.enigma.

Weve all heard the opinions of the crazies, id like to hear the opinions of people more familiar with the medical field though

bluedevilmike

At this point nobody has any idea. Obama has to give us some freaking details. I thought that was the point of the speech, but apparently not.

Sirensong

My dad's a doctor, and his main frustration is with Obama being against limiting or ending malpractice. I also remember reading an article where the AMA booed Obama after he revealed his opposition to cutting malpractice, so that should give you some sense of how doctors are feeling.

.enigma.

I assume its because his main target audience wasnt doctors, although i would have liked for him to go into more detail also.


Its probably hard to get the main details of the bill since theres like 5 different versions of it floating around. Once they find a bill to vote on, then ill really expect some answers.


btw, i think you can read the house bill online. Although who has the time to read a 1000+ page bill full of legislative bullcrap

.enigma.

Sirensong,

I think Obama may have address that briefly during his speech and he said that needless lawsuit against doctors must end. It brough lots of applause.

I dont remember much of it though since he didnt go into detail on how he would do that.


Although, malpractice definetly needs to be addressed in more detail. Its unfortunate though that most of the population doesnt really care too much about malpractice

bluedevilmike

Nah, even a speech for laypeople should have included more detail than that. The problem is that he legitimately hasn't decided what he wants to do just yet. The House bill has come under increasing fire, because (1) it might include a public option and (2) it might not include a public option. In any case a House bill has to get through committee, get voted on, pass an equivalent through the Senate committees, pass that equivalent through the whole Senate, beat any filibusters, go to conference, and finally have the President sign it.

The Senate actually does have a version released as well, but neither of the bills has made enough progress to count as a meaningful proposal at this point.

And in any case, the President needs to start making some decisions. Soon.

bluedevilmike

Obama specifically told the AMA that tort reform was off the table. He was booed for it, but I appreciated his clarity at that moment even if this particular stand isn't very wise. (Nor is it particularly foolish; the malpractice system is terrible but 'defensive medicine' appears to be worth only about 5-6% of total spending.)

.enigma.

I think not having a bill probably has something to do with his "unawareness"

Since he has pretty much left the bill-making process up to congress, he probably isnt too sure of whats going on.

I think (and hope) hes going to get more involved since the democrats in congress obviously have no idea what the hell theyre doing.

rocketman08

There is no true 'bill' yet, just a bunch of random proposals so nobody really knows what will happen. However, it's unlikely that the health care bill will have much 'tort reform' in it. The AMA barks a lot, but at the end of the day it's not a very powerful force in Washington.

The primary goal of 'heath care reform' is to make coverage available to as many people as possible and limit the amount of money spent on healthcare. Our healthcare system is horribly inefficient and bloated. The quality of care is generally excellent (for those who have access) but the system itself is in desperate need of cost-cutting measures. The challenge of course is to spend less without impacting quality.

What does that mean for physicians? Nobody knows for sure since there no formal proposal yet, but the general theme will be 'doing more with less.'

Even without the a reform bill, that theme is being carried out in January when physicans will be asked to provide the same level and quality of coverage to Medicare patients, but accept about a quarter less payment for their work. For those in private practice that translates into a direct pay cut. (Whether the government carries through with the cuts is yet to be seen... but that's certainly the direction things are trending for the future.)

breaker746

It has been indicated that doctor pay will go down if the bill gets passed

mmmcdowe

Physician pay isn't going to go down any faster than it has been (adjusting for inflation).

JOKER23

If Obama messes this up I dont think i'll become a doctor, I LOVE MED but if I study for 14+ years and only make 100k I dont think ii'll be worth it. OBAMA'S WALKING ON BROKEN GLASS, also don't forget doctors are a big part of the upper class so they have more power, also imagine "1" day with out doctors. Any way, doesn't the US already have a doctor shortage? Imagine what 46 million americans will do to the system, not to mention if doctors get their salaries cut.

rocketman08

If you wouldn't do it regardless of the money then you shouldn't do it.

If health care reform causes people who wanted to go into medicine in whole or in part for money to go elsewhere then I only see this as a good thing.

Last time I checked there was no shortage of people applying to medical school. There are plenty of highly qualified applicants who want to, and will become, wonderful physicians regardless of how much they are paid. That said, physicians will always be very well paid relative to the average worker... just maybe not quite as high as it's been in the past.

breaker746

I LOVE MED but if I study for 14+ years and only make 100k I dont think ii'll be worth it.

100k is twice as much the salary as someone who completes their masters, and you get that in 4 years. Also most physicians earn much more than that, so even if salary does go down, the salary is still decent. You don't truly love med unless you would do it without huge sums of money.

JOKER23

What? thats beyond dumb (in my opinion), do you guys forget you have to pay malpractice and ect. Just because I LOVE something that does not mean ill be happier at the end if I do it. Like my teacher who loves teaching AP but doesn't anymore because its to much work for too little pay. I want to have a family and a happy life, if medicine means an extremely stressful life for the rest of my life and not that much compensation at the end then I wont do it. My opinion though I could understand why you guys would stay. Also a person that does a masters does not end up 400k in debt.