Posted on 08/15/2009 7:32:56 PM PDT by kingattax
President Obama has alienated the very profession whose services he will soon need to surgically remove the foot which is starting to chronically be stuck in his mouth. Orthopedic surgeons have defended their honor in response to an outrageous and ignorant attack from the POTUS.
Statement from the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons Regarding Comments from President Obama
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) is profoundly disappointed with President Obama's recent comments regarding the value of surgery and blurring the realities of physician reimbursements. The AAOS represents over 17,000 US board-certified orthopaedic surgeons who provide essential services to patients every day. As President Obama has said, "Where we do disagree, let's disagree over things that are real, not these wild misrepresentations that bear no resemblance to anything that's actually been proposed." In that spirit, we would like to bring some clarity to his comments and underscore the value that orthopaedic surgeons bring to Americans every day of every year.
First, surgeons are neither reimbursed by Medicare, nor any provider for that matter, for foot amputations at rates anywhere close to $50,000, $40,000 or even $30,000. Medicare reimbursements to physicians for foot amputations range from approximately $700 to $1200 which includes the follow up care the surgeon provides to the patient up to 90 days after the operation. Moreover, orthopaedic surgeons are actively involved in the preventive care he mentions. We are a specialty that focuses on limb preservation whenever possible and when it is in the best interests of the patient. Our approach to amputation follows the same careful, thoughtful approach, always with the patients best interest as the primary focus.
It is also a mischaracterization to suggest that physicians are reimbursed "immediately." The AAOS itself, along with numerous other organizations, has testified in Congressional hearings investigating the delays in reimbursement by Medicare and other payers that create additional administrative burdens making it more difficult to provide access to care for patients.
As President Obama continues to pursue the health care reform agenda, we implore him to disengage from hyperbole and acknowledge that health care delivery can only be improved by recognizing that health care is a system in which orthopaedic surgeons play a crucial role. With $849 billion of our national economy impacted by musculoskeletal conditions, orthopaedic surgeons provide care that improves lives and puts people back to work. Pediatric orthopaedic surgeons provide life-altering care to our nation's children and play an invaluable role in ensuring Medicaid patients have access to needed services. Military and civilian orthopaedic surgeons provide care to our service women and men which preserves limbs and has improved survival rates over past conflicts. Orthopaedic trauma surgeons perform limb- and life-saving procedures and help to ensure that our communities have the medical services that we all deserve. Total hip and knee replacement surgeries are now two of the most successful operations in medicine through a predictable reduction in pain, restoration of function, and return of patients to both work and activities of daily living. And we are working every day to ensure that medicine provides Americans with disabilities the quality of life to which they are entitled.
The AAOS is committed to improving the American health care delivery system and increasing health care coverage. The most expedient way to accomplish health care reform is to ensure that the debate is based in fact and reflects the value of the services that all physicians, including orthopaedic surgeons, provide.
The problem is that he probably honestly believes that. And his wife probably believes that as well. They are Marxists. To them all profit is theft, therefore rich neurosurgeons or heart specialists are greedy profiteers stealing more than they should. I really don't believe he can help saying what he believes. It is the core of his life, and so far it has carried him to the White House.
The Messiah is an embarrassment to our country.
“His wife was a very highly paid hospital administrator. Couldn’t she help him out a bit?”
I think she was in Inhuman Relations; she probably doesn’t know any more than he does.
Just what the world needs, another political leader from the "Beer Garden"
But, apparently he still has the support of the American Medical Association. Further, he has the continuing support of the American Trial Lawyers Association, as there is nothing in the health bill that I've heard of concerning tort reform.
spot on Clock K.... Obama is a Marxist.. he wants to be Supreme commander of all us comrades, and dole out goodies to the Unions and crumbs to the rest of us...
he believes that property is theft.. he believes that making a good living is theft... he knows that sometimes life isn’t fair, but he thinks, being Jesus, that he can change that.
what an effing creep this guy is ... honestly.
As a child I required a lenghtly and highly sophisticated hip surgery, as well as an amputation, in order to use an artificial leg. The orthopedic surgeon who performed my surgeries, the late, profoundly gifted Dr. Charles V. Heck of Chicago, later became the president of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons. To my knowledge there is no higher position bestowed upon an orthopedist in this country.
Why do I mention all this? Because following my
procedures, Dr. Heck flatly refused to do so much as issue a bill for my work, nor would he accept payment of any kind. Though he knew we had the means available to pay him, he also knew my father had died a few years prior. He was of the opinion that I would need the money more than he did. So as was often true of dear Dr. Heck, no meant no. He never collected a dime for the brilliant work he’d performed for me.
So much for supposed money-grubbing, faux surgery-pushing orthopedists, eh? You might say, ‘Well, maybe those surgeons hadn’t been invented yet,’ but you’d be wrong. I have yet to meet one.
Would someone please be so kind as to tell obama (lower case intentional) that I went on to enjoy college, normal family life, motherhood, and careers in both real estate and publishing. I am also a taxpayer and a natural born American citizen. Oh, dear. He won’t be able to understand any of that, now will he? Well perhaps rahm will be able to explain to him. Or not....
Yes, I agree with your statement...& it makes quite a bit of sense. My interpretation of entitled, in this instance is that it is a God given right that all people be allowed to live to their fullest capacity with any treatments available to them. This country is the most advanced in medicine, and they should be allowed access to the treatment. Their doctors should be allowed to work with them individually, in whatever capacity can be afforded.
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