--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, ruthsimplicity <no_re...@...> wrote: > > --- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_reply@> wrote: > > > > ruthsimplicity wrote: I would describe the relationship between docs > > and insurers as almost adversarial, hardly in cahoots. > > > > Ruth, > > > > You being a nurse and all, I'm hesitant to smack at the health industry > > lest I besmirch your participation therein. As I've noted here at least > > several times, you have impressed me with heartfelt values. > > > > And, nurses, as a group, (doctors far less so) generally do impress me > > with their intellects and hearts. > > > > All that said (here it comes,) I think the health industry itself is > > reflective of the profiteers that any industry finds itself infested by, > > and those profiteers are as cold hearted as Joseph Mengle. > > > > Start with the AMA's policy to keep doctors rare and rich and absolute > > rulers of the industry. It is scandalous, yet, and here's where I > > intend to put it to you, where is the outcry from the nurses and doctors > > about this policy? So far, I don't think I've heard herein about it > > from you. So far, you above are posing doctors as victims. Phihhh, as > > if. > > > > If the AMA allowed medical schools to double their production, they'd > > have all the VERY VERY SMART and VERY VERY HEARTFUL candidates they > > needed to fill up the new classes without having to lower their entrance > > requirement standards. But, noooooo, that would mean that doctors were > > competing against doctors in pricing, and that would mean that there > > would be ample supply of doctors such that hospitals could more easily > > dump the bad ones that continue to maraud the industry with all kinds of > > malpractice. > > > > Ask anyone in poverty whether they'd rather have a doctor who was in the > > 98th percentile (not tippy tippy top notch just top notch) or no doctor > > at all? Fuck the entrance requirements of the AMA -- a truly evil money > > making cabal. > > > > And as for doctors not being in league with the insurance companies, > > that's a lie. They're not fighting against them with any use of their > > own or the AMA's political clout. Your average surgeon will be paying, > > what?, probably well over a hundred thousand dollars a year to have > > malpractice insurance -- costs that they pass down to the clients with > > higher fees without even apologizing to the patients that they're being > > ripped off. The doctors are beleagered in many ways by how insurance > > companies prvent them from doing "all that's needed," yet we do not hear > > a peep out of the AMA -- if we did, the AMA could, overnight, get > > congress to stop the bastards -- yes, the AMA has that much power. Does > > any politician want the AMA solely supporting another candidate? > > > > Where are the doctors picketing these injustices? Where are the nurses > > confronting the physicians about this say-nothing immorality? I see no > > headlines. If there is a movement to fix all the above, it sure isn't > > grabbing any headlines from the media. > > > > I know someone who just got a $26,000 hospital bill for a stay in ICU > > for a week. At no time did anyone come to this person and explain the > > kinds of prices they'd be billed for. What other industry gets to do > > this? You buy a car and THEN AND ONLY THEN are you told the price? > > Talk about sticker shock -- and, fuck you AMA, but the stress of that > > shock must at the very least psychosomatiically harm a percentage of the > > patients enough to be a health hazzard in itself. Someone who's in an > > anxious state of mind gets the billing and, what?, suicide or the > > patient ends up constantly bathing his mind/body system with the > > chemicals that "hand wringing" can produce. There's no attempt to > > pre-handle this kind of stress. > > > > And, the above person lost over $50,000 in a retirement fund's value > > too. Two industries ripped this person off, ya see? Yet, everyone is > > standing around and not shoving the noses of these bastards into the doo > > doo of their crimes. > > > > The rich get richer, and the poor are ever more being shunted into a > > lower class status until, what?, there's no middle class and thus no > > more chance of an uppity middle classer making headlines by showcasing > > some sort of abuse. > > > > The masses are kept masses, ya see? Tended like they're in a feed lot. > > > > Obama takes money from BigPharm -- to me, he's cherry picking his > > battles, and going up against the health industry is a low priority > > compared to other issues -- Obama is still doing battlefield triage in > > trying to manage his team's use of clout, but at somepoint, he's got to > > push for cheap drugs from Canada or elsewhere (government > > manufacturing?,) bigger medical school enrollments, and, eventually, at > > least, a single payer policy. > > > > If he doesn't, if the deaths of foreigners by American forces continues, > > if the health industry is not confronted, if the insurance industry > > pretty much is not stopped in its tracks, in the next four years, then I > > think I'll waste my next vote on writing in Kusinich. > > > > > > Edg > > > Just a quick drop in. . . > > I am not a nurse, I am a retired M.D who worked as a lobbyist. The AMA does > not have near the clout that it once did. Most (of course not all) > physicians I know agree that we have a broken system. Pay for physicians > varies tremendously, with some specialists making an obscene amount of money > and family practitioners and pediatricians often making hardly enough, so > they end up working too much. The pressure on primary care physicians to see > more and more patients is problematic. The low pay and pressures are leading > fewer and fewer graduates to look at primary care. This is a big problem, in > large part resulting from how insurance companies compensate for care. Not > for results, but for procedures. > > There were serious miscalculations some years ago on the need for additional > medical schools. Now there are several schools working on getting started and > a new one is opening this year, IIRC. > > It is not easy to assign blame when the problems are systematic. >
http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/150/7/493 This is an excellent article regarding health care reform. Shows that there are realistic moderate proposals out there.
