Why Pay Physicians Anything At All For Providing Healthcare?

Townhall.com ^ | March 18, 2013 | Hal Scherz

[JohnBrowdie]

exactly. draft them all into the army. pay them what we pay enlisted members of the armed forces. call it a day.

what could go wrong?

[freeangel]

Frist, founder of HCA isn’t giving away free health care from their facilities unless it is government mandated to recieve Medicare/Medicaid payment. You can bet your bottom dollar. I’m sick of being told what to do by elite pos.

[grobdriver]

I wonder if the good people at the National Commission on Physician Payment Reform would want their heart surgery, or that of a family member, done by the surgeon who was the lowest bidder.

Oops - I forget - they will be exempted from Obamacare (but then all the good docs will retire and they'll still be in the same boat).

[SMARTY]

Right. 'What could go wrong?'

AS IF, ANYTHING the US government has a sterling track record at delivering ANYTHING in a way that is timely, efficient or cost effective!!!

[MrB]

Flip this on its head and ask back -

Why would anyone become a healthcare provider if they can just go on welfare for a better return on effort?

[listenhillary]

100% of ones wage taken is slavery. At what percentage does it become freedom?

[Kozak]

Despite health care costs exploding as a physician we have not seen ANY increase in reimbursement for years.

[andyk]

I appreciate the thesis of the article. After all, if healthcare is a right, then physicians can be forced to provide care for free, just like I can be forced to give up my paycheck to pay for someone else’s care.

There’s not enough discussion of what rights really are when the GOP opposes Obamacare.

[andyk]

100% of ones wage taken is slavery. At what percentage does it become freedom?

Well if we're talking about wages as income, I'd argue any percentage is slavery. I'm simply making an even trade for my time and labor in exchange for wages.

To claim that is a gain to me is to argue that my time and labor are worthless.

[silverleaf]

When your child needs brain surgery, your spine needs to be rebuilt, your mother’s faltering heart needs to be stopped and reconstructed - who wants to go with the lowest bidder?

[CaptainAmiigaf]

“Dr.” Frist, you seem to believe that your fellow doctors are enriching themselves much too much.
Do you believe that a steroid product that has just signed a $22,000,000 5 year contract is “self-eniching?”
Do you think a plastic bosomed Hollywood type is worth $3,500,000 for the making of a single movie?
Do you think the CEO of the insurance company that governs doctor’s payments is really worth that $1,500,000 per year.
I really do not have to ask those question, I know the answers already
To be frank, I truly question and doubt your sense of values.

[KrisKrinkle]

“There’s not enough discussion of what rights really are when the GOP opposes Obamacare.”

So, what are they?

[mjp]

They want to pay for the sustainable growth rate (SGR or "doc fix") by cutting physician payments for services

Controlling doctors' fees and their methods of treatment, and thereby thoroughly bureaucratizing the field, ultimately make medicine unattractive as a profession and deter talented individuals from entering it.Cutting their fees is a good way to cut the supply of doctors just when the demand for their services are increasing. Smart move. Not.

[I want the USA back]

Communists want doctors to get 3-4 times the pay of janitors. Just like in the soviet union. Look it up.

[plain talk]

“Elimination of fee-for-servive healthcare within 5 years”?

Whoa nelly.

[Kaslin]

I disagree that you can be forced to give up your paycheck. Part of it yes, but an entire paycheck? I seriously question that

[onedoug]

“Eloi....”

[listenhillary]

What should the communists pay be? The ones that say doctors should be paid 3-4 times the pay of janitors?

[andyk]

Well, a right can’t require anything from anyone else other than they not infringe upon yours. Nothing anyone claims as a right can require property or labor from another.