This is the business end of the Obama health plan and you know exactly where it is aimed.
Got home today to read a 'throw away journal' called EP Monthly. Oh, the banality of evil! There was, to their credit, a screed posted about the five ways in which government run health care will simultaneously decrease the quality and availability of care for all while forcing doctors to take seriously all those people with clipboards who like to tell folks that they 'run a hospital' when, in fact, what they do, is jump on our backs and ride. Oh yeah, we'll make less for more work with equal liability too.
Well finally some folks in our community realize we are about to get this thing rammed up our collective ani. Maybe we might, like, get angry or something? Unions seem all the rage now in Washington and thems for folks who turn wrenches, why not for those of us treating wretches?
Then, in the same journal... front page of course, a helpful article on how to approach a coworker with a cursing problem. Guess they are anticipating a coming crisis. My few remaining neurons were instantaneously depleted of whatever they run on, glucose I think, and I swear I had a pseudo-seizure, or, in the common parlance, "one of those seizures the doctors aren't smart enough to see with their machines", or, "those special kind of seizures only treatable with Xanax and Oxycontin".
Then, as a wooden dagger through this vampire's heart, I received this email...
Hi M.D.O.D. Team, (insert exclamation point and emoticon here, ed.)
If you will be in the Washington, D.C. area this Friday, I thought any (or all) of you might be interested in speaking directly this Friday with:
Paul Begala (douchebag extraordinaire... editor's comment though universally understood to be true)
CNN political contributor, and research professor at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute
Rita Colwell, Ph.D.
former director of the National Science Foundation; Chairman of Canon US Life Sciences, Inc.; and, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Maryland at College Park and Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health
Dick Gephardt (Super douchebag and Grand Kleagle of Douchebags and thought he was gone back to hit the speaking circuit at the Holiday Inns across the land... also editor's comment and also universally held)
Former House Majority Leader and President of the Council for American Medical Innovation
Brett P. Giroir, M.D.
Vice Chancellor of Research, The Texas A&M University System
Aliciia Löffler, Ph.D.
Director and Clinical Professor of Biotechnology, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Billy Tauzin
President and CEO, Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
Mary Woolley
President, Research!America
Each will be taking questions from 9 – 9:30am before speaking on the “Best and Brightest Forum on Medical Innovation: Recovery Through Discovery” at 9:30am on Friday at the Newseum. This is not a free-for-all, but a time for VIP access with those that are interested in asking questions of the panelists.
The following forum (to which the M.D.O.D. Team is also invited) will feature a keynote speech by Senator Arlen Specter (Winner of the "I'm for whatever people are saying right now douchebag of the universe award... editor's comment) ; Representative Anna Eschoo will also be participating in the forum. The forum will focus on the challenges facing the U.S. in maintaining its global leadership position in medical innovation, as well as how an innovation agenda fits into the current health reform debate.
Well damn, it turns out I will be forcibly anally violated after all, and at the hands of a group of people who have, to the extent I recognize their names, made their fame and fortune in life in that now most dishonorable 'profession' of politics, a.k.a., knob-polishing, and gluteal tongue cleaning.
There's even a guy there in this question forum (which will last THIRTY MINUTES... fuck, shit, damn, fuck their teency-tincy testicles and roast them on a toothpick) who actually has, drum roll, an MD, but it seems he's all research these days.
Who better than to provide cover for the biggest hijacking of an economy since old Vladimir Illych Lenin did it back so long ago (and you know the communists weren't really bad... they just didn't get it quite right... we have learned from their mistakes and can make it work this time!). Invite your detractors to a THIRTY MINUTE HEARING that they must travel to at their own expense. Fuck them... seriously.
Then, off the subject, I nearly got stuck in the middle of a large lake with a cranky old outboard while fishing, lost an anchor, and had one of my children who was fishing with me, upon losing the anchor say, "We are going to sink". We did not, but oh for the adrenaline release that a swim for shore would have given me. Instead I have to break the keys on this laptop.
I'd rather face the entire North Korean Army with bayonets fixed and charging than this melange of Ivy League, self-aggrandizing, metrosexual, pusillanimous amateurs who are throwing clogs in the gears just to see what will happen. At least, with the North Koreans, I'd be able to shoot at some honest commies. Screwtape, thy name is Obama.
EDITOR'S NOTE: THE LAST PARAGRAPH OF THIS RANT IS NOT TO BE CONSTRUED IN ANY WAY AS A THREAT TO USE VIOLENCE ON ANY PERSON MENTIONED IN THIS POST, IT'S A METAPHOR AND I'M TALKING IN IT ABOUT SHOOTING AT NORTH KOREANS WHO, UNTIL ABOUT 5 MONTHS AGO WERE OUR ENEMMIES AND STILL ARE THOUGH NO ONE IN WASHINGTON SEEMS TO KNOW THIS. ALL I WOULD NEED TO TAKE ON THE CREW ABOVE WOULD BE A RUBBER BAND AND A FEW PAPER CLIPS, OR, I COULD SIMPLY FORCE THEM TO DO MY JOB FOR ONE DAY AND THEY'D BE DOWN WITH THE PTSD. OUT. FUCKING LITTLE WEENIES.
This is to cover that little "transparency" promise, I suppose - as well as that business of promising to invite diverse opinions on it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's insulting that the administration even bothers to play these games with people. Like we're too dumb to see what's coming. I can see why you would prefer the honest hostility of North Koreans to this.
I'm gonna be naive here and probably get my ass chewed but what exactly is your ideal scenario if you were king of the world. Is EMTLA the cause of all the problems or people who can't tell the difference between an emergency vs. one of life's daily aches and pains or being regulated out of the wazoo or a combination of all 3.
ReplyDelete50 words or less and double spaced please. :)
It's a scam 911! Don't fall for it! They'll be waiting with tranq guns and poison darts. They're trying to ferret you out...BE SAFE OUT THERE! I knew the day would come when the liberals would come for you my friend...God speed as you go into hiding...
ReplyDeleteWell, as an economics student, I know what I'd do. Massive deregulation and the elimination of third party payers. Probably the biggest problem in medicine is that the patient doesn't pay for healthcare like he would pay for any other sort of good or service. Hence the disconnect between demand(the patient) and supply(the physician).
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pey_tNXviLM
Professor Milton Friedman more or less agrees. And I believe that's one of the main problems that the Docs here are talking about.
The problem with most politicians is that they interfere with the market forces. For some odd reason they believe they can do a better job than the invisible hand does(or distort the market for their own personal gain, either by money or votes). It's really a tragedy of errors. Sadly, we the people foot the bill, not the princes(the politicians) of our country.
When a country adopts "Single Payer" in one or another form, it has adopted "Single Employer". The influence of the payor, the government, directly or indirectly controls the pay, working conditions, practice standards, rules, and responsibilities of the workers being paid, the doctors and everyone else in healthcare.
ReplyDeleteDoctors have been placed under increasing government control for 20 years, adapting rather than protesting. It is understandable that the risks and costs of protesting always seem large compared to the "good intentioned" restrictions and regulations that are slowly imposed.
The Department of Work and Production
A possible encounter of an ordinary guy with a government agency that is going to make his profession more efficient.
Excerpt:
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Joe: Will I still work for Acme International?
Official: You will physically work there, or somewhere else where you are most needed, but your work standards and pay will be coordinated through your professional license. All accountants will now be federally licensed, for the security of the country and for efficiency. The high, hidden costs of accounting must be reduced if we are to prosper as a nation. I'm sure you agree.
Joe: Well, I, uh . . .
Official: Good. You will be pleased with the changes in your compensation. First, we are going to raise your salary 20% in the amount that you either save or receive.
Joe: A 20% raise is great. What do you mean by "save or receive"?
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Great commentary!
ReplyDeleteIt's an honor to know that we were invited to have 1/2 an hour to comment with this "blue ribbon" panel with their years of experience in providing health care.
By the way, the one person on the team (my intense embarrassment that he is a Vice Chancellor at my Alma Mater) who knows which end of the stethoscope goes into the ears has NEVER practiced medicine outside of the academic setting (and precious little within it). He's a pediatrician who used to supervise residents on the few occasions that he was not doing research. (When I did my residency at UT Southwestern, where he was, the research attending physicians performed 1 month of clinical duty per year). If you review his CV it's clear that he's almost exclusively been an MD researcher (and undoubtedly a brilliant d-bag).
For the past 5 years he's been the deputy-director, then director of the Defense Sciences Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA). Yep, a fine "physician" to advise on health care policy.
Just as with "Hillary-care", they don't want input from anyone who knows anything about health care PRACTICE, they want a political solution, not a practical one. However, at least this time, they found a person with an MD to stick on the panel, and instead of closed hearings, they're gonna give 30 minutes!
IMHO, they pick these unqualified people because if they ACTUALLY chose people who know something about how to fix the problems in medicine, the solutions would be far too complex, the solutions would require a great deal of political effort, and would involve LESS government, LESS red tape, FEWER governmental agencies, FEWER rule books, FEWER formulas, and MUCH LESS money under the government's control. No way they're going to go for any of that.
-85
Probably the biggest problem in medicine is that the patient doesn't pay for healthcare like he would pay for any other sort of good or service. Hence the disconnect between demand(the patient) and supply(the physician).
ReplyDeleteAbsofrickinlutely! Insurance should be privately purchased and reserved for catastrophic expenses or long-term care. What frustrates me the most is the health care system problems we have today are largely the result of government involvement, rather than the lack of it, but too many people are too ignorant to realize it. So, the government can get away with blaming the problems and the expense on failure of the free market.
I can't imagine most health care providers favor socialized medicine. Maybe doctors should hand educational pamphlets to their patients, explaining the history of health care and what socialized medicine will really mean. I know that may seem unethical, but you should see the raft of propaganda that gets sent home with school children when the teachers' unions are pushing for political backing.
If you do decide to hand out pamphlets, please urge people to contact their congress critters to tell them to take the time to anticipate, discuss, and debate all the ramifications of their actions - unlike what they did with the porkulus bill. Simply slowing down the political process will allow the complications to reveal themselves ...
ReplyDeleteActually, I was just thinking, too, that if you did do an educational essay, you could put it in the form of a letter to the patient and ask the patient if he or she agrees to sign the letter and forward it to his congressman. Two birds with one stone.
... although it just occurred to me, I don't know how well that would go over with hospital administrators or administrators of group practices. I'll shut up and go away now!
ReplyDelete