I realize that by publishing this blog I'm likely to have a bunch of comments from random people who are cruising the Internet looking for someone to be confrontational with. I welcome any difference of opinion, feel free to comment-- but I'm not going to make this blog an argument so don't expect a response from me.
*Ahem* I have 4 brother-in-laws who are all just finishing residencies or fellowships who will be doctors in the next year or so. All have worked ridiculously hard for many years. One of them has done 15 years post-high school education to become a specialized surgeon. They have gone into extreme amounts of debt because they knew (or at least thought they knew) that they would have the promise of a well-paying job to be able to pay off school loans with. Now Obama wants to make it so that all doctors will make the same amount of money (Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill ) What is the incentive for someone to want to become a specialist anymore? What is the incentive to do some of the not-so-well-liked areas of health care (such a Colo-rectal surgery?). If there is no promise of having your loans easily paid off after school, why would someone go through the debt (say nothing of the difficulty) of medical school? No more specialists and incentivized doctors means no more good health care (and that is not even considering the rest of the messy plan obama came up with).
I have many other opinions regarding Obama-Care, but for now I'll let them rest in peace. Heaven help us if this thing passes.
11 comments:
I didn't know that all Dr's would be paid the same. Wow. There are so many parts of this bill that haven't been thought through. It'll have a huge effect on our taxes and our economy. And our government leaders are trying to muscle it through, no matter the cost, no matter that a lot of people have very serious concerns about it. AAGH!
Great thoughts. Do you know where I can find the bill with the page numbers included? I can only find the entire bill posted online, but no page numbers, and it's pretty heavy to go through the whole thing. I want to be able to read more about this from the actual bill. It scares me.
AMEN!!! (Now how do I keep my blood from boiling?)It makes me so mad to hear Obama making jokes about the oposition to this plan...such as "Oh, we will only cover your skin, ha, ha, but don't worry, at least you'll be covered by a dermatologist! ha, ha..."
Amen Cambrie...
Isn't it rediculous? HONESTLY.
SO, THE QUESTION IS: WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT IT? My nice little complining blog post isn't helping. Anybody know what we can do to actually help the situation?
Um I agree completely. The two things that bug me most about this debate are 1-we are only talking about care, not health...there are several VERY legitimate reasons why health care is VERY expensive: one is that people in America are sickeningly unhealthy by their own choice, 2-and the second, which is also the second thing that bugs me, and as you mentioned, it is very costly and risky to become a healthcare professional.
I think socialized medicine has some good points in that everyone in those countries are covered and can receive affordable health care. Good thing - yes. Bad thing - wait times can be pretty atrocious (as we see with the example always given THAs for the elderly in Canada). Socialized medicine will never work in the U. S. of A. for exactly the reason you mentioned though...we are way more specialized than all of those socialized countries. We get all of their people who need specialized surgeries over here (trust me - we get them in our hospital), but those are only the ones that can afford it. Everyone else probably just dies. They either need to come up with a very different plan when "socializing" our Health Care so that specialty practices are taken into consideration or we can kiss good bye to high quality health care in this country too.
That being said, I really don't know all of the details of Obama's plan. I just think generally I'm against it. I should read into it more. I think we should do something like what Romney did when he was governor.
So with you on this one! Obama is going to leave this country in ruins! Scary!
Hello, I just happened on your blog.
I think you're taking Pg 241 Line 6-8 HC Bill out of context. It states:
"Service categories established under this paragraph shall apply without regard to the specialty of the physician furnishing the service.’’.
And what does it say "under this paragraph"? It states how physicians will be compensated for services rendered in UNIQUE service categories. Meaning that specialists will get paid differently depending on the service they provide. And how the pay for these services. In fact, there is wordage that describes how payment for services may INCREASE from year to year.
It does not state all physicians will get paid equally. That's just bad policy, and even Democrats know that.
Maybe you don't think we need any reform to our system. Or maybe you think that the only reform we need is to scrap CHIPS, Medicare, and Medicaid.
But I'm telling you. Insurance companies and Right Wing commentators want you to believe government options rob you of choice and quality. But at the end of the day, you never have choice. Insurance companies choose the type of care you deserve every time you see a doctor. If you can't afford a good plan, you may only be allowed to see your primary care doctor once a year. It may not cover X-Rays.
If you're fired from a job, and can't afford to carry your employer health insurance with you. You may be denied coverage continually because of pre-existing conditions.
Plus, it's been shown over and over that we are terrible at preventive care. Insurance companies don't want to cover something unless they HAVE to. That's why if you have cancer or need emergency care the United States is with out the BEST place to have these types of problems. But for chronic diseases, and primary care... we fall terribly short for how much we pay per capita (OECD).
So rather than be scared about health care reform. Let's embrace it!
Oops, in the part I talk about emergency care I meant to write "without doubt the BEST".
Thanks for letting me comment on your blog!
Post a Comment