http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HnkxIh62dQ
This doctor explains why he will be retiring in Jan. 2013, when Obamacare kicks in. He said that there was recently a survey in the Journal of American Medical Association and New England Journal and Investor's Business Daily which reported that 46% of doctors have said they will leave the practice of medicine, rather than do business under these rules of rationing.
He asked over 100 members of Congress what would be the penalty if he chose to treat a patient that the national coordinating council has determined he should not treat. They told him that he would be given a fine of $100,000 for the first offense, and arrested for the second offense.
The problem is, healthcare is ALREADY rationed. Right now, if you have the money or opportunity to afford insurance, you get healthcare. If you do not (like me) then you do not get healthcare.
ReplyDeleteThere is a finite amount of money on the planet. You can't spend it ALL on healthcare, and therefore healthcare MUST be rationed somehow. What is your plan to rectify this?
For every million dollars of healthcare funds, we have a choice: do you spend it to prolong the life of an octogenarian terminal cancer patient an additional 6 months, or do you use it to provide basic medical care to 1,000 younger, healthier people? It's a tough choice, and arguments can be made for both, but for heaven's sake, take a little time to research the claims of these vein-popping pundits before you take them as God's Pure Truth.
http://www.effectivehealthcare.ahrq.gov/index.cfm/what-is-comparative-effectiveness-research1/
http://www.hhs.gov/recovery/programs/cer/index.html
Say whatever you want. If the Investor's Daily Business news is correct, and 40% of doctors quit, where are the patients going to go for treatment? If a doctor doesn't want to work under those conditions, he or she is going to change professions. If the government made unacceptable conditions for whatever job you have, you would probably change professions also. We currently have a free enterprise system. Do you believe the government should go in and force a person to work against his will? I certainly hope you haven't gone that far.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.investors.com/newsandanalysis/article.aspx?id=506199
And I read the 2 articles you sent. They didn't answer any of the accusations of the doctor on the video. He specifically said that the 100 congressmen told him he would be arrested the second time he did treatments which were not approved. Your articles were not about that.
I agree that medical treatment is too expensive. I don't know how to rewind history, but I believe the reasons the costs are so much higher percentage-wise (than they were decades ago, compared with food, housing, etc) are because of
1)all the million dollar medical malpractice suits and the high medical malpractice insurance that doctors have to buy,
2)and the fact that people didn't shop around for regular medical care because with medical insurance it seemed "free". Doctors were able to raise their rates because people like me weren't checking the prices.
When you look at the prices of elective surgery like face lifts, breast enlargement, etc. those prices are much less because people actually shop around for the best prices and the doctors have to charge accordingly to be able to stay in business.
Reasons behind high medical costs are complicated and I hope smarter people than me can think of ways to bring them down, but giving all power to the government is an unwise and extremely dangerous thing to do.
The Constitution specifically limits the powers of the federal government, and all things not specifically listed are supposed to be left to the states to govern. The healthcare bill is completely non-constitutional, and is another huge evidence that the federal government is taking over the powers that should be left to the people.