Posts Tagged health care reform
Dr D and his Big Mouth Call Larry Elder Again
Posted by admin in Dr D's Truth on April 22, 2013
The opinions of doctors are desired now and again on issues of health care and reform. For those of you who know me, I have a big mouth…opinionated quite possibly to a fault. Being that I listen to Larry Elder’s talk show in Los Angeles, I happened to hear a call in which a physician Dwayne presented an opinion that emergency medical services should be covered by some kind of state or federal financial coverage. This fried my bacon. I noted a hint of representation in his tone as if he were speaking for doctors throughout the country. He doesn’t speak for me.
My opinion does not stem from my profession as a physician, but rather from a philosophical point. I do not believe that the government using other people’s money should be paying for some people’s health care. This is what we have now. Some people go to the emergency room and get 100% of their care at no cost. Others pay dearly for that same care. That is not right.
One of Dr Dwayne’s points with which I was not in disagreement is that the government should not be mandating that hospitals and doctors care for emergency patients and not insure payment for it. This is not fair either.
I believe that some middle ground should be sought. While I am not a believer in ObamaCare, I do believe reform is needed. It is too political a subject for a fair job to be done most likely.
This was not the entirety of the discussion on my “call in,” but it was a large part. I was surprised that Larry’s screener (producer?) seemed to recognize me (from my cell phone number perhaps?) I call Larry’s show because the treatment is fair and I agree with most of the things he says.
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
Originally posted 2011-01-21 07:30:17.
ObamaCare Will Cost You…3M
Posted by admin in political medicine on November 17, 2011
3M to take one-time charge after loss of health care tax deduction
The company said it would take a one-time, non-cash charge of $85 million to $90 million after tax, or about 12 cents a share, in the first quarter. The charge reflects the loss of a tax deduction on subsidies the company receives from the government to provide prescription drug coverage for its retirees.
Source: startribune.com/business/89306612.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUUsZ
The health care reform bill will cost us money. We continue to watch.
Remember in November.
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
Originally posted 2010-04-30 09:00:30.
Death Panels – Political football?
Posted by admin in time sensitive on December 29, 2010
Politics goes at a pace that seems ever accelerating. I lost track of the fact that the former governor of Alaska Sarah Palin had originally coined the term. That term has become a political football as of late as the liberals and the conservatives play that big game to secure popular opinion and more importantly control of our country.
Recently I called Larry Elder’s show in Los Angeles as the subject was being discussed. Surprisingly I got on. To many of us in medicine, the concept of “death panels” is a stretch but not that much of a stretch. Obama Care puts some 30 million Americans who were not insured into the freebie health care the government provides…meaning YOU provide with your tax dollars to someone else. The philosophy behind this rubs many of us the wrong way. How such a move can make medicine less expensive seems like fuzzy math. This President with the popular media in his corner doesn’t often get called on such illogical statements however. Lucky him.
Americans already provide free health care to many who do not visibly pay into the system by way of the disability, MediCal and other such systems. The health care system is already too expensive partially due to over regulation and government control. Adding 30 million new freebie members will make it even more expensive. This is not good for the President who was less than 100% truthful when he stated his system would be less expensive than the one in place currently. The numbers are coming back and it will cost us more. Big surprise.
My point to Mr Elder was that the current health care system already has incentives for lack of care. They are “utilization bonuses” paid by HMOs to primary care doctors for not referring to specialists. As a plastic surgeon, my friends in primary care joke that they get paid to not send patients to surgeons for unnecessary hernia repairs and the like. That is great unless you have that hernia of course. It is not too much of a stretch for a new health care system that plans on adding 30 million non-payers to the mix to try to cut one of the highest costs in the system at present; that of end of life care. Encouraging doctors to “discuss” not choosing to engage in expensive end of life care such as dialysis, artificial ventilation, and chemotherapy was an expected move by many of us in heath care. How far the concept will go is another thing.
On my “call in,” Larry pointed out that HMOs are not the government. That distinction has been blurred however by the link Medicare has allowed to HMOs. Medicare patients are allowed, even financially encouraged, to assign their benefits to HMOs like Scan and Secure Horizons (called Scam and Insecure Horizons by myself and other cynics.) When they do so they get lower premiums at the cost of the loss of choice and ultimately rationed care.
The loss of choice and rationed care are very likely the common denominators in Obama’s fuzzy math. This is how he plans on making health care cheaper. You get less care. Get it?
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
ObamaCare Will Cost You…Lockheed Martin
Posted by admin in political medicine on November 28, 2010
HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- Lockheed Martin Corp. estimated that it will take a $96 million charge because of the health-care legislation and expects the charge to reduce per-share earnings by 25 cents in the first quarter.
Source: online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304252704575155613728130190.html
The health care reform bill will cost us all money. We continue to watch.
Remember in November.
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
Originally posted 2010-04-16 09:00:45.
Obama’s Health Care Plan – Sad But True (Humor)
Let me get this straight . . . .
We’re going to be “gifted” with a health care
plan we are forced to purchase and
fined if we don’t,
Which purportedly covers at least
ten million more people,
without adding a single new doctor,
but provides for 16,000 new IRS agents,
written by a committee whose chairman
says he doesn’t understand it,
passed by a Congress that didn’t read it but
exempted themselves from it,
and signed by a President who smokes,
with funding administered by a treasury chief who
didn’t pay his taxes,
for which we’ll be taxed for four years before any
benefits take effect,
by a government which has
already bankrupted Social Security and Medicare,
all to be overseen by a surgeon general
who is obese,
and financed by a country that’s broke!!!!!
‘What the hell could
possibly go wrong?’
Missouri Voters Vote Against ObamaCare – Proposition C
Posted by admin in Medicine in the News on August 4, 2010
Missouri voters on Tuesday overwhelmingly rejected a federal mandate to purchase health insurance, rebuking President Barack Obama’s administration and giving Republicans their first political victory in a national campaign to overturn the controversial health care law passed by Congress in March.
“The citizens of the Show-Me State don’t want Washington involved in their health care decisions,” said Sen. Jane Cunningham, R-Chesterfield, one of the sponsors of the legislation that put Proposition C on the August ballot. She credited a grass-roots campaign involving Tea Party and patriot groups with building support for the anti-Washington proposition.
Source: stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_c847dc7c-564c-5c70-8d90-dfd25ae6de56.html
It looks like the political backlash for the left is coming. People are voting mad about Obamascare and maybe this time we will remember in November. I’ve got the ObamaScare “Yes” votes tally linked below for those who might want to keep it handy for their voting in November. 
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
Related:
Congressional “Yes” Votes for HR 3590 Health Care Bill
What Really Needs To Happen For Health Care Reform….
Posted by admin in Medicine in the News on July 15, 2010
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The funny thing about all this health care reform stuff is that no political hack is really ready to “talk turkey.” The CBO director recently talked about the issue and because he is not a politician, he told the truth:
The Challenge
Rising health costs will put tremendous pressure on the federal budget during the next few decades and beyond. In CBO’s judgment, the health legislation enacted earlier this year does not substantially diminish that pressure.Putting the federal budget on a sustainable path would almost certainly require a significant reduction in the growth of federal health spending relative to current law (including this year’s health legislation).
The bottom line is that the law that was passed didn’t fix the problem; namely that health care costs more than we have to spend. We need to reduce the cost of care. Seeing as insurance business is not very profitable for your local doctor, we need to reduce the cost of business for your doctor. That means malpractice reform amongst other things. Changes like these will not be popular politically. The lobby of trial attorneys will not like it.
States (like Texas) are seeing the bill for more of the uninsured being pushed their way as a function of the new health care legislation. They are bracing for the effects of this. The cure is limitations as to who and what will be covered. This will not be popular politically either.
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
ObamaCare Will Pack Emergency Rooms?
Posted by admin in Medicine in the News on June 19, 2010
The new healthcare law will pack 32 million newly insured people into emergency rooms already crammed beyond capacity, according to experts on healthcare facilities.
A chief aim of the new healthcare law was to take the pressure off emergency rooms by mandating that people have insurance coverage. The idea was that if people have insurance, they will go to a doctor rather than putting off care until they faced an emergency.
People who build hospitals, however, say newly insured people will still go to emergency rooms for primary care because they don’t have a doctor.
So much for ObamaCare improving medicine for most Americans. It looks like many of you will be going to the Emergency Room to get your care. Lucky You.
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
Canadian Health Care System Gets Poor Marks
Posted by admin in Medicine in the News on June 11, 2010
For the second time in less than two weeks, the Canadian public health care system has flunked an international comparison test, says the Health Consumer Powerhouse (HCP), a research organization. Canada’s health care system ranks 23rd among 32 nations surveyed for quality, access and innovation.
According to researchers, wait times to see a doctor and receive treatment dragged the Canadian ranking toward the bottom:
* Patients were waiting between 3-15 months for treatment, when they could have received the same quality of care in Germany, France or the Netherlands in two weeks.
* While Canada is one of the highest per capita spenders on health care, patients don’t get much for their money.
* On the so-called “bang for the buck scale,” that measured health care results for the number of dollars spent, Canada ranks dead.
For those who want to model the Canadian Health Care system in the US: Are you sure this is what you want?
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
P.S. For those of you looking for Dr D’s comedy podcasts, click here for the list.
You Can’t Keep Your Doctor if He Chooses to Quit
Posted by admin in Medicine in the News on June 7, 2010
President Obama guaranteed Americans that after health reform became law they could keep their insurance plans and their doctors. It’s clear that this promise cannot be kept. Insurers and physicians are already reshaping their businesses as a result of Mr. Obama’s plan.
Doctors, meanwhile, are selling their practices to local hospitals. In 2005, doctors owned more than two-thirds of all medical practices. By next year, more than 60% of physicians will be salaried employees.
How Obama could promise that you could keep your doctor really shows how little he knows or cares about the physicians doing the work. He just figured that we would take it like we always have when the Feds tweaked Medicare. This latest chapter in the debacle includes a move away from physician-owned practices and toward concierge medicine. More physicians will likely move toward cosmetic work as well as it lays outside the confines of “real” medicine. The only thing for certain is that the landscape in medicine is changing.
Best Regards,
John Di Saia MD
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