Posted on 07/27/2009 11:40:36 AM PDT by RWK
An open letter to medical insurers and the healthcare community at large:
There is a window that is open, ever so narrowly, but about to close. You have the opportunity to take matters into your own hands, or risk the survival of private medical insurance in the United States, probably forever.
It's no secret that between President Obama and Congress, the Democrat-controlled government has a public healthcare provider as a goal. Mr. Obama asserts that this will "foster competition" with private providers, even though this concept is laughable...
(Excerpt) Read more at pharosproject.com ...
I doubt they’ll act on this. Obama called them all into the White House and threatened them with what even worse things he could do to them if they don’t refrain from opposing him. People are afraid of this thug, even big businesses.
All the insurance companies agreed not to run ads opposing Obamacare or they would lose their seat at the table. Obama knew that the ad campaign by insurers is what stopped Hillarycare.
But it seems to me that given that the insurers will no longer exist under Obamacare no matter what is said now at the table, and given the tanking numbers on public support for Obamacare, the insurers should renege and hit the airwaves.
Actually, for the insurers to actively oppose ObamaCare plays into his hands: Democrats would spin it as greedy corporations trying to save their bottom line.
What I’m proposing is that they beat him to the punch: self-regulate and cut costs, before ObamaCare gets out of the gate. If they can do that, and do it quickly, then they can plausibly say that ObamaCare is expensive and unnecessary. Then the congressional moderates on the fence will easily side with the GOP, and the plan is dead.
Huh????? The insurance companies were running full page adds promoting it in my state. Hillary Care = Tenncare in Tennessee. Why do people think the Big Insurers were behind Medicare reform? It mean more government money for them as the governments middle man or services coordinator and monetary controller which is just what is fixing to happen. Big insurance is tickled to death over Universal health Care and the lawmakers are giving them extra added bonuses like Euthanasia. Big Insurance is in bed with the Congress on this issue.
Honestly, I lost interest in your views here:
“Yes, that may mean fewer doctors driving new BMW’s.”
Class envy and knowing zippo about doctors and the assault on medical professionals are not going to help avert this crisis.
I’m sorry. You don’t know what you are talking about. Doctor’s reimbursements have gone down drastically in the last 10-20 years both from Medicare and from private insurers.
The ENT doctors I know laughed at Obama’s example of tonsilectomy paying more because it pays peanuts and includes three months of free post-op care.
You are talking about a profession(Medicine) with a minimum of 4 years college, 4 years medical school, four years internship and residency. That does not even include subspecialties like cardiothoracic surgery which require many more years.
Who do you think will become doctors in this country without financial incentives?
Even now without socialized medicine the largest pool of new doctors are affirmative action, FMG and women who work an average of 10 hours a week less than their male peers and often take time out to raise children.
Insurance companies may be doing well, but not doctors.
They met with the Hey Moes and Hey Moes like BC/DS literally rammed it down the doctors throats with their you take them all or none threats. BC/BS as well ran full page adds trying to scare people into thinking the state health care system was on the verge of collapse. For over 10 years they had their way with the taxpayers, doctors, and patients. What it actually was involved a huge expansion of the states Medicaid system by placing it in the hands of Hey Moes. The Hey Moes took the money and ran to bankruptcy court. Each year they extorted more and more money. Believe it or not a DEM governor who replaced a two term RINO finally called their bluff and put a stop to it.
The Insurance companies aren't interested in private insurance when they can hold all the federal money and ration it out as they do with Tenncare and Medicare now.
Yes, it's sad to think that the financial incentive is what drives many through the hoops of the medical profession. But some do it primarily because they truly want to help their fellow man. For most of history, that was the main motive. It's only within the 20th century that money really became an expectation.
That's one of the reasons that socialized medicine will rip apart the healthcare system. Lower pay will mean fewer doctors taking care of more patients. Already, Canada has a crisis because they don't have enough doctors and virtually no one is going through med school.
There are two surgeons in my wife's family. One is in private practice in Jacksonville, and makes in excess of $200K (he could make more, but does a decent amount of pro bono work for low-income patients). The other previously made over $300K doing trama surgery in Springfield MO, but is in the process of moving to a small-town hospital in TX. I never said that all doctors make a fortune, but when I say that some doctors make high incomes, I'm not just relying on hearsay and TV.
I stand by my statement: cost-cutting will happen, it's just a matter of who does the cutting. Which do you think would be more palatable: a 20% voluntary pay cut, or a 50% one forced by the bureaucrats? I simply suggest that medical professionals would be wise to be proactive.
Besides, Obama's going to tax the "rich" until they're broke anyway.
“Yes, it’s sad to think that the financial incentive is what drives many through the hoops of the medical profession.”
I never said that and don’t believe it. If what drove doctors was “financial incentive” they would have gone into the financial field which is exponentially more lucrative. They have the brains for it and it’s a lot less education.
There is a difference between wanting to make a good (far from great) living after the time committment of so many years training and how hard you work as a physician, the risks you take of being sued, and what you said - that money is the primary motive.
Let me be clear here, cut doctors 20% and that’s it for the profession. The field does not have that kind of margins any more. Their children are already doing something else. If they can retire early they will.
Fees to doctors is the ONLY service/product that I can think of that has gone down exponentially in the last 20 years. Insurance company profits sure haven’t.
Ask your surgeon relatives what Medicare fees for procedures paid 20 years ago compared to now. Meanwhile everything else - rent, electric, phone, employee salaries, malpractice insurance, auto, etc have gone up lots. Doctors have deflation for the last 20 years while all other parts of the economy have inflation.
And let me make one other important point. Doctors have also suffered from negative status. I am appalled at how little commentary has been out there after Obama accused doctors of criminal malpractice. All the attention went to calling the police officer stupid. While that was bad it did not hold a candle to what he said about doctors.
So why so little attention? Because people really do have bad opinions of doctors. They blame the doctors not the system.
“All the insurance companies agreed not to run ads opposing Obamacare or they would lose their seat at the table.”
That’s basically fascism in action...
I’m sorry I haven’t answered. I’m not sure I understand your points.
I have been reading that the insurance companies were blackmailed from opposing Obama fiercely because he threatened to cut them out of the formulation process if they went against him.
Now are you saying that they will be the administrators of a new Federal insurance and will make lots of money that way? Because otherwise they are not going to stay in business as private insurers once the Feds take over. Give it a few years and they will be pushed out.
The Dems right now want to cut out all payments to Medicare Advantage plans which Pres Bush opposed doing when he was in office.
Nobody blackmails them especially politicians. They own our politicians and control our local, state, and federal government course. Look around you and count just how many laws and codes we now must live under because of them. Two thirds of our laws, codes, and ordinance are now nothing more than loss prevention measures for insurers. Name me any other corporate interest with as strong a lobbying power and political clout as insurers.
Now are you saying that they will be the administrators of a new Federal insurance and will make lots of money that way? Because otherwise they are not going to stay in business as private insurers once the Feds take over. Give it a few years and they will be pushed out.
That's exactly what I'm saying. Right now insurers get what may 50% of the total insured in the U.S.? Why settle for 50 when they can set them self up as Health Management Organizations and control the entire health care money flow. That has been there game plan for well over a decade now. Insurers are champs at blackmailing on this issue.
The Dems right now want to cut out all payments to Medicare Advantage plans which Pres Bush opposed doing when he was in office.
Right now it's the same fight that's been going on for years. The only thing the DEMs and GOP can't agree on this issue is who's friends get what percent. What I do know is this. Bill Frist basically took a plan that former governor Ned McWherter-D, Al Gore, and Hillary had dreamed up and put into action in Tennessee and used that same basic plan as Medicare reform.
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