Sometimes I amaze myself.
I had an epiphany this morning. Here is my solution to the health care "crisis": whenever doctors refer to anything about health care, include DENTAL CARE as part of the discussion.
"We need to strongly support complete medical / dental coverage for all!" Why is this so brilliant? Because every dentist across America will have a fucking meltdown when they are asked to put up with the crap we do. These guys typically run good businesses; they may or may not accept insurance; they are well paid. They are perfect examples of true entrepreneurs. I admire this.
Now. Ask for a government mandate a la EMTALA, call it DentalTALA. Ask for a single payor for all dental procedures. Ask for a public option, with no balance billing allowed.
Watch the dentists revolt. These guys are smart and their national organizations, I assume, are, unlike ours, not ready to take it in the ass.
MEDICAL / DENTAL CARE FOR ALL! Give me your voice and I will give you a mob of angry DMDs marching on the Capitol.
Friday, October 16, 2009
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THIS IS THE BEST IDEA I HAVE HEARD FROM OUR SIDE, PERIOD, END OF STORY. YOU ROCK EVEN IF YOU ARE 'THAT WAY' WITH ANIMALS. IN FACT, IN ALL SERIOUSNESS, WE SHOULD GET A LETTERHEAD AND A FAX MACHINE AND PELT THE MSM WITH OUR PROPOSAL FROM THE 'PATIENTS FOR DENTAL ACCESS' GROUP.... AWESOME.
ReplyDeleteBrilliant idea! Besides the idea of our teeth looking like the Britons' is the stuff of nightmares.
ReplyDeleteon second thought you may be underestimating the opposition and putting too much faith in the dentists. if this gets earmarked to the cram down i blame you.
ReplyDeleteactually, come to think of it, this is on the list no doubt... will get obama care first then michelle will get on the mouth stuff like she always does.
ReplyDeletedr drackman,
ReplyDeleteif you are out there today please contact me through email above.
me
There is a Dental School (And a Med School, and Law School, heh) within walking distance of my house.
ReplyDeleteThe Med Students are all hippys, I mean, my God, these people may name their children "Moonbeam"
The Law Students are a very diverse bunch, much like society.
The Dental students, all of them....ALL of them are intense, I mean like, they know what they want to do (Most of them want to be Ortho's, but very few of them will be, numbers kept artificially low and all that)...
Long and short of it, the Dentists will hand Congresses ass to itself. They are accustomed to *gasp* actually getting paid for their work. Hell, I went in for an evaluation and the dentist had someone on site to talk about payment plans.
They are serious about money. And when you f*** with someones money directly, they get pissed.
all CAPS from 911... must be a good idea
ReplyDeleteI beleive dentists, ALREADY, have the highest rates of suicides. Do we really want them all to slash their wrists and wind up in the ERs, burdening an overloaded system?
ReplyDeleteWell, sure Eto does, because then he could carve him up some dentists, but the rest of us would be facing long lines for the free clinics at the dental schools.
My dentist is a great dentist, but he's about as liberal as they get. I wouldn't count on him in this regard .... although he does run an independent private practice.
ReplyDeleteUh-uh. No way man! Don't be dragging us into this furball! Try to shove some sort of EMT LA-LA down our throats and the "Organized" in Organized Dentistry will go all Soprano.
ReplyDeleteMany of my colleagues are already severing direct ties with the insurance industry Meniton UCR (usual and customary reimbursment) to a Dentist and watch them go apoplectic. Try to find anyone who accpets Medicaid. I can't imagine even the most liberal of us accpeting some sort of single payor system. I think the majority, including me, would go private like more and more of our British colleagues.
We have managed to avoid many of the problems in your world by treating our part of healthcare as an industry. The independence and entreprenurial spirit that make our private practices a success would actually decrease costs and increase access in the medical arena.
And by the way, that stuff about suicide rates is an old wive's tale. Most of us are pretty well-adjusted. A little intense and obsessive compulsive maybe, but otherwise fairly normal.
DocV,
ReplyDeleteRelax, hit the nitrous... there... now just roll over onto your side a bit... headphones comfy? good! breathe.... there we go... now just a little slip of something i like to call DENTALA down in the nether regions... breathe... good... now was that so bad? doc? you there? got your 11 o'clock, he's pretty stinky and has meth mouth... he's got an obamacare card though so he's good to go... doc?
Finally, this is just what I was telling my husband yesterday, funny
ReplyDeleteGee, as long as we're at it, drag the veterinarians into it too! :) They are usually so mellow ... do them good to get their blood pressure up a bit.
ReplyDelete911,
ReplyDeleteI feel like I need to take a shower now... ;-)
Peggy,
Animals have rights too. Just ask PETA. If you raise camelids they could get Obamallamacare. Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahah! Whew! Gotta get that nitrous refilled again....
Yup, while taking classes, did run a dentist as well. Easy reimbursement for the most part. Just about all PDP insurance allows pre-estimates (send film/assess and get coverage and cost) So, do that on all midsize and larger procedures and you can ask for a payment/plan right from the get go with the patient. Health care financing is offered externally as well. Offer cosmetics (veneers) and it's all cash. Whitening? Yes, you are getting screwed so bad folks...but here's the deal, pay cash up front and you can bargain with a dentist.
ReplyDeleteAnd... dentists can up and decide to cancel all afternoon patients and go golfing on a nice day.
-SCNS
I've got it! You all go and become "dentists" and do medical procedures under the table. Just find a comparably priced dental procedure to put on the invoice.
ReplyDeleteOr, become veterinarians and I'll change my name to Fluffy...
Ahhh, DocV, I stand corrected. I never really believed that canard, anyway. It appears to have gained traction from stereotypical movie characters, including those from "MASH" and "The Whole Nine Yards.
ReplyDeleteDentists are probably safe, anyway, as both ambitious politicians and demagogic celebutards rely upon their pearly whites for dazzling the gullible.
Hey, what about free vision care? Let's get the eye docs sucked into FreebieCare, too. I could use a free pair of glasses.
ReplyDelete"Obamallamacare"
ReplyDeleteDocV, you made me fall out my chair laughing.
Now I have the "shama lama, 'Bama-llama, ding dong..." earwig
ReplyDeletelofl
You are a GOD!!!!!
ReplyDelete.....and we all know, good dental health is important to overall health. Cant leave that bit out.
LOL ... it's contagious! "shama lama, 'Bama-llama, ding dong..."
ReplyDeleteI honestly love reading everything that you all have to say. All the concerns and thoughts on health care that I share are very similar to what I read on this sight. It is hard when I am at college and everyone who wants to be a "doctor" thinks that if you don't believe in universal health care then you are a "bad person" . It is almost impossible for me to talk about these topics without being forever condemed as a selfish arrogant individual. All in all it is just very refreshing to read these discussions and I look forward to being a fellow colleague complaining about the same things :)
ReplyDelete-Avocado
Pretty soon medical school will be an alternative option for those unlucky students who couldn't get into dental school.
ReplyDeleteStolen pun (pilfered from gocinatlanta):
ReplyDeleteWhat is the difference between Bird Flu and Swine Flu?
-------------------
For bird flu you need tweetment and for swine flu you need oinkment.
dear anon. medical student,
ReplyDeleteyou have a hard road being 'different' and 'misguided'. i know your enemies and they are dangerous. i suggest sarcasm, irony, cynicism, and truth. of course, this will be lost on them because they are people of the lie, but at least you will have some fun.
I was wondering when physicians would remember all those dentists who have kept their heads below the Obama radar.
ReplyDeleteBut really guys, it's not just dentists who should be afriad. They won't stop until we're all enslaved.
ReplyDeleteThanks a lot Eto!
ReplyDeleteToday,on the Neal Boortz Show, some yahoo mentioned bringing dental care into the current healthcare debacle.
It's all your fault!
To Anon Med Student:
ReplyDeleteI was once like you. I was amongst the top undergraduates in my school, when they started this crap, back in the early 1980s. It literally ruined my life; do not let it ruin yours. I ran.
I chose pure biology as a career, to get away from the bureaucrats and politics. Guess what? They followed me. There is, perhaps, no more politicized and bureaucratized field, now, than biology.
Although I agree with 911Doc's move away from the bureaucracy, to make a stand, don't let this movement chase you away from your chosen field of study. There is perhaps no area of endeavor that is safe from the people that don't actually do anything, but attempt to control those that do. They have more time. They have no scruples.
Fuck them. Do what you want and some people will have your back. If you don't stand up now, you will have to stand up later.
CJrun,
ReplyDeleteApplause. Applause. Applause.
I just don't know why there aren't more of us willing to plant a stake in the ground and say, 'no further'. I will continue to practice medicine, but unlike in the ER, I am now going to be taking care of people who want to take care of themselves.
I did years in the trenches taking care of the entitled and I'm not mad at them, at least not nearly as mad at them as I am at the evil idiots that, in their hypereducated liberalism, produced their entitlement.
And Anon. med student, here's a turd to throw on the table that will flummox all the egghead pipe-dreamers.... "Sir, I understand what my responsibilities are... What responsibilities do our patients have?" Silence will follow, then you will be tarred and feathered, but you just might make a friend or two that you can soldier with.