I swear to everything holy that it's NOT a death panel...

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

It's just government rationing.

Get over it you selfish old people!

Want an appointment with kidney specialist Adam Weinstein of Easton, Md.? If you're a senior covered by Medicare, the wait is eight weeks.

How about a checkup from geriatric specialist Michael Trahos? Expect to see him every six months: The Alexandria-based doctor has been limiting most of his Medicare patients to twice yearly rather than the quarterly checkups he considers ideal for the elderly. Still, at least he'll see you. Top-ranked primary care doctor Linda Yau is one of three physicians with the District's Foxhall Internists group who recently announced they will no longer be accepting Medicare patients.

"It's not easy. But you realize you either do this or you don't stay in business," she said.

Doctors across the country describe similar decisions, complaining that they've been forced to shift away from Medicare toward higher-paying, privately insured or self-paying patients in response to years of penny-pinching by Congress.

And that's not even taking into account a long-postponed rate-setting method that is on track to slash Medicare's payment rates to doctors by 23 percent Dec. 1. Known as the Sustainable Growth Rate and adopted by Congress in 1997, it was intended to keep Medicare spending on doctors in line with the economy's overall growth rate. But after the SGR formula led to a 4.8 percent cut in doctors' pay rates in 2002, Congress has chosen to put off the ever steeper cuts called for by the formula ever since.

...

But statistics also suggest many doctors have more than made up for the erosion in the value of their Medicare fees by dramatically increasing the volume of services they provide - performing not just a greater number of tests and procedures, but also more complex versions that allow them to charge Medicare more money.

From 2000 to 2008, the volume of services per Medicare patient rose 42 percent. Some of this was because of the increasing availability of sophisticated treatments that undoubtedly save lives. Some was because of doctors practicing "defensive medicine" - ordering every conceivable test to shield themselves from malpractice lawsuits down the line.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/25/AR2010112503638.html

Forcing doctors into criminal behavior?
__________________
"I pray God when the Democrats take back control we don't make the kind of naked power grab you are doing."
...
"You know we're going to control the insurance companies."
Joe Biden

"You cap your health care budget, and you make the political and economic choices you need to make to keep affordability within reach."
"And it's important also to make health a human right because the main health determinants are not health care but sanitation, nutrition, housing, social justice, employment, and the like."
"One over-demanded service is prevention: annual physicals, screening tests, and other measures that supposedly help catch diseases early."
Donald Berwick
Death Panel Czar

 

[Saint Peter]

Kiss my ring, bitch.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Linda Yao, of the District's Foxhall Internists, has opted for the most extreme response - pulling out of Medicare. The group prides itself on keeping the number of scheduled visits low so that patients who need a last-minute appointment can be accommodated the same day. They also offer half-hour office visits, instead of the 15 minutes on which Medicare reimbursements are predicated. It makes for a white-glove experience for patients, but high overhead for doctors.

After 11 years of serving a patient base of whom as many as half were covered by Medicare, Yao concluded the numbers were no longer adding up. As of April, seniors with Medicare must pay their entire bill out of pocket or through supplemental insurance. So far, only 100 of her approximately 1,750 Medicare patients have elected to stay on.

Could doctors see more Medicare patients if they accepted lower incomes?

Perhaps, said Yao, 42.

But, "the whole system would need to change. ... I graduated medical school $100,000 in debt. I worked 110 hours a week during my residency for $30,000 a year and sacrificed all through my 20s. And even now, you're still seeing people all day, with meetings and paperwork at night, on top of the emotional side of worrying when the patients you care for aren't doing well. This is life-and-death stuff. And I feel like that should be compensated."

Fucking doctors whine too much, eh?

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Kiss my ring, bitch.

Take it out of your ass first.

 

[Saint Peter]

Kiss it!

Kiss it you little bitch.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Little is not an adjective I'm used to hearing...





Suck it bee-atch...

 

[Saint Peter]

Death panels are so last year.


You need to come up with some new shit.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I have my own private doctor. My driver fetches him to our dacha whenever Natasha feels indisposed. The poor dear sometimes drinks too much vodka while playing Ma Jong.

 

[miles]

Good luck trying to convince someone they're in denial, regardless of the facts

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Actually death panels are so next year, and the year after, and then eventually it's your turn to make the sacrifice for the benefits of the youth who pay income taxes...






... some of them will actually still speak English. Kinda quaint.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Good luck trying to convince someone they're in denial, regardless of the facts

Or very smug and flip that it will never be their turn because they aren't the rich needing a good soaking, but they're doing well enough, for now...

 

[miles]

They're not death panels, they're....um......decisionmakers.

Yeah, that's it.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

They are merely rationing bodies and don'tcha know that there's already rationing going on by the evil insurance companies, but now Big Brother and the Holder Company will make it all fair and stuff and make sure minorities get to the head of the line...




:uh-huh!: *Pookie nod*

Sure, it pays for them when they're in the emergency room. When they could've been treated for a whole lot less if they'd been seeing a doctor for preventive care. And guess who pays for that expensive care through higher premiums.

AJ, this isn't rocket science. Even you can do the math. Heh.

 

[Saint Peter]

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/facing-death/?utm_campaign=viewpage&utm_medium=grid&utm_source=grid

Watch and learn.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Did you test this link and do you, in general, get your information from TV?





I blame Sesame Street.

 

[Saint Peter]

Did you test this link and do you, in general, get your information from TV?





I blame Sesame Street.

Blame whatever you want. The program addresses issues relevant to this thread mostly from the viewpoint of the doctors and families.

I am sure you can find a transcript if your cheap ass does not want to pay to stream it.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

I already presented my transcript...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Dr. Yao's sentiments are correct, in a universe filled with Cosmic Justice she'd be compensated for every inconvenience and imposition.

The reality is she and every MD in America are hostages of government and insurance companies, and change is hopping down the bunny trail.

I read lotsa medical books. Before 1900 the average MD had a stable of affluent patients and a pasture full of paupers. The rich paid more, and paid in gold; the paupers paid with chickens and taters. MDs like my great-great grandfather made do with 2nd and 3rd jobs: Adam Clarke Johnson MD taught Greek, Latin, Hebrew at the local college, and wrote a newspaper column besides the doctorin.

Before 1900 docs made bux how they could.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

Blame whatever you want. The program addresses issues relevant to this thread mostly from the viewpoint of the doctors and families.

I am sure you can find a transcript if your cheap ass does not want to pay to stream it.

It's not his being cheap so much as being exposed to a viewpoint in opposition to what he wants so deperately to be true.

I'm sure he can find a "Thinker" piece that falls right in line with what he wants to hear.

For someone who talks so much about diversity of thought his line of sight is laser focused and narrow.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

And since U_D can find no counter argument, not even in the piece linked to (whatta moron for not reading it) he decides he can end the discussion with a vigorous tongue-lashing of the messenger...





Typical progressive-statist liberal wanna-be response worthy of the likes of LT.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

That's the beauty of a phrase like "DEATH-PANEL."





Thank you Sarah Palin...

 

[zipman]

That's the beauty of a phrase like "DEATH-PANEL."

Thank you Sarah Palin...

The beauty of the phrase is that it is an emotional trigger that misrepresents the process and is designed to apply to a large segment of the population for whom fear is a primary motivator.

It's a false sound bite for ignorant people.

 

[Frisco_Slug_Esq]

Yes, and the ignorant Left sure went to screaming and howling as soon as she said it...




The truth hit them hard, right between the eyes; their government would be making a lot of life and death decisions for them based on cost, outcome, and the reasoned choices of "experts" with no skin in the game.

 

[zipman]

Yes, and the ignorant Left sure went to screaming and howling as soon as she said it...


The truth hit them hard, right between the eyes; their government would be making a lot of life and death decisions for them based on cost, outcome, and the reasoned choices of "experts" with no skin in the game.

The "truth" that death panels are a lie definitely did cause people to protest loudly.

Funny how that works. Of course the fact that insurance companies do the exact same thing except their "skin in the game" are profits to enhance their own wealth and the wealth of their shareholders makes it perfectly acceptable.

 

[Ulaven_Demorte]

And since U_D can find no counter argument, not even in the piece linked to (whatta moron for not reading it) he decides he can end the discussion with a vigorous tongue-lashing of the messenger...


Typical progressive-statist liberal wanna-be response worthy of the likes of LT.

On a roll this morning Cap'n Hypocrite..

One day you'll live up to your own standards of Ad hominem and Attacking messengers.

But I won't hold my breath, years of example dictates it won't be any time soon.