Up to Half of Doctors Will Quit if Health Care Passes, Poll Says
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) is bending House rules so effectively that she could pass for a professional contortionist. But let's say for a moment that she pulls off this heist and votes (correction: "deems") the Senate's health care bill passed. A new survey points out that simply because more Americans have health care doesn't mean that they will have doctors to go with it.
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, anywhere from a third to a half of all practicing doctors say they would leave their profession if the President's health care plan passes. As reported by CNS News, "a majority of physicians said health care reform would cause the quality of American medical care to 'deteriorate' and it could be the 'final straw' that sends a sizeable number" of their peers out of the field. Not only would these doctors leave their profession, but 63% would urge others to steer clear of it as well. This is a far cry from what Americans have heard from the Hill and the White House--namely that this liberal plan has the backing of most American doctors.
Not so, says Andrea Santiago, a spokeswoman for Medicus Firm, which was responsible for the poll. While almost every physician is in favor of some kind of reform (96%), relatively few believe in the takeover this President is plotting. And why should they? Today's The Wall Street Journal featured a column about the state of health care in Massachusetts, which is similar to the universal system pushed by congressional Democrats. As Grace-Marie Turner tells it, 56% of state doctors are "no longer accepting new patients" because they cannot keep up with the demand. In fact, it takes an average patient 44 days just to see a physician. (And you thought the waiting rooms were full now!)
One area that will see growth under the Senate plan is the abortion industry. With billions more flowing into U.S. clinics, business will be booming. After all, one thing "we have learned during this debate," says The Washington Post writer Michael Gerson, "is that the Democratic Party's commitment to abortion rights is even more central to its identity than health reform... [T]his stance by the Democratic leadership violates an informal social agreement that has existed for decades, in which abortion is generally legal but citizens who object to the practice are not required to pay for it." That could all be ancient history after this weekend's vote. Any member that willingly moves this bill forward is taking a jackhammer to the wall between taxpayers and the bloody business of abortion.
Monica Crowley hit the nail on the head when she said, "What does Mr. Obama mean when he says, 'It's within our grasp?'... He's saying that the fundamental remaking of America is within his grasp. He's saying total government control of your life is within his grasp..." Help us put more distance between Washington's army of extremists and our nation's future. Call, email, and visit your representatives. Tell them to stop this bill--before it's too late!
Sign up for the OV Daily Newsletter
OV Social
This poll is a crock that is being spuriously attributed to unbiased sources but is actually just more interestgroup dribble.
A lot of medical associations and individual doctors support this and reform in general.
Frankly, who cares if they did not just on the basis of income ? Presumably, the US military is destroying the employability of millions of mercenaries. But the efficiency, prudence, and exceptionally better implementation of a centralised military overcomes the arbitrary wish for private venture in all fields...
Yesterday 3 doctor 's office signed for us to sell off their equipment and today we signed another 2. Yes, you all are going to pay for your neighbors healthcare and you are also giving up your doctors . All total that is 37 doctors leaving practice. Including one of the largest cardiac practices. One doctor said that the government makes alot more money if one dies ... Guess this is the idea. What really shocked me was the cuts to Medicare. Seniors are really screwed!
Sry folks by my dad can't afford to pay $45,000 a year for liabilty insurrance, and only get paid 33 cents off the dollar by medicare. I like how the federal govenments solution to everything is to make SOMEONE else work harder.
medical care was "fee for service" and the insurance companies were not running things. Everything worked and people were treated and charged and if you had insurance, which most people did have, the companies paid the percentage or their part and life went on. And as now, the Doctors and other medical personel worked long and hard to earn every penny they made.
And then the insurance companies decided that if they could regulate things, they could keep the cost down. Or at least that was the stated reason. So HMO's were created. The insurance companies placed the stranglehold on the medical community. You had the primary care physcian and if that was not enough you got a referral to a specialist, or at least you better get a referral because otherwise you were on your on. This regulating was a sure way to hold the costs down.
Now in order to regulate all these specifics, people had to be hired to do all the regulating. At that point I lost the understanding of exactly how this was good for the public. All that happened was that the money was moved from the medical community to the mass of people that were hired to regulate the medical community. And the premiums started to increase.
Between the stranglehold on what the doctors could do (because the insurance companies told them what was ok to do) and what they would get paid for that procedure the care for the public was put into question.
Having worked in insurance for most of my life I was, for a while, in a position in one of, if not the largest provider of healthcare insurance. Because the insurance company was regulating the care of the people instead of the doctors people were financially ruined because of a lack of understanding, people died because the companies would not allow procedures because they were unnecessary or considered experimental. And being on the inside I can tell you, you had better not call the state insurance commissioner because the insurance company would come to a near standstill when it came to your customer service, referral ok's or anything else they controled.
Now the insurance companies control more money than most third world countries and no one says a word.
I don't know enough about Obama's healthcare plan to talk intelligently about it, but then it seems NO ONE knows what the bill contains. But I will have to say, Hillary Clinton and Obama have been the only people that have made any effort to hold anyone responsible for anything on the behalf of the common man.
The thing that bothers me the most is if something is not done about the insurance and drug companies, the whole of the United States will become indigent care and the tax payers will still end paying for it.
The topic is that over 40% of doctors now practicing medicine in the U.S. say they would leave the medical profession if Obama's Health Care plan would pass.
So who is going to treat all the new huge medical case loads?
You cannot have an increase in patients and have doctors quit.
it was a comment made out of frustration over the current state of the insurance / healthcare issue.
and return to whatever they studied for as undergrads. I'm a biology major. I could go and do studies in the amazon if i decide not to go into medicine . But tekmage is right. The only thing near as hard as being a doctor is becoming one. Uncle Sam can keep his hands off my practice thank you very much. What the crap does he know about doctoring?
And do what?
My father was a Doctor. While growing up I constantly heard his complaints about Malpractice Insurance. As the years passed I saw how the government was limiting his income (Medicare & Medicaid). To become a Doctor would take at least 12 years before beginning to earn an Income. I would be carrying a large debt as well.
I decided that after so much school and debt that NO ONE was going to dictate how much I make!
Medicare and Medicaid was a windfall for doctors that acutally saw patients. They set their own prices basically. Malpractice insurance goes away in centralized health systems, by the way.
Incidently, how did not becoming a docotor work out for your income level? I suppose we should be able to dictate our own income, like the Federal Reserve does, but I am pretty shakey on that math...