Posted on 09/17/2009 1:58:03 PM PDT by Admiral_Zeon
Doctor opposition to health care overhaul proposals is broad and deep, revealing concerns not just about soaring costs, declining care, possible rationing and a lack of limits on malpractice suits, but also about government competence and motives, detailed responses to a new IBD/TIPP Poll show.
As reported Wednesday, 65% of the 1,376 practicing physicians who responded to a mailed questionnaire over the last two weeks said they opposed health care plans that have emerged from the administration and Congress. Just 33% supported them.
Perhaps the most shocking result: 45% of these professionals said they would consider closing their practices or retiring early if the reforms now under consideration were enacted.
The questionnaires were sent out Aug. 28 to 25,600 doctors nationwide. The sample was purchased from a list broker, Lake Group Media of Rye, N.Y. One hundred of those responding were retired, and their answers were not included in the final results.
Our poll also invited those taking part to tell us the reasons why they didn't like the health care reforms — or, in the minority of cases, why they did. The outpouring of written responses IBD received — about 1,300 in all — was stunning.
(Excerpt) Read more at investors.com ...
No problem Maybe we can import a few thousand witch doctors from Kenya to replace the old American docs. Congress will approve it as “alternative medicine.”
Obama’s just going to further demonize doctors by making some flawed connection ie see, I told you they were greedy! Now let’s try to pass nationalized law care with regulated costs for lawyers and see how hard the lawyers scream.
“Maybe we can import a few thousand witch doctors from Kenya”
Now dat be racist, baby!;)
Seriously, who in his right mind would go $250,000 in debt to become an overworked, underpaid, state-controlled physician? Folks, we may be looking at some truly bizarre “alternatives” indeed!
Here is my community perspective published in the North County Times and also featured in www.thepaulrevereproject.com.
One Physician’s Perspective On ObamaCare
I have been a physician for 31 years with boards in geriatrics and family practice. I have had twenty-eight years of experience with the care of the elderly in the hospital setting. We teach our residents the blessings, responsibilities, and obligations that come with being a physician. In the care of a fellow human being there are a few concepts that every young physician should learn. These same principles merit consideration by those who would take control of our health care system. R.C. Holmes MD
Twelve Principles for Doctors and Health Care Legislators
1. First, do no harm. No patient should come away from a doctor’s visit damaged because of the intervention. The most advanced medical care delivery system in the world should not be irreversibly injured by a Congress with limited understanding of medical practice and a well-earned 22% approval rating (CBS Poll 7/12/2009).
2. Physician, heal thyself. A physican should clean up his own act before he attempts to direct the liives of others. Since major contributors to the cost of medicine are smokers and lawyers, does the country really want a smoking lawyer as the Physician-in-Chief.
3. Do your homework! Lawmakers who do not care enough to read the 1,000 page bills they vote on do not deserve the nation’s trust. A President who suggests painkillers as an alternative to a pacemaker and implies that surgeons are cranking out tonsillectomies based on reimbursement rates is demonstrating an ignorance of the facts and insulting the team that he wishes to manage.
4. Keep your cool. A panicked physician inspires as much confidence as a panicked pilot. A panicked President already used “crisis” strategy to promote the stimulus bill. With the ensuing rise in unemployment (11.6% in California), one wonders what happend to all the “shovel ready” jobs slated to start on “day one.” Americans were once duped by a high pressure sale pitch. They are wising up.
5. Don’t promise what you can’t deliver. Young physicians who offer unrealistically rosy prognostications lose their credibility when the outcome is not as predicted. Does anyone, other than Joe Biden, believe you can provide new “free” coverage for 37 million Americans and 10 million illegal aliens at no cost?
6. Know your limitations. Humility is an admirable trait in a young physician. Audacity is not. President Obama gets credit for seeking consultation. Unfortunately he elected to consult the same guys who produced the 1,419 stimulus bill, the 44,000 page IRS tax code, and the unsustainable (without more taxes!) Social Security and Medicare systems.
7. To care for the patient, you must care about the patient. If a Congressman cares enough about the health care bill he should scrutinize the entire document. If that is too much to ask, he should just vote “present.”
8. Learn from your mistakes. With Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, the Congress has created three legal Ponzi schemes which are destined to collapse from insufficient funds and excessive demands. Bernard Madoff is serving a life sentence for a scheme structured very much like ObamaCare.
9. K.I.S.S. Keep it simple, Stupid. A health care bill that is far larger than an encyclopedic textbook of internal medicine is not simple.
10. G.I.G.O. Garbage in, garbage out. Medicare is already burdened with bizarre regulations such as mandated three day hospital stays in order for patients to qualify for coverage in convalescent facilities. Centralized planning aborts individualized decision making and squanders precious resources.
11. Put yourself in your patient’s shoes. Doctors are often asked, “What would you do if this were your spouse, parent, child or you?” Congressmen and the President have made it clear that they will not subject themselves to the misery they intend to inflict on the rest of us.
12. When all else fails, use common sense. Do you honestly believe the health care bill will reduce the deficit? Of course not. Will higher taxes be needed? Absolutely. Will taxes on small businesses hurt the economy and cost jobs? Inevitably. Do Americans really want a British or Canadian system that rations and delays care? Never! Can 47 million patients be added with no addtional nurses or doctors at no cost? Are you nuts? Can Congress repeal the law of supply and demand? Of course not.
"OOO EE OOO AH AH...."
etc etc etc.
well if this does not kill the plan dead I don’t know what can
Like Dear Leader cares what a bunch of racist doctors wants...
One complaint was common: Doctors feared any government reform would turn into a kind of "socialized" medicine. Some were quite blunt: "I oppose socialism in all its forms or incarnations ... government should be shrunk drastically, not expanded."
The strong convictions of some came from a direct experience with socialism. "We came from a socialist country and we know socialized systems do not work!!!" wrote one emphatic physician.
"This unconstitutional plan gives sovereignty over our bodies to unelected, unaccountable, ignorant bureaucrats," went one response along these lines. "Every governmental micromanagement of our lives has failed in its objective, and caused moral and economic bankruptcy."
And good luck finding new young Dr's to replace the ones that quit.
We will all end up sitting in a large waiting room like the "free clinic" to see the government doctor on duty. You will have no choice. Medical rationing will happen.
GREAT LIST!!! Another call will be made tomorrow to my demoRAT commie pig congress critter Tim Waltz’s office and I will recite each of these twelve points to the libturd who answers the phone.
Needed to fix the spelling correctly to Ebonics for benefits of 0bozo's followers. "Government" is too big of a word for the mentally deficient liberal socialist demoRATs.
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if they are really concrned they should just quit treating patients who are lawyers or their extended families. A few dead lawyer kids or mothers might bring things to a swift conclusion
Attorneys frequently say only that they are “self-employed” when it comes to the questions one answers when registering as a patient at hospitals or medical practices.
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