Comments on: Doctors support national health insurance, claims press

By: Andrew Johnstone, RPh/MD

Andrew Johnstone, RPh/MD — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 14:53:18 +0000

Doctors are like wives whose husbands beat them yet they turn back to them for ‘love’ - we have a system that worked when it was free-market ‘capitalism’ and became dysfunctional as socialism was phased in. The cure we want for our current problems - more socialism!

Same with most government programs - look at welfare, gun control, the ‘war on drugs’ and all manner of other government programs; they cause problems then we want to solve the problems with MORE of the same interventions.

The really funny part is that “more of the same” has personified in Obama, and calls itself “change.” Now THAT’S irony.

By: Carol Evans, M.D.

Carol Evans, M.D. — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 18:56:11 +0000

I cannot believe the percentages quoted! The questions were poorly worded. The government cannot do anything efficiently, even though I believe we have the best government in the world. We absolutely cannot have more government involvement in healthcare. Academic types are the ones who appear to favor more government involvement in healthcare. Remember the early 1990’s? “Managed care” came out of the mouths of academicians not clinicians didn’t it? I have practiced in a university setting and as an employed physician at a large hospital. Both provided excellent care, but worked like big overspending, inefficient government. For a while, I practiced oncology with a nationwide, for profit, practice management company. (Oh, the horrors of for-profit medicine the ivory tower academics would complain.) Medical care through that for-profit, publically-traded company was provided more-efficiently, more patient-friendly, and much cheaper than at either the private nonprofit hospital or the academic medical center. The way I saw it, the patients, the insurers, and the country’s economy all benefited from the private enterprise medical system.

By: K.C. Roberts D.O.

K.C. Roberts D.O. — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 14:47:43 +0000

Obviously a poor propaganda survey.

If any of these groups or even the government were truly concerned about the uninsured, as a first step, they could simply advocate to change the IRS regs where health care costs were a fully deductible expense without having to itemize and be subject to a 7% “floor”. This would provide immediate relief for the uninsured and place them on a tax equal footing with those that have tax advantaged plans through their employers.

By: Stu Pritchard, M.D.

Stu Pritchard, M.D. — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 18:37:42 +0000

Any doctor in favor of even a continued increase in third party medicine, especially governmental, has not practiced long enough to see what it has done to “Medicine, that most estimable of professions.” (Voltaire) Those doctors have always favored a solution to the problem which incrementally for 50 years has caused the problems: enormous expense, abuse of the system by both doctors and patients, and deterioration of personal medical care. They want computerized billing of the third party from lists of many thousands of 5 digit numbers, rather than, say, 10 or 12 items on the medical statement sent directly to the patient with an offer to assist in reimbursement directly to the patient. Yeah, that’s anachronistic, but it worked. So did professional courtesies to colleagues and their families, the clergy, and discounting or cancellation of bills when indicated.

By: Christopher Passidomo, M.D.

Christopher Passidomo, M.D. — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 02:35:36 +0000

The survey must have been sent to doctors who are members of the communist party or doctors who are living in homes who care for Altzheimer victoms. I don’t beleive for one second that 51% of physicians support goverenment run health care. Call it what it is, socialized medicine. It is very true that health care reform is needed. The reform should be to repeal managed care and return to the pre 1993 system! This was before Clinton’s task force on health care destroyed medicine. It should be called the communist manifesto on health care. No physician with half a brain in their head would support government care. The publication of this survey is politically motivated, and deadly inaccurate.

By: Kevin Considine, D.O.

Kevin Considine, D.O. — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 05:27:32 +0000

I do think we need reform but single government payer healthcare is NOT IT!!! Look at Canada and UK …it’s a disaster!!! Besides it will take away any control doctors and patients have over their healthcare. Sorry, to burst your bubble but when it’s estimated that 50 cents of every healthcare dollar is lost to fraud and waste the solution is NOT to THROW More money at it!!! Why not some catastrophic coverage ONLY and have tax credited HSA’s instead?? It will force patient/ consumer self regulation and more prudent and logical decision making with market forces decreasing costs to be more reasonable without expanding unreasonable demand and as far as liability reform goes …don’t get me started!!!!

By: J F Cherry MD

J F Cherry MD — Wed, 04 Jun 2008 10:55:37 +0000

If they’re stupid enoughto belong to the AMA, they’re certainly stupid enough to favor a complete government takeover of their business.