Sideline Money, Sideline Docs.

Talk to an investment guy, talk to a real estate gal, talk to a banker and you will hear that there's scads of money 'on the sidelines' pending the election. Conventional wisdom amongst most of the money folks is that a Romney win will be a quick and clear signal for people to invest again in the private sector. I hope it's true. It feels true.

But there is something no one is talking about, and that's the 'sideline doctors'. Every single physician in this country is watching this election with keen interest. For many it will be the deciding factor in whether they practice to retirement or they retire early and cut back on work  (under Obamacare).

Academic physicians are the only ones I have met who are consistently FOR Obamacare. The ones who will be honest with me are scary statists, and I would dearly love to punch them in the nose. It is, I think, the only thing they would understand.

So just like with investments, real estate, and finance in general, medicine also has TONS of it's resources now 'on the sidelines'. Hard to plan for the future when you don't know what the rules will be. Hard to start a practice, much less build one, when you aren't sure what Obamacare will mean to your bottom line. Hard to commit to the hardest profession in the world when it might mean that you work for a government flunkie (with a G.E.D.) reading from a manual, and lecturing you about compassion and diversity. Again, punching in the face seems one's only option here and doctors are averse, as a rule, to going to re-education camps.

In all seriousness. If Romney wins and Obamacare is scrapped then I predict the following.

1. The impending doctor shortage will be averted by physicians choosing to continue practice, or return to practice. Also, applications to medical schools will boom.
2. Research and development of new treatments and drugs will take off.
3. Many who are now choosing to become Physician Assistants may reconsider and go to medical school.
4. The left will have a seizure.

Because of # 4 above and because there is a large portion (20% ?) of citizens and illegal aliens who will continue to favor beer, cigarettes, and cell phones over health insurance,  I think Romney will have to replace it with something.

But that something, while it will no doubt have it's problems, will not turn the great American health care system into the N.H.S., or Brazil.

Go Mitt

Supreme Obamacare Eve (Blast from the past)

Witness the genius of Obamacare. A repost from 2009.

Government Health Care Update

The official wait time in my region for bilateral total hip arthroplasty at the VA is one year. Bone on bone, walking with a walker, end stage arthritis. One year. Seems like the VA has surpassed both Canada and the UK in a very short period of time. The rest of us to follow shortly. Yay!

"Dizziness"

A young service-member checked into the clinic the other day with a complaint of 'dizziness'. I asked the tech if it was 'light-headedness' or 'vertigo' and got a blank stare so I just asked them to check them in to me.

Seems three days prior while driving this young man had sudden vertigo while driving and had to pull the car over for a bit. No headache, but also noticed, after getting home, that walking was a bit difficult and that holding things in his right hand was a bit dicey.

So three days later he comes to the clinic and I tell him he has to go to the ER because he has likely had a stroke. He helped me in this diagnosis by being Romberg positive, ataxic, and dysmmetric.

The ER calls me back a few hours later and says they are going to send him home. The CT was normal. Probably a medication reaction. Home? What did the MRI show? Huh? You didn't get one?

They got one after I made a few points and whaddya know.... stroke of unclear age. I was glad I advocated for the MRI. So, I ask you, my peeps. What happened next? And oh by the way, the guy's head hurt a bit.... not all of a sudden, but he had a headache.

Take it away!