A BIG NO as to Tort Law.
  
• And a BIG NO on controlling Malpractice Insurance costs for Doctors. But that goes directly back to Tort Law and settlements. A million dollars for a 'misdiagnosed' toenail infection is kind of nutty.(/s)

Right now MDs are looking over their shoulder for DEA agents. AND... their practice is for all intents and purposes being run by their Malpractice Insurance Company (trust me I know this is fact)

[socialismisinsidious]

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