Obama’s - War on Specialists

Wall Street Journal ^ | October 6 2009 | WSJ

[opentalk]

In President Obama’s Washington, medical specialists are slightly more popular than the H1N1 virus. Compared to bread-and-butter primary care doctors, specialists cost more to train and make more use of expensive procedures and technology—and therefore cost the government more money. Even so, the quiet war Democrats are waging on specialists is astonishing.

[opentalk]

ObamaCare punishes cardiology and oncology to finance GPs.

From Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus's health-care bill to changes the Administration is pushing in Medicare, Democrats are systematically attacking specific medical fields like cardiology and oncology. With almost no scrutiny, they're trying to engineer a "cheaper" system so that government can afford to buy health care for all—even if the price is fewer and less innovative ways of extending and improving lives.

[combat_boots]

Doesn’t everyone want a NeuroInternalDermaLarynObstreSurgeon GPFPMDDO?

[Carley]

Shouldn’t it be

OBAMA’S WAR ON AMERICA

[MindBender26]

On of the elements of this plan is that board-certified specialists will be paid no more than a nurse practitioner for a procedure.

So, who do you want to replace that bad valve in your child's heart, a surgeon with 4 years of college, 4 years of medical school, a 1 year internship, a 3 year residence in general surgery and a 2 year fellowship in cardiac surgery and a further year in pediatric cardiac surgery, 15 years training, and probably another 5 years of experience to become board certified... or a nurse with 18 months training after nursing school?

Thanks, Mr. Obama!

[opentalk]

From Article:

Cancer doctors get hit because the Administration believes specialists order too many MRIs and CT scans.

And this change is applied to all expensive equipment, not just MRIs and CTs, so payments for antitumor radiation therapy will fall by up to 44%. The American Society for Radiation Oncology says it "will have a devastating effect on cancer patients' access to care."

It sounds like it will impact your ability to freely get tests as needed, especially cancer.

[The Great RJ]

In the bowels of the Hillary Care bill was a provision that would have limited the number of medical specialists by controlling medical school admissions. Heeding the ideas of Ezekial Emmanuel, Obamacare would deny “expensive” care because it if often given to the “non productive” elderly. However, there would be no cuts in CT and MRIs for the 25 year old illegal immigrant with a knife in his chest from a gang fight.

[Yo-Yo]

Welcome to National Healthcare.

[opentalk]

If Democrats are going to stomp on specialists, they should at least be open about it. Then again, all Americans might take a different view of health-care "reform" if they understood that it means snuffing out the best medicine.

They are keeping this under wraps this time. This seems unconstitutional. Obama said elect me, it will be on C-Span, no closed door deals.

[Nachum]

The list, ping