I watched the press conference on and off last night, and Hot Air captured my WTF? moment.
Obama actually blamed greedy doctors for high healthcare costs.
And part of what we want to do is to make sure that those decisions are being made by doctors and medical experts based on evidence, based on what works, because that’s not how it’s working right now. That’s not — that’s not how it’s working right now.
Right now, doctors a lot of times are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that’s out there. So if they’re looking and you come in and you’ve got a bad sore throat or your child has a bad sore throat or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, “You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid’s tonsils out.”
Now, that may be the right thing to do, but I’d rather have that doctor making those decisions just based on whether you really need your kid’s tonsils out or whether it might make more sense just to change — maybe they have allergies. Maybe they have something else that would make a difference.
So — so part of what we want do is to free doctors, patients, hospitals to make decisions based on what’s best for patient care.
In my entire life, I have had exactly one doctor who I dropped. It was mostly because she would book half a dozen people for a 1 p.m. appointment, and I got tired of waiting 45 minutes to see her. I subsequently learned that St. Barnabas Medical Center suspended her for performing unnecessary hysterectomies. Now, I know there are crooked doctors out there. But Obama is citing an unethical doctor contributing to the higher cost of healthcare (and insulting the medical profession while he’s at it). You know, in the grand scheme of things, I don’t think doctors performing unnecessary tonsillectomies even begins to cover the problem with healthcare.
I don’t think I’ve ever had a doctor make a medical decision based on the fee schedule of my insurance cost. In fact, here in Virginia, I’ve had doctors who managed to find a way to charge me less when I was uninsured, as well as give me tons of free medication. Obama’s smearing doctors like that is shameful.
Really, how did this moron get elected? Smart power? I’m thinking not so much. How did the American public not see through him?
At least his polling numbers are starting to reflect America’s return to reality. I don’t expect last night’s press conference to make a difference.
I wonder how the AMA is going to like the above. They’ve endorsed his healthcare reform.
Fools.
From what I understand the AMA “leadership” are a bunch of self solected politicians and not doctors. Most doctors are too busing practicing medicine to be able to get into politics. In any profession you will find the hangers on who are more interested in power than in their profession. Politics is the only “profession” where the vast majority belong to that class of people.
politics – from the roots poly and ticks
poly – many multiple
ticks – blood sucking parasites
Obama says doctors make decisions according to their personal self-interest….he assumes, and wants us to assume, that elected officials and government employees make decisions *without* regard to their personal self-interest. This is a basic fallacy of liberalism: the liberal tends to see government as an idealized parent, rather than as being comprised of people who are themselves economic actors and pursuing their own desires for power, prestige, money, and security.
Personally, I was shocked at how Obama’s comments insulted the entire medical profession.
I am really surprised that there has been little coverage of those comments. Sadly, this
may provide insight into the opinion Obama has the medical community and his plans for medical
best practices. These may simply take away the decision making authority from all doctors.
The American people didn’t want to see through him. Everybody who bothered to look knew that he was (and still is) a flat-out socialist. He cares far more about his personal power and ideology than the good of the nation.
But the population didn’t care. They were star-crossed about the first black president, and they believed his nonsense about how Washington will make their mortgage payments and give out free gasoline for their cars.
And they still, for the most part, refuse to actually look at the person, preferring to bask in the reflected aura of his empty promises and rhetoric.
Unfortunately, Congress fully supports him, because his policies also increase their power, and he’s appointing a Supreme Court justice who will support him even when the Constitution says the opposite. He’s moving enough pieces into place that when he finally decides to drop the hammer and openly eliminate democracy, there won’t be any way to legally stop him. And unlike Iraq, there won’t be another world power able to step in and liberate the US.
I got shingles at 22(I’m 39) and have nerve damage in a finger that keeps me up at night.
Lyrica is expensive even with insurance so my doctor got me a scrip of something similar that comes in a generic.
It cost me 10 bucks rather than 150.
Why John Edwards Is Responsible for More Unnecessary Operations Than “Greedy Doctorsâ€
The AMA does not represent the medical community Only about 17% of the physicians and almost none of the surgeons belong to that organization. Some of thier policies are not popular among the medical community
Is that right? I was under the impression that the AMA runs/oversees the boards that certify and license doctors to practice in the US, and therefore set national policy for medicine whether the doctors like it or not. If I’m wrong (and I admit that I could be 100% wrong here), could you correct my misconceptions?