Posted on 11/08/2009 1:23:00 PM PST by randita
ATTENTION EVERYONE!
The MillionMedMarch is Marching State by State.
When: 12:00 PM Local Time, November 21, 2009
Where: All Major Cities
A physician grassroots movement to re-establish honor, dignity and worth to the medical profession. That its sole mission is to protect the relationship between the doctor and the patient.
For more information, go to:
http://www.millionmedmarch.com/
PLEESE Docs..join this effort. Take a stand.
Glad to see the medical community start a grass-roots movement. Seems they’ve been in the background throughout all this healthcare junk. I guess they are doing their job and are busy delivering high quality healthcare to Americans.
plan on it.
The feds will have one of two choices: Admit defeat or try to force them to practice against their will. This will show the true tyranny of the federal govt.
Perhaps they should get a petition going of some kind declaring their intent.
I don't expect them all to do it but if even twenty percent do then the question will have to be asked: Who will take care of the extra patients? Who will provide the "free" health care?
ping to all medical personnel
Full support to my american colleagues!
Socialist medicine in france is killing our Health Care system(big lack of doctors because they became civil servant tools for political reasons) and our economy since the burden of that expensive and uneffective system is weighing heavily on french workers and business
Fool me once...
The feds won't have to do a damn thing.
That's like saying the DMV workers will cut their lunch breaks short if the line gets longer.
They don't give a damn what the workload is or what the delays in care will be.
They LOVE lines! It measn more "management" is required!
Many docs are going to quit, quietly on their own accord. Thousands of bright kids in college are rethinking their future, and our future right now. Atlas will not shrug, but slowly slouch and coruch into a fetal position.
OTOH, lots of half-wit doctors in Indian and Chinese med schools are thinking the 'awful' conditions for doctors in the US are looking mighty good for them.
We are so screwed we can't even imagine the half of it.
The docs had better hurry. Here is a brief, incomplete notation of some of what is in the bill that passed the House last night:
What the government will require you to do:
· Sec. 202 (p. 91-92) of the bill requires you to enroll in a “qualified plan.” If you get your insurance at work, your employer will have a “grace period” to switch you to a “qualified plan,” meaning a plan designed by the Secretary of Health and Human Services. If you buy your own insurance, there’s no grace period. You’ll have to enroll in a qualified plan as soon as any term in your contract changes, such as the co-pay, deductible or benefit.
· Sec. 224 (p. 118) provides that 18 months after the bill becomes law, the Secretary of Health and Human Services will decide what a “qualified plan” covers and how much you’ll be legally required to pay for it. That’s like a banker telling you to sign the loan agreement now, then filling in the interest rate and repayment terms 18 months later.
On Nov. 2, the Congressional Budget Office estimated what the plans will likely cost. An individual earning $44,000 before taxes who purchases his own insurance will have to pay a $5,300 premium and an estimated $2,000 in out-of-pocket expenses, for a total of $7,300 a year, which is 17% of his pre-tax income. A family earning $102,100 a year before taxes will have to pay a $15,000 premium plus an estimated $5,300 out-of-pocket, for a $20,300 total, or 20% of its pre-tax income. Individuals and families earning less than these amounts will be eligible for subsidies paid directly to their insurer.
· Sec. 303 (pp. 167-168) makes it clear that, although the “qualified plan” is not yet designed, it will be of the “one size fits all” variety. The bill claims to offer choice-basic, enhanced and premium levels-but the benefits are the same. Only the co-pays and deductibles differ. You will have to enroll in the same plan, whether the government is paying for it or you and your employer are footing the bill.
· Sec. 59b (pp. 297-299) says that when you file your taxes, you must include proof that you are in a qualified plan. If not, you will be fined thousands of dollars.
· Sec. 412 (p. 272) says that employers must provide a “qualified plan” for their employees and pay 72.5% of the cost, and a smaller share of family coverage, or incur an 8% payroll tax. Small businesses, with payrolls from $500,000 to $750,000, are fined less.
Eviscerating Medicare:
In addition to reducing future Medicare funding by an estimated $500 billion, the bill fundamentally changes how Medicare pays doctors and hospitals, permitting the government to dictate treatment decisions.
· Sec. 1302 (pp. 672-692) moves Medicare from a fee-for-service payment system, in which patients choose which doctors to see and doctors are paid for each service they provide, toward what’s called a “medical home.”
The medical home is this decade’s version of HMO-restrictions on care. A primary-care provider manages access to costly specialists and diagnostic tests for a flat monthly fee. The bill specifies that patients may have to settle for a nurse practitioner rather than a physician as the primary-care provider. Medical homes begin with demonstration projects, but the HHS secretary is authorized to “disseminate this approach rapidly on a national basis.”
A December 2008 Congressional Budget Office report noted that “medical homes” were likely to resemble the unpopular gatekeepers of 20 years ago if cost control was a priority.
· Sec. 1114 (pp. 391-393) replaces physicians with physician assistants in overseeing care for hospice patients.
· Secs. 1158-1160 (pp. 499-520) initiates programs to reduce payments for patient care to what it costs in the lowest cost regions of the country. This will reduce payments for care (and by implication the standard of care) for hospital patients in higher cost areas such as New York and Florida.
· Sec. 1161 (pp. 520-545) cuts payments to Medicare Advantage plans (used by 20% of seniors). Advantage plans have warned this will result in reductions in optional benefits such as vision and dental care.
· Sec. 1402 (p. 756) says that the results of comparative effectiveness research conducted by the government will be delivered to doctors electronically to guide their use of “medical items and services.”
Questionable Priorities:
While the bill will slash Medicare funding, it will also direct billions of dollars to numerous inner-city social work and diversity programs with vague standards of accountability.
· Sec. 399V (p. 1422) provides for grants to community “entities” with no required qualifications except having “documented community activity and experience with community healthcare workers” to “educate, guide, and provide experiential learning opportunities” aimed at drug abuse, poor nutrition, smoking and obesity. “Each community health worker program receiving funds under the grant will provide services in the cultural context most appropriate for the individual served by the program.”
These programs will “enhance the capacity of individuals to utilize health services and health related social services under Federal, State and local programs by assisting individuals in establishing eligibility . . . and in receiving services and other benefits” including transportation and translation services.
· Sec. 222 (p. 617) provides reimbursement for culturally and linguistically appropriate services. This program will train health-care workers to inform Medicare beneficiaries of their “right” to have an interpreter at all times and with no co-pays for language services.
· Secs. 2521 and 2533 (pp. 1379 and 1437) establishes racial and ethnic preferences in awarding grants for training nurses and creating secondary-school health science programs. For example, grants for nursing schools should “give preference to programs that provide for improving the diversity of new nurse graduates to reflect changes in the demographics of the patient population.” And secondary-school grants should go to schools “graduating students from disadvantaged backgrounds including racial and ethnic minorities.”
· Sec. 305 (p. 189) Provides for automatic Medicaid enrollment of newborns who do not otherwise have insurance.
For the text of the bill with page numbers, see www.defendyourhealthcare.us.
Otherwise known as reparations.
We are all minorities and this needs attention. Use statistics.
thanks, bfl
Heads up!
That's not what this is about.
What's it about, then?
Power.
Well, I thought this was about doctors taking back control of their practice. I still think my idea would work. If twenty percent sign up to the idea that they will not practice or accept govt patients under this new bill then govt will be exposed for the tyrants they are.
Let us get this word spread all over the US so it will be a huge turnout.
Have been working with local doctors here to help spread the word.
Our March will be on the Las Vegas strip.
Thanks.
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