The Dream Is Dying

AT ^ | 7-21-12 | Kenneth L Hanson

[Dysart]

BREAK

Tell a story? Well, there are a lot of us these days who have stories to tell. And far from reflecting unity, purpose, and optimism, these are testimonials to another sad reality: the "American dream" -- at least under the Obama administration -- is dying.

My story is not that special, though it is unique in some ways. My wife is a medical doctor from the former Soviet Union -- as smart as she is beautiful. A surgeon by training (holding a Ph.D. in medicine on top of her M.D.), not only is she extremely capable as a hands-on physician, but she is also a businesswoman. Being a doctor has always meant everything to her, but she also knew that state-employed doctors in Russia earn on average only about $400 a month. She, however, had enough of an entrepreneurial spirit that, after practicing many years in emergency rooms and in cardiovascular surgery, she established her own plastic surgery clinic in the heart of Siberia.

Over time, she was grossing a "respectable" $2,000 a month. When we married and she came to America, I was thrilled to bring her to the "land of opportunity," where, as a doctor, she could earn multiple times her Russian income.

[Dysart]

The truth is, the new health care law (now upheld by the Supreme Court) isn't about providing medical care to the millions who can't afford it. It's about creating enough phony "compassion," via the biggest bloated entitlement program ever invented, to buy the votes of the "dependent class" and forge a permanent socialist/Marxist power bloc that will indeed "fundamentally transform" America.

[foreverfree]

bump

[ripley]

The American Dream may be dying but the dream of a
Marxist state has begun to flourish with the latest Supreme Court decision.

IMHO

[ottbmare]

The woman who cleans the office where I work is from Eastern Europe. She is a licensed vet in her country and had her own practice but can’t get accredited here. Very smart, determined, hard-working. Entrepreneurial enough to start her own cleaning business that now services several office buildings and employs a number of people (all LEGAL immigrants). I’m trying to figure out how to make friends with her because we are kindred spirits, but she works until 1 in the morning so socializing is difficult.

[Wings-n-Wind]

[adorno]

The writer, Dr. Kenneth L. Hanson, decries the fact that, his Russian wife doctor, can’t even get started in the U.S. because, she first needs to get into a residency program. Then, he condemns Obama and Obamacare for not creating some program where his wife could get into a residency program. So, the good doctor is condemning Obama and Obamacare, because, it’s not producing the results that would get his wife into practicing medicine here in the U.S. It sounds like, if Obamacare could get his wife a residency and into practicing medicine, he wouldn’t be as negative about Obamacare. In essence, Obamacare is bad, simply because, his wife isn’t getting the results he and his wife want.

[Dysart]

That’s a curious takeaway. My read of it is he is highlighting the barriers to entry for providers created by the existing health care bureaucracy and is pointing toward the magnifying effects of expanding it- Oabamcare. And he’s plainly correct.

[don-o]

I guess it’s just me, but “American Dream” has always grated on me. What about “American Opportunity”?

[Mrs. Don-o]

Adorno, you're making a too-broad and off-centered generalization. Dr. Handon clearly is in favor of entrepreneurial medicine. He explicitly states that the residency requirement shouldn't exist at all for experienced doctors from other countries. He brings up the fact that Obamacare could have created more residency programs, only to show the hypocrisy and/or incompetency of Obamacare.

Context, adorno.

[yldstrk]

my neighbors dad

same deal, can get credentialed

however ‘professor”, seems like maybe YOU will be the one that has to move to Europe now, do you think you will automatically get to “profess” in their universities? Seems like a little research would have been in order prior to you luring her here with promises of supporting you in the lifestyle to which you would like to be accustomed.

[Fat Tiger]

You can’t kill the American dream.

The important question is, what will it take for “the sleeper to awaken”

(apologies Frank Herbert).

[Dysart]

Well, it is. Historically the Dream has been about, and of, Opportunity.

[Justa]

The dream has become a delusion.

[adorno]

Context, adorno.

Yeah, context. Which is precisely why I commented the way I did after reading the whole article.

His wife is eminently qualified to work as a doctor in the U.S., and there are barriers preventing her from getting into the practice, including the unavailability of residency openings throughout the U.S.

Most of the doctor's remarks do attack Obamacare, however, this portion of his remarks are not exactly about how damaging Obamacare would be: Now, wouldn't one imagine that if the administration were really serious about this, the first thing they would have done would be to take some of that initial trillion dollars of "stimulus" money and fast-track the creation of new residency programs for all the doctors trying to get their licenses? Maybe they would even eliminate some of the residency requirements altogether and foster more reciprocity agreements, so that more foreign-trained medical graduates could legally work in this country.

To me, that sounds like the doctor is saying, Obamacare would not have been so bad, if only some of the stimulus money had been used to facilitate the creation of new residency openings, where his wife might then have a chance to start towards practicing medicine in the U.S. That to me sounds like, if only Obama had made things easier for his wife, things might not seem as damaging as they do now. It's all a matter of, "what's in it for me (or my wife)".

Question:

Does anybody believe that, if the careers of doctors were not as threatened by Obamacare as they are from the law as written, that those doctors would care about how damaging Obamacare would otherwise be to the economy and to healthcare in general? In other words, if doctors were guaranteed that, their careers wouldn't be affected in any way, and the only effects would be to the healthcare industry and to the economy and to patients, would the doctors and doctors to be, express as much concern as they are now? Sure, there would be a certain percentage who would care about how the patients would be affected, but, in general, would most doctors care, if their careers were basically unaffected?

[Dysart]

You can’t kill the American dream.

That depends on your definition. My understanding has always been about the equality of opportunity for all to live and provide for themselves and their families free from central govt control.

There are means of destroying such opportunity, so it can be effectively annihilated. Certainly it exists rarely outside our borders, and don't make the mistake of believing it can't happen here. A tyrant is working earnestly to make it happen: That is his dream.

[Dysart]

In other words, if doctors were guaranteed that, their careers wouldn't be affected in any way, and the only effects would be to the healthcare industry and to the economy and to patients, would the doctors and doctors to be, express as much concern as they are now?

Your hypothetical is specious. Doctors are part of the healtchare industry.

[PGalt]

It's about creating enough phony "compassion," via the biggest bloated entitlement program ever invented, to buy the votes of the "dependent class" and forge a permanent socialist/Marxist power bloc that will indeed "fundamentally transform" America.

Well-stated.

Everthing about socialism is sham and affectation. - 23.11 Ch23 Evil "Economic Harmonies" - Frederic Bastiat 1801-1850

"Entitlement programs" is a euphemism for Socialist programs

Above all, if you wish to be strong, begin by rooting out every particle of socialism that may have crept into your legislation. This will be no light task. - The Law; Frederic Bastiat 1801-1850

[LibsRJerks]

The doc I know in whose practice I’m receiving my training is moving on to other things — a concierge service, in fact — where he can serve “the rich” and forget about this whole government healthcare crap.

The good doctors will be around — you just won’t be able to afford to see them.

[adorno]

Doctors are part of the healtchare industry.

Well, duh!

But, the question still remains.

Being part of a the bigger picture that is the healthcare industry, does not preclude the fact that, most doctors are in the field to look after themselves, and the industry is just part of "the work environment".

If Obamacare were to suddenly influence their industry in a negative way, but, not the doctors' practices, would doctors be as concerned about what Obamacare does to the country and economy and patients? IOW, if Obamacare promises to take care of doctors, and guarantees that they'll have a great rich and rewarding career, while Obamacare becomes the "health industry's replacement", would doctors, or at least most of them, be as concerned as many seem to be now?

[Malesherbes]

Our hospitals are loaded with foreign trained physicians, some of them speaking fractured English. How did they get past the residency requirement?