Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues Constitutional Issues The Supreme Court and ObamaCare's Demise?

I want you to think about this statement for a moment. If every doctor has to pony up $25K per year to practice, what salary will they need to pay off insurance, and student loans, house payments, divorce settlements, child support, BMW payment, rent for office space, medical supplies, etc.

Tort reform is just one item on the list, but it really shouldbe addressed. We can look at the high cost of modern drugs, however the mountain of studies and reports and the years of trials needed to get FDA approval is emense, then you have to go through a similar process to get your CPT code,(Medicare approval). Why do you need that, because Medicare and Medicaid has infested every aspect of medicine in America. Many insurance companies will not cover a drug that has neot been approved by Medicare, so trying to market a new drug requires that approval.

Did you ever wonder why Obama wanted everybody to have preventitive care? It is actually a money loser, much more is spent on it than is returned by good health created, it is a support mechanism for doctors to supliment their practices. It is also good practice, but more money is spent on physicals and mamograms than is saved by performing them.

Guys, maybe it is the philosophy that has to change? Maybe instead of aggressive preventive medicine, a more restrained approach should be undertaken? I am not much of a doctor guy. I do my annual physical and that is about it. If I get a cold, I suffer through it. I am lucky enough not to get the flu usually. But I know people who have to go to the doctor for everything, colds, ingrown toenails, sore knees and elbows. I once took a softball to the eye while I was officiating a tournement. I could see, so I finished the game and lived with a black eye. What I am saying is that maybe we use medical care as a crutch.

All I know is that the great minds out there have to come up with a new idea, because the politically accepted solutions will not get implemented any time soon.

You are saying that preventive care is a waste if money, if I am interpreting your correctly.

This is a formal request from a fellow Ranter to prove your assertion. Show me the figures that say that giving people inoculations, doing screenings, etc., etc. does not pay for itself in the long run.

Preventive care includes such things as polio shots. How much does a polio shot cost? Not very much. And what does it prevent? Do you want to go back to the days when kids were told not to drink from water fountains, when mothers were terrified of every ache, pain, and fever a kid had, when thousands of people died, were crippled, ended up in iron lungs?

Seriously, if you want that MOVE to a country where this happens to people.

Good point, let's do universal healthcare and the system can self-insure against malpractice, and fire those convicted.

This would have been a good spot to cite a source, or state that you just think this but can't support the statement.

I do not understand what you are saying, except that it seems to be a strange exaggeration meant to belittle M&M without any argument of substance.

This is a bad thing?

Never heard this one before. Where did you come up with this "fact"?

Good for you. Do you think you are the exception, or the rule? How big is the Crutcher problem? Bigger than the malpractice problem? Smaller? Or is it hard to accurately measure things that exist mostly in your imagination?

I suggest that you begin to work on yourself and others, who refuse to think with care and deliberation and who refuse to compromise, so that we can have some politically acceptable solutions sooner.

Prove it.

Ma, I suggest to you that those of us with high deductible plans are not going in to see a doctor for an ingrown toe nail. Your advocating that we use less healthcare on a voluntary basis. Do you know what time it is? Or are you seruis about having an honest conversation?
Both insurance corporations and the economy have these people you imply knowing about with these toenail dilemmas restricted in their toe nail medical needs. More people today are underinsured due to cost of a comprehensive plan or not insured aHct all. Health care cost has maintained its upward trajectory nicely. My premiums have risen as well.
Then there's the mantra of legal immunity that is often proposed. Can you show in any direct way how that cost of doing business has been a major contributor in the rise of healthcare?
Lastly, if you look at the amount of advertising drug companies do for boner pills and fat ass pills the conclusion I would draw is that they seem to have plenty of cash on hand for r&d. When you bother to read how medical r&d is conducted in this country you will find that pharma has been as good as any business sector in externaling this cost. A good deal of development occurs at the university level with the assistance of the NIH.
If you don't already, I suggest you put on a helmet and get in the game. Get yourself out in the real world of acquiring a health plan and not one that's provided at a discount from an employer. Try being a freelancer in this free country of ours.

Not at all. What I am saying is that it costs more than it would if preventitive care was not covered, but the illnesses it prevented was.

I worked for a start-up medical device company. They manufacture a very sensitive EKG system. I was in just after the company was formed. It took 5 years for the company to get FDA approval and another year to get its CPT code. This was not a drug related operation, it was electrodes, high gain very low power amplifiers and a treadmill.

This is a personal experience story. In the end, after they got approvals, they had to stop all future generation development and focus only on sales and support. They had to sell to justify their 6 years of development.

Money loser? How about life saver? Typical Republican - money comes before all else.

Tim, you know I love you, but Phil created a thread dealing with issues of which you've raised in this thread.

I'd really like to see what your opinions are in relationship to the OP.

I have been a freelancer and decided that the reduction in absolute, but possibly sporadic, salary was not for me. If it sucks so bad for you then I would suggest that you stop b!tching about your life and get a job at a for profit company that offers insurance. I made the decision early on in my career that if I wanted to start a business I would do it after my kids were grown. I have reached that part of my life and the business environment sucks, I will not be starting a new business and I will remain an employee of a large and fairly generous publicly traded company with a good benefit package. In this free country of ours you are free to make your own decisions. I made some bad decisions in my life, decisions I will always regret, but I will never regret my career choice. As far as I am concerned, Obamacare is an attempt to screw the vast majority of Americans out of their company subsidized insurance plans. If Obamacare gets implemented then company provided insurance will go away, which was always the ultimate goal anyway. Can't have socialized medicine if companies offer a better product, so you make it cost effective for companies to drop their policies in favor of the public co-ops.

Companies are built to make money, if they do not make money they do not last. I do not begrudge anybody turning a profit, because profit is not a dirty word. If you don't want Phizer to make money, don't use their products.