Why Doctors Take Issue With Obama's Health Reform Plan

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I am an insurance broker in the state of SC who works with companies with avg. 100 employees+ to provide their company benefits. I have been in this industry for 18 years and am appauled at what I am witnessing by our federal government. While I understand that healthcare/insurance benefits are expensive you get what you pay for. The country has a mentality about their health benefits and they want to literally "get what they pay for". It has become an entitlement and this has been spurred on by the generous co-pays for doctor visits and medications. What happened to traditional plans? While most people are happy with their medical benefits there are some still unsinsured. One option is to cover these uninsureds with a catastrophic plan that would include doctors visits for primary care to a free clinic approach. The feds could set these clinics up in populated areas fund the clinics and take care of the basic health needs while the catastrophic benefits would be picked up by private coverage.
We have to get back to a system of insurance and not entitlement to every little cough and sniffle we run to the doctors office. When I was a child we rarely went to the doctors and when we did my parents paid the bill and that was that. The plans were all indemnity and once you hit a certain limit the insurance kicked in.
This approach would cover all persons for the expensive medical procedures and have private insurance still cover these costs and have doctors provide quality care that would be monitored based on positive outcomes. This model is presently being introduced by carriers that I work with and we are seeing a reduced costs by rewarding the physicians that have a more favorable outcome of care.
I have found that over time as we have made health plans far to generous in benefits we have established this crieria of entitlement in America. Until we can get back to the fact that it is insurance and not entitlement it will be a tough plight to change.
I emplore our congress to learn more about how healthcare/insurance really works and make decisions that are sound in mind regarding the health of all the people of our Nation. Well, all expect the chosen ones who are actually making these decisions and will not be covered under this new healthcare system! That alone raises huge red flags.
Instead of shutting out the people in America,try polling benefits agents and brokers who work with benefits every day and insurance companies who strive to cover their insureds. We may have more solutions than you have given consideration. We do work in this field and know the reality of this subject matter. One thing I am confident in is that the current plans laid out in congress will not fix the problems we are experiencing with our healthcare system only feed the entitlement problem and make access to care more difficult.

Jennifer Nelson of SC 10:11AM August 05, 2009

Please Dr. Healy let's put on our "True Hats" for a little bit. Here are a few statements of fact that clear up some selective omissions the AMA PR work you just posted for you union.
1. Doctors in the U.S are paid over 30% higher than anywhere else in the world and the U.S system is not even in the top 20 health care systems globally. (yes they do bear some responsibility for that dismal statistic)
2. 1% of the cost of health care is attributed to lawsuits which is vastly overstated by the medical establishment.
3. A majority of MRI's and extra procedures are not done for defensive medicine but to make money. Many doctors buy MRI's at business investments and the million $ machines are paid off in a few years. After that they generate hundreds of thousands a year.
4. Here is a typical office visit Hello..no eye contact...what's the problem..well it's my knee and..(interrupt patient)....I'm giving you prescription for something that may damage your liver, is addicting, and may kill you. On the bright side it has a %20 chance of helping your pain...that will be $175 please.
5. We have a doctors shortage in this country. Maybe you should tell the AMA to quit paying medical schools to limit the numbers of doctors they graduate. (again, money motivated action taken by doctors to inflate incomes rather than what is best for the health of the country)
6. Doctor in the U.S really have a sense of entitlement (I went though x many years of school so I deserve to make 4 to 10 times more than the average college graduate) Doctors often act like spoiled children who are only appeased by goodies from their parents or in this case drug companies to peddle their wares or insurance companies bonuses to cut costs.
7. Doctors complain about long hours but how many "Doctor layoffs" do you hear about (see #5 above) Do you think there is %10 unemployment among doctors, hardly. The truth is doctors can work as many hours as they want and have multiple potential streams of income. This is off course a large part of the problem that drives medical costs. If we would adopt a Mayo Clinic type model we would solve much of that problem.
Do we need to reform the insurance industry, Yes! They are a huge part of the problem.
Do we need tort reform Yes! The lawyers have a small part in the problem.
Does the food industry play a big role in promoting obesity. Yes.
Do the drug companies need to quit doctoring studies by " cherry picking" or concealing clinical data and spending %70 of there money on promotion and buying off doctors to sell their product. Yes!
Do we need to adopt more of a holistic model for health care delivery and promotion. Yes.
Do all players need to grow up and accept that they can no longer fleece the American public Ad infinitum. Yes!
Maybe we should all quit saying Me,Me,Me, and start having constructive, frank, conversations about how we can fix the problem not just further our own agenda.

Joe S. of WI 12:53PM August 04, 2009

A national health system would protect physicians by eliminating the ambulance chasers who now operate under numerous state court systems, regional tort laws and too many attorneys.

Doug Dewitz of UT 9:10AM August 04, 2009

The Dean of the Georgia Medical College has a problem. He cannot keep his Graduates in Georgia to practice family medicine. The incomes general practitioners are able to make are barely enough under present programs to cover office overhead and staff salaries in a population with growing demand. Graduates are moving on to specialty training in other States.
A major discussion of Trauma Care in Georgia has been going on. Under present rules there is insufficient economic payment support to allow any increase in trauma care due to outdated staffing requirements and the high cost of specialists on staff. Expansion of Medicaid to cover families and children who are far above the poverty line has increased the deficit for both Federal and State Government. These are just a few of the unspoken problems in addition to the ones you mention. An ill conceived health plan bill out of Congress will lead to interruption of insurance, collections and administrative processes which are not at all functional to improved health-care and resolution of the growing shortage of doctors and medical school candidates.

Wayne Currie, Chairman, Stone Mountain Hospital of GA 10:53AM July 28, 2009

It is clearly the height of arrogance to attempt to bully healthcare reform through congress on an "emergency" basis while excluding all recognized and qualified experts from the process.
The Speaker of the House and the Congress have little to no knowledge and certainly no experience in the delivery of healthcare. Knowledgable resources such as the AMA, AHA, ACHCE, as well as state hospital associations and medical associations are being totally and systematically excluded from any meaningful participation in the process.
While the President speaks of wanting to "work with" both political parties, it is abundantly clear that his definition of "working with" means bullying them into acceptance of his plans without any serious listening, consideration, and certainly inclusion of any of their ideas.
In an effort to deal with one of the most complex issues of the century, this administration is attempting to bully through in record time an ill-considered, ill-designed, set of ideas that can not properly be called a "plan" at all.
Let's slow it all down, call in the experts, listen to their ideas and concerns, and take as long as it takes to do this right!!!!

Byron Stuckey of TX 4:51PM July 27, 2009

Can you tell me what does Obama know about health care and why is he telling doctors anything? He should be listening to the doctors and health providers. Show us you can fix the economy and we might trust you to fix something else. So far all he has shown us is that he gives winded speeches full of empty promises. In 2003, a young Illinois state senator named Barack Obama told an AFL-CIO meeting, "I am a proponent of a single-payer universal healthcare program." -- Bill Moyers.
We all know what Obama wants, problem is, no one else here want it.

Cristina of FL 5:01PM July 21, 2009

If the Federal Health insurance plan option is designed to provide catastrophic care and gemeral wellness coaching, this will be much less expensive. It will encourage private insurance industry with a financial incentive to build supplemental plans to cover other needs and wants as in Medicare. These could be as varied and comprehensive as the public would desire.
As in Housing the plan can be designed to pay for itself. The Small Business Administration provides the same type support in declared disasters.

Bob Fondry of TN 4:45PM July 19, 2009

The answer to affordable health care is decreasing law suits, which means a simple change in tort law. But...the Democrats are too friendly with the lawyers to do that, so instead, they have to ruin the good, quality health care that those of us with insurance currently have so those who do not have insurance can get a free X Ray. Dumb, dumb, and I can't believe the AMA is going along with this. It's obvious the AMA does not care about giving patients quality care and was somehow bullied into condoning this heath care bill by the White House.

TMovly of FL 1:25PM July 18, 2009

How about fertility treatments? And the constatnt aim to produce larger litters of babies? (Poor things, they are the loosers) And the millions and millions of dollars spent on the expensieve care of these litters? Would puplic health care still pay for all of this?

Memaw of IL 11:32AM July 18, 2009

Private Insurance Companies would be fine if, they were non-profit and they could not deny or drop people from their plan. Why does the Private Medicare Plans get more money to take care of patient's then traditional Medicare. Why do hosptials have to have an advetising budget? How much money do private companies spend on administration and salaries? Lots! None profit companies would spend much less on both of the above. But, that would take profit out of health care. Not a bad idea!

dorothea salzberg of NY 5:39PM July 16, 2009