Health Care In America; Continuing The Debate
Written by: Tom Sawyer
“There are those who will try and scuttle this opportunity no matter what”
Barack H. Obama
President Obama is going all out to change our health care system; he will speak his mind regardless of the audience. Yesterday he told a group of doctors that he is against what he believes to be their number one priority – to limit how much money they pay out for malpractice. The response was a smattering of boos. Imagine that, you attend this function to garner support for your side from the POTUS and he plainly tells you he is against your priority that will effectively keep more money in your pocket.
Obama continued by directly addressing those he considers “naysayers,” “fear-mongers” and peddlers of “Trojan horse” falsehoods. He also spoke about those who are spreading the word that he is attempting to socialize medicine. Actually, he warned them – I’m not sure what that warning means, but it seems like he is serious about over-hauling the system.
GOP Rep. Tom Price (Georgia) thinks Obama is orchestrating a “government takeover’ of health care in America. These statement was made when talking about a committee allegedly established to overrule doctors and deny patient care. Another way to look at this could be from the perspective of patients who are placed on medicines that become addictive and do not improve the condition. Check out this rivalry on JealousBrother (click here).
What Will This Cost?
Obama let the cat out of the bag and estimated health care reform would cost about $1 trillion over 10 years! After saying, “That is real money, even in Washington” (duh), he went on to say failure to reform the system will cost trillions more in lost economic growth and lower wages.
The plan to pay for this, or find the money, was outlined, but it could be political speak in reality; smoke and mirrors meant to make us think we won’t feel the pain. In theory this plan sounds good, but the questioning side of me thinks about spreading this out over the next 10 years – obviously after Obama is out of office if re-elected.
I would say we need to be cautious of any money spent and/or allocated to things like this. Think about it, all of us have had legitimate things we needed to buy, but lack of funds kept us from doing it. Are we at a point where spending money, regardless of the impact it will have on the next 10 years, could impact the generations to come for the next 50 years? Most of us have also been in a “lean time” where every expendature was questioned. Although this is not within our personal households, but on a national level, shouldn’t we have the inclination to question it as tax payers? It is something to consider.
Still As Smooth As Ever
Obama didn’t leave a bitter taste in the doctors’ mouths, he also sympathized with the situations they often find themselves in. He acknowledged the fact that our society always has them looking over their shoulders and that is the cause for expensive malpractice insurance. This got them on his side right before he mentioned how he is against malpractice caps.
I have been in the military health care system and thought Vitamin M (Motrin) was given for…well I don’t know why they give if for so much stuff. But civilian doctors seem to give medicine in excess as a defense mechanism should a lawsuit come up. Our litigious society is to blame for that one.
A Timely Warning
The president finished by adding GM and Chrysler into the mix. By mentioning how health care for auto industry workers played a part in getting GM and Chrysler in trouble, the message was clear: “If we do not fix our health care system, America may go teh way of GM — paying more, getting less and going broke.”
Tags: doctors prescribe "excessive medicine" as a defense, Obama against malpractice cap which doctors want, President Obama speaks to doctors and doesn't make them happy
June 16th, 2009 at 1:35 pm
Tom,
First let me say thank you for covering this in a common sense and fair fashion. Secondly, here is a video I’d love to get your feedback/thoughts on.
http://tinyurl.com/n4suab
.-= Ryan Kazinec´s last blog ..Is Rush Limbaugh Good for the Repulican Party? A JealousBrother Guest Post by Robert Barr =-.
June 16th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
Hey Ryan,
I looked at the video and I find it interesting how it was pieced together. Basically, what I took from it is that the video is #1 implying President Obama “stole” his health reform idea from someone else and #2, that his plan, which will eventually lead to, what was it called, a single provider, was predicted a while ago? Am I on the right track with my assessment of the video?
June 17th, 2009 at 3:46 am
@Kim Sawyer –
For the most part yes but I also think it shows that a few key democrats believe that the introduction of a “Government Option” will in fact be devastating to the private Insurance industry. I’m not saying they’re right (Maybe I am in regards to that). I’m not one to say because one person said something it implies that Obama agrees but I’m at least concerned with the comment Obama made in 2003 as well as what his secretary of health and human services had to say. The Democrat representative was whistling to a different tune in an interview that followed the release of her rant about the government plan killing the private insurance industry. I’ll have to get you that clip as well.
I was mainly curious on what your (you and Tom) perception of the video was. Meaning, did any of it trouble you? Do you think there are some issues there? I’m not trying to trap you, I honestly want to know what your thoughts are.
Note: Single Payer Health Care is Government ran health care. From my understanding it becomes universal HC once there are no restrictions on who can use it. It’s when payments for medical services come from one fund, one place (the government). A good example would be Medicare with no restrictions on who could use it.
Thanks Kim.
P.S. I realize some video clips on the web get taken out of context such as the Obama clip where he said “My Muslim Faith.” My first thoughts on this one though, is how could the important clips be out of context? I’ve done a little research and will do some more.
.-= Ryan Kazinec´s last blog ..Is Rush Limbaugh Good for the Repulican Party? A JealousBrother Guest Post by Robert Barr =-.
June 18th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I am old enough to remember life before LBJ and the great (?) society. I remember when you went to the DR. and paid the bill. Dr.s had competitive prices. This was before the litigious
society we have now. Insurance was for catastrophic events not a cold or sore throat.
If we were expected to pay for every thing the Dr. did , we would would be able to shop and compare. Give me the money and I will pay as I go and will not overpay. Prices will come down
and service will get better.
Get the government out of our business and we will determine the market. Medicare and every
government program is price fixing and it is fixed higher than the market price to pay the government.
If we all paid all of our own bills we would be more aware of the costs and shop for the bargins in everything, including health care.