Posted on 03/21/2010 8:20:18 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
If Obamacare becomes law, about 30 percent of the primary-care doctors in America will consider leaving the medical profession.
That bit of brightness comes from a survey by The Medicus Firm, the results of which were posted by The New England Journal of Medicine. Medicus interviewed more than a thousand American physicians, and 55 percent of them believe the quality of medical care in America will decline if the Democrats pass the current health-care reform proposals. Apparently, many of them want no part of it.
Although the media largely ignored the Medicus study, the story is huge. Perhaps as many as 30 million more Americans may have access to health insurance. The question is: Who will treat them?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 22 percent increase in practicing physicians over the next decade. But that will not be enough to treat the universal health-care crush, especially if a bunch of doctors now on the job pack it in.
There are essentially two reasons why Obamacare nauseates some doctors. First, control. Medical people simply do not want federal pinheads telling them how to treat their patients. The medical profession attracts intelligent, assertive people who are motivated to help others. This is not a docile crowd.
Second, money. Right now, many doctors are already seeing too many patients in order to pay the bills and provide a decent living for their families. Obamacare does nothing to bring down the outrageous expense of medical malpractice insurance, and it is likely to cut Medicaid and Medicare reimbursements.
Doctors can do the math. Their expenses remain high; their incomes decline. Again, these are smart people who could make good money doing something else.
In Canada and Great Britain, where socialized medicine is practiced, it is difficult to actually see a doctor in some places. Instead, nurses, physician assistants and other medical personnel fill the need. That is what could happen in the United States if the feds begin calling the health-care shots.
Not since the Iraq war has America been so divided on an issue. Yes, ideology is playing a part. Conservatives despise government intrusion in the marketplace, but liberals love it. Right now, however, most polls show that the majority has turned on Obamacare. The latest Wall Street Journal poll, for example, found 48 percent opposing and just 36 percent supporting.
Here’s my question: What would Marcus Welby, M.D., and Dr. Kildare say? These guys usually had the answers, back when wise doctors were the subjects of TV programs and health care seemed to be a glamorous profession.
Would Ben Casey support Obamacare? We know the “M*A*S*H” guys would. Dr. Jekyll might like it, but Mr. Hyde? I don’t know.
What I do know is that many Americans are sick of the whole health-care thing. And no prescription on earth will change that.
Isn’t the US Public Health Service a uniformed entity like the military? Okay, he’ll just draft all MDs, DOs, etc. into the USPHS under Selective Service. Impossible? I thought the government making me pay for health insurance or putting me in jail was “impossible” a few years ago...
“Diversity is our strength.”
Only trouble is “our” doesn’t mean you and me.
Well, my brother-in-law, a surgeon in his mid 50’s said he’d be quitting rather than practice under Obamacare.
You hit everything right no the head. You husband could probably teach at the college level and make 100K a year. Why should he be stuck taking handouts from the government and going broke.
Most docs that I know couldn’t pay their student loans and put a roof over their heads at 40-60K a year.
This is all so stupid in so many different ways. They are going to have to continually tweak this to keep it afloat. Eventually it will break this country financially.
I guess he could draft them.
I wonder if it could pass the Supreme Court.
At that point, we would escape to a different country.
Maybe Costa Rica.
Your children and grandchildren will pay the full price, never to know freedom to fail or freedom to excell. They will have a burdon placed upon them, the likes of which we have not know. And, if war comes, where will the resources come from to conduct a just war? We begin to move into the column which Great Britain occupies. Freedom lost tonight. YOur children lost tonight. Socialism won the day. We have spent the past 50 years inculcating into the minds of people they are entitled to what others have and what others produce. They are entitled to it by fiat decree. This is the fruit of socialism. But this is the 'good' fruit (so they say). The choosing of certain people as worthy of 'resources' will result in deeming others unworthy. We have seen it before. Eugenics is on the rise. They even got ole Stupak to turn on his allies, those who stood with him up until 1 hour before voting time. Then he called them unAmerican. So easy is it to turn those who proclaim virtue and eschew it in reality. Shame, shame, shame upon Stupak. He made the difference. He claimed the high ground and then exposed himself as a confidence man. Shame on him. This man is never, ever to be believed again. He is the keeper of the den of iniquity.
Just think of it. 24 months ago, there was no 'crisis'. This medical crisis was a contrivance of the left, but its results will be hellish.
Three weeks ago this bill was defeated. Then the Republicans went to Blair House on the Obama pretext of working together. He pretended he would be 'bipartisan', and now we have the bill which was said to previously be dead, hung around the necks of our children and grandchildren. We have forsaken the millions who bled and died for freedom and to push back socialism. There is no shame great enough to describe this ruination.
Where else in the economy do people eat at a restaurant but the restaurant owner has to fight the credit card company to get paid?
We just bought another 5 gazzillion terabytes of storage for all of the stupid scanned documents and they can't even keep the paper records straight! My friends who operated in war zones had better communication
HEALTH CARE IS NOT A RIGHT!
A Right is freedom of action in a social context. A Right is NOT a license for extortion of benefits from others at the point of a gun or by Government edict, also by force.
Returning to Haiti is looking better everyday!
Revolt NOW!
We have to get all third parties OUT of our relationship with our patients. Medical insurance must be limited to its original status (50+ years ago): a contract strictly between the patient and the insurance company. No assignment! The doctor renders the service. The patient pays the doctor. The insurance company reimburses the patient according to what the patient bought. Afraid too many patients will simply pocket the payment? I can handle that better than I can handle the endless hassels and headaches from the insurance companies. What happens to fees? I could lower my U&C fees about 40% and my blood pressure about 30 points if I did not have to deal with all those miserable third parties.
I suspect that quite a few Doctors will consider a second career in Politics! Stupak’s Republican opponent is a Doctor. Makes sense to me...
Top Democrats want fewer doctors and more death among the peasants. They worship the planet and think there are too many people on it.
Certainly more technological than say, Bora Bora. I would worry about tsunamis however.
One can live in the mountains, which are quite a bit cooler, too, as I understand it.
All medical personnel will be paid by the government, much less than they are making now. That will include nurses, lab workers anyone connected to the medical field!! YOUR GOVERNMENT NOW DICTATES YOUR SALARY!
Sorry Bill. The number I saw was 45%. Not 30.
they already do. Now the good part is when my "salary" gets fixed. I get paid X dollars to see patients whether I see 4 patients or 30 patients in a shift. How many do you think I'll see? The more patients I see, the higher likelihood I'll be sued (lawyers fees and caps are not limited in the bill). So I'll see the fewest patients per shift I can to get my nut and go home without being sued.
The proles in the ER that can't stand to wait for the health department to open or don't want to wait in line at the free health clinic are going to sh#t their pants when they don't get seen at all unless the triage nurse gives them a level 2 or higher status.
Lots of proles and citizens are going to get upset when granny's broken hip doesn't get fixed the day or the next day after it's broken, but gets sent home, placed on a wait list, given pain meds and her QALY number gets calculated.
so the doctors and patients are going to be in an adversarial role, just like the little communist bureaucrats want... sweet. I just can't wait for the violence that will await me in the ER as the proles get angry that Utopia isn't happening and that their broken jaw can't be seen for a couple of weeks, cause it's not really an emergency or the heart catheterization will have to be scheduled later... all the things that make our country's medical system the best in the world including drug manufacturing is now gone. No profit, why bother? Just make more of the old stuff and let the sick die to save money.
Thank you democrats. You are the party of "life". I just want Pelosi, Reid and Stupak to have the same government doctor that screwed up Murtha's gallbladder take care of them and their family. I hope they have a nice ride on the septic highway with stops and Vancomycin peak and Zosyn point overlooking Dopamine trail.
I was shocked when a man I know who is a doctor told me months ago that he is against Obamacare because most of the patients he and his colleagues see in their cancer clinic would NOT be eligible under the new program.
This doctor is very liberal, openly gay, and fought tooth and nail for Hillary and then reluctantly for Obama. For him to speak out like this was very compelling for me—it’s the first time we’ve ever agreed on anything in politics.
“If Obamacare becomes law, about 30 percent of the primary-care doctors in America will consider leaving the medical profession.”
With Immigration reform you get a massive influx of Pakistani and other third world docs and X-rays being read in India, not that that’s anything new.
I heard on Rush some months ago a lady called in said she was from a health ins co,,did not say which one....but said they were already working on plans that would provide care for pts in Costa Rica..you get there and the ins would cover your cost of care..long way to go but..now we will go out of the country like foreigners used to come here..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.