Jim Lehrer (PBS, D): "Crack the heads of anyone who opposes you.
Crack their heads for PBS and me."
Posted on 07/23/2009 4:33:01 AM PDT by Man50D
The former president of the American Medical Association, Dr. Donald Palmisano, a surgeon, warned that if the Obama administration did not slow down on its drive for a government-led health care overhaul, the treatment choices available to patients would be undercut.
He added that the president’s “public option” plan in particular would be a disaster for patients and medical innovation.
“When it comes to health system reform: slow down. Patients’ lives are at risk,” Palmisano told reporters at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. “Today, in America, we have the best health care system in the world – a system that provides urgent, preventative, and long-term care in every community at all hours of the day.
“The health care system is never closed in the United States,” he said.
Palmisano said that there were problems with the system, particularly in financing, but these problems deserved careful examination and debate – not the hurried, hasty process Obama wanted Congress to take.
“Do we have a problem that needs to be addressed? Yes. We need to find a way to get medical coverage to those Americans who are uninsured. We all agree with that,” said Palimisano. “But here in the United States more than 250 million have some sort of health insurance, and the vast majority of Americans like their coverage, and they like and trust their doctor.
“We are very concerned about the rush to pass health care reform legislation,” he said. “We want Congress to take its time and to do it right.”
Part of getting reform right, Dr. Palmisano said, was letting go of the idea of a government-run health care agency, the so-called “public plan.” He explained that if the government was allowed to directly interfere in the health care market, it could lead to a “virtual end” of medical discovery and innovation.
“A government run ‘public option’ would have an inherent advantage in the marketplace,” Palmisano explained. “Government-controlled health insurance cannot play on a level playing field, even if devised with the best of intentions.
“Government-controlled health care brings with it long waiting lines … government bureaucrats determining what car you can and cannot receive and a virtual end to medical innovation and discovery,” Palmisano added.
Palmisano said that the reforms the system needed were for patients to trim their health care purchases, make insurance companies more responsive to consumers, and extend coverage to the uninsured without disrupting the widely popular private system.
“We can improve the insurance system by making individuals prune purchases of their own insurance, insurance companies more responsive to the patients’ needs, [and] we can close the gap on the uninsured without disrupting the entire medical system by encouraging health savings accounts, tax credits for health expenditure, and vouchers to purchase medical coverage for those who need financial assistance.”
“Let’s put the patient in control, with the doctor as trusted adviser,” he said. “Let’s not lose the liberty that is our right as Americans.”
Dr. Todd Williamson, president of the Georgia Medical Association, agreed that while the system was failing, government was not going to make it any better by getting involved.
“We believe the mechanisms to finance medical care in this country have failed,” he said. “We do not believe, however, that increasing the federal government’s control over the practice of medicine is the best way to heal our ailing system.”
Dr. Williamson rejected the idea of a personal mandate – an idea that forms the cornerstone of Obama’s proposal – saying that every patient should have the ability to choose any doctor, not just the ones who participate in their particular insurance plan.
“In a patient-centered health care system, neither patients nor physicians should be required to enroll in any particular health plan, and every patient should have the ability to choose their physician,” said Williamson.
Another novel reform idea came from Dr. Marcy Zwelling-Aamot, who said that if Congress really wants to bring health costs down, it should mandate that doctors and hospitals make their fees and prices public, so that consumers can make the same type of choices they make when buying anything else.
“Let’s tell our patients what health care costs,” she said. “Perhaps doctors should post their retail and cash prices. Perhaps hospitals should start to post them [too]. Perhaps the government should tell the patients what they’re really paying doctors. Let’s bring some honesty and transparency, legitimately, to this system and demonstrate to the public what they need to do to purchase their own health care.”
“After all, it is their life,” Zwelling-Aamot said.
Jim Lehrer (PBS, D): "Crack the heads of anyone who opposes you.
Crack their heads for PBS and me."
And that was how it always WAS before HMO's and other crap moved in trying to make a buck on the back of patients and doctors.
That was the begining of the orders to doctors about TIME SPENT with patients (because time is money, don't cha know!)
It was goodbye special housecalls, goodbye relaxed conversation with the family doc and hello crap.
-- President Barak Hussein Obama (June 24, 2009)
bttt
This thing is a disaster in the making.
I could certainly see people being denied hip and knee replacements and forced into walkers and scooters supplied by politically connected medical suppliers..
Obama insulted every doctor in his press conference last night by saying that doctors would choose to unnecessarily operate on children because the fees were higher.
He is asserting that the public should place more trust in the medical decision making of government beaurocrats than in their own physicians.
I hope the AMA is cringing.
Obama is having some issues with the above. He thinks being president means he gets to run the lives of everyone in the country.
Here's what the email said:
Dear :
The need for health system reform that provides coverage and high-quality, affordable health care for all Americans is clear. Rising health care costs strain individual, business and government budgets, and projected increases in health spending are not sustainable.
H.R. 3200, “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009,” is an important first step down the road to real health system reform. This legislation protects patients by providing health insurance coverage for nearly 97 percent of non-elderly U.S. residents, eliminating coverage denials for pre-existing conditions, and placing a strong emphasis on benefits and services that will keep Americans healthy. It also protects seniors’ access to care by finally dealing with Medicare’s sustainable growth rate (SGR) once and for all.
To learn more about the AMA’s support of this legislation, watch a message from AMA President Dr. James Rohack.
Call Rep. Peter T. King (R) on the Patients’ Action Network Hotline at (888) 434-6200, or click here to email. Tell Congress that short-term, Band-Aid approaches are not the solution to health system reform. Now is the time for real reform. Please support H.R. 3200.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0D99fCeseWk
Here is a letter that was sent to the Dems. Someone posted it on DU. It’s good for a laugh or two.
I’ve got great news. Recently, the Senate HELP Committee passed the Affordable Health Choice Act which includes giving everyone in America the choice of a strong public option.
The pressure is working! We would be nowhere on this important legislation without your continued hard work and dedication putting the pressure on your elected officials through phone calls, petition deliveries, and local actions.
Now, I’ve teamed up with Democracy for America to thank Senator Kennedy and his colleagues on the HELP Committee for their commitment to real reform. Help me send a clear message to my colleagues that when Senate Democrats stand up and lead, Americans won’t forget. Will you join me today?
THANK SENATE DEMOCRATS ON THE H.E.L.P. COMMITTEE FOR THEIR HEALTHCARE LEADERSHIP.
Twelve colleagues put this bill together under the leadership of Senator Kennedy with help from Senator Dodd. Here’s the whole list so we all know who they are:
Edward Kennedy (MA) - Christopher Dodd (CT)
Tom Harkin (IA) - Barbara A. Mikulski (MD)
Jeff Bingaman (NM) - Patty Murray (WA)
Jack Reed (RI) - Bernard Sanders (VT)
Sherrod Brown (OH) - Robert P. Casey, Jr. (PA)
Kay Hagan (NC) - Jeff Merkley (OR)
I’m not interested in passing a bill in name only, and neither are my Democratic colleagues on the HELP Committee. Every American deserves the right to quality healthcare and allowing Americans to choose a strong public healthcare option will help ensure that for all of us.
This fight for real reform is far from over. Please add your name to our thank you and remind Senate Democrats that when we stand with the American people, the American people will stand up for us.
JOIN ME — ADD YOUR NAME NOW
Insurance industry executives and special interests shouldn’t rule the debate, and they shouldn’t rule decisions about the kind of health care your family needs. The Affordable Health Choice Act is the first step towards giving families a choice, and making sure that all Americans are covered.
So keep the pressure up. We need to hear from you. All of us in Congress need to hear from all of you. There is too much at stake to sit at home hoping for change. It’s up to each of us to work together to make change happen.
Thank you, *****, for all of your hard work.
Sincerely,
-Russ
Russ Feingold
United States Senator
Let’s turn into community organizers. The Obama team called upon his teams of bloggers to get out there and saturate the internet to help get this Health Care bill passed. We need to do the same. We didn’t do it during the election and the community organizer did a superb job and we ended up with a Marxist in the White House. Let’s roll!
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/07/how-obamas-internet-campaign-changed-politics/
One of the many ways that the election of Barack Obama as president has echoed that of John F. Kennedy is his use of a new medium that will forever change politics. For Mr. Kennedy, it was television. For Mr. Obama, it is the Internet.
“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president. Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee,” said Arianna Huffington, editor in chief of The Huffington Post.
Mr. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organizers on the ground, Mr. Trippi said.
“The tools changed between 2004 and 2008. Barack Obama won every single caucus state that matters, and he did it because of those tools, because he was able to move thousands of people to organize.”
Mr. Obama’s campaign took advantage of YouTube for free advertising. Mr. Trippi argued that those videos were more effective than television ads because viewers chose to watch them or received them from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted.
“The campaign’s official stuff they created for YouTube was watched for 14.5 million hours,” Mr. Trippi said. “To buy 14.5 million hours on broadcast TV is $47 million.”
There has also been a sea change in fact-checking, with citizens using the Internet to find past speeches that prove a politician wrong and then using the Web to alert their fellow citizens.
Another novel reform idea came from Dr. Marcy Zwelling-Aamot, who said that if Congress really wants to bring health costs down, it should mandate that doctors and hospitals make their fees and prices public, so that consumers can make the same type of choices they make when buying anything else. "Let's tell our patients what health care costs," she said. "Perhaps doctors should post their retail and cash prices. Perhaps hospitals should start to post them [too]. Perhaps the government should tell the patients what they're really paying doctors. Let's bring some honesty and transparency, legitimately, to this system and demonstrate to the public what they need to do to purchase their own health care." "After all, it is their life," Zwelling-Aamot said.
Bad idea for at least two reasons: (2) It allows even more federal government control over the physician-patient (or hospital-patient) relationship. (2) Medical practice is not like a restaurant where the diner can select from a menu. Yes, the services provided have to be agreed to by the patient, but there has to be some flexibility in those services in order for the doctor or hospital to meet a patient's needs as they may change.
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