Comments on: Medicare veto override a triumph for single-payer advocates, Krugman writes http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/0038 from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons Thu, 20 Nov 2008 10:34:15 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Howard Long MD MPH http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/0038#comment-1599 Howard Long MD MPH Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:23:59 +0000 http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/?p=38#comment-1599 Cash at the time, not accepting Medicare money, liberates. It does require cutting overhead, going gradually and rebuilding a practice based on word of mouth that you take time and care about all of a patient's concerns. A $50, 15 min visit takes care of 3/4, I find. A more interesting practice results from people dissatisfied with the superficial, standard or unfeeling inattention usual at Kaiser, Medicaid clinics, etc. Warning. That also means patients have tried others first and have more challenging conditions. Cash at the time, not accepting Medicare money, liberates.

It does require cutting overhead, going gradually and rebuilding a practice based on word of mouth that you take time and care about all of a patient’s concerns. A $50, 15 min visit takes care of 3/4, I find. A more interesting practice results from people dissatisfied with the superficial, standard or unfeeling inattention usual at Kaiser, Medicaid clinics, etc.

Warning. That also means patients have tried others first and have more challenging conditions.

]]> By: Jaime Durand http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/0038#comment-1594 Jaime Durand Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:27:13 +0000 http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/?p=38#comment-1594 Amazing, this is the third time congress has veto Bush in 8 years. They were the water issue, the agricultural issue and the doctor's payments. Why did congress did it? Because of the fear of retaliation congressmen felt from the broad base of beneficiaries that know the enormous difficulties doctors are going through to just see a patient. These difficulties are the enormous paperwork that takes away from the medical patient relationship to become the doctor activity a computer relationship. The fear of treating a patient due to the medical boards zealots. The barely covering compensation for all the hassle of coding and billing. The enormous debt that doctors accumulate when providing medication to patient (remicade or other infusions doctors have to pay to be reimbursed -perhaps- later). The loss of confidentiality, respect and freedom of the profession. The abusive behavior of the insurance companies against doctors extends against patients and all this made the public call the congressmen and told them that election day is near and that if they play with the medical care they will notice the public discontent. What all this means for us. First the public understand our struggle, fears and suffering. Second they care about medical care more than Irak’s war (this as this issue affects them directly) and third, that we should procure their support to free ourselves from what is coming...electronic medical records...aggressive medical boards inquisitorial injustice, more loss of confidentiality rights and extended criminalization of our activities... That they will pay us less every year...sure they will ...that doctors didn't do anything to lobby against bush veto as they have lost all moral to stand up for their rights in a solitarity front… is a given...All doctors are scared and like atoms without cohesion wonder in a gas like state independent and not caring over no one else praying that the system won’t touch them... Well colleagues ...welcome home ...you will be touched and we better get organized to stand together to defend the profession ...or the single payer (the insurance companies and their spear and shield ,medicare) will make being a doctor becoming a technician to the administrators of medicine sitting over our heads...they will use the medical boards, the hospital boards, the pharmaceutical companies the insurance companies and all the legislators ...even if they have to pay them more than what they pay them now...Indeed our profession got in trouble when the public was told they had no responsibility controlling how much doctors are to be paid for their services...The public loved it ..But now not so much as seen in the outcry to block bush's veto. Amazing, this is the third time congress has veto Bush in 8 years.
They were the water issue, the agricultural issue and the doctor’s payments.
Why did congress did it? Because of the fear of retaliation congressmen felt from the broad base of beneficiaries that know the enormous difficulties doctors are going through to just see a patient. These difficulties are the enormous paperwork that takes away from the medical patient relationship to become the doctor activity a computer relationship. The fear of treating a patient due to the medical boards zealots. The barely covering compensation for all the hassle of coding and billing. The enormous debt that doctors accumulate when providing medication to patient (remicade or other infusions doctors have to pay to be reimbursed -perhaps- later). The loss of confidentiality, respect and freedom of the profession. The abusive behavior of the insurance companies against doctors extends against patients and all this made the public call the congressmen and told them that election day is near and that if they play with the medical care they will notice the public discontent.

What all this means for us. First the public understand our struggle, fears and suffering. Second they care about medical care more than Irak’s war (this as this issue affects them directly) and third, that we should procure their support to free ourselves from what is coming…electronic medical records…aggressive medical boards inquisitorial injustice, more loss of confidentiality rights and extended criminalization of our activities…
That they will pay us less every year…sure they will …that doctors didn’t do anything to lobby against bush veto as they have lost all moral to stand up for their rights in a solitarity front… is a given…All doctors are scared and like atoms without cohesion wonder in a gas like state independent and not caring over no one else praying that the system won’t touch them…
Well colleagues …welcome home …you will be touched and we better get organized to stand together to defend the profession …or the single payer (the insurance companies and their spear and shield ,medicare) will make being a doctor becoming a technician to the administrators of medicine sitting over our heads…they will use the medical boards, the hospital boards, the pharmaceutical companies the insurance companies and all the legislators …even if they have to pay them more than what they pay them now…Indeed our profession got in trouble when the public was told they had no responsibility controlling how much doctors are to be paid for their services…The public loved it ..But now not so much as seen in the outcry to block bush’s veto.

]]> By: Dr. Z. Herschman http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/0038#comment-1589 Dr. Z. Herschman Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:21:12 +0000 http://www.aapsonline.org/newsoftheday/?p=38#comment-1589 I await the 20% or more cut, thus we will have a certain choice to stay or go; it seems they want to keep us onboard by dangling carrots before us, carrots that are by now rotting and clodded. We should recognize them for what they are, hold our nose and run away. I await the 20% or more cut, thus we will have a certain choice to stay or go; it seems they want to keep us onboard by dangling carrots before us, carrots that are by now rotting and clodded. We should recognize them for what they are, hold our nose and run away.

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