11 replies »

  1. Where’s Waldo? How many felons and ethics charges can you find in this picture? LD

  2. Dr. Exhausted,
    I completely agree with you that physicians were not as involved as they should have been in this reform, and I know the AMA is not representative. This thing has been going on for over a year and a half and unfortunately, physicians as a group, failed to organize themselves with a common voice. Maybe because there is no such thing and docs are as divided as the rest of the country, or maybe because physicians are not very political.
    I have to say that most docs I talk to are in agreement with your view of this bill, mostly because of the sorry reimbursement situation that still needs addressing, but most of them are also very well off and generally more conservative in other areas as well.
    I don’t think the WWII parallel is accurate and I don’t think you think it is either. I do think that there will have to be many amendments and changes to this bill as we go along. Some to the left and some to the right. It would have been great if we had the integrity to proceed in a straight line, but politics have no affinity to straight lines.

  3. By the way, you know what would have made this picture perfect and equivalent to the bs of the prior administration: have a banner behind them that said:
    MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!
    Get the point!?

  4. Maybe not the best analogy, Ms GA, but, there were british people who supported the Nazi agenda before full fledged combat began.
    And that was a florid example of poor judgment.
    So, you found a doctor who supports this bill. Two questions to ask MD supporters:
    1. are you planning to be practicing clnically at least 80% of your income stream then, 2014, as you are now, and
    2. Do you enjoy layers of administrative disruption in place now, and do you really think there will be no change in such disruption as of 2014?
    Find me a doctor who answers yes to one and two, and I will show you a doctor who is either out of touch with reality, or moreso, lying.
    It is that simple, ma’am. No responsible doctor who is grounded and realistic supports this legislation as is. And, AND PAY ATTENTION TO THIS, responsible and grounded doctors do not think the status quo is acceptable either. We as the majority moderates in the field were never invited to the table to negotiate, and do not tell me the AMA’s approval speaks for the majority of MDs. They do not, and those who tell you otherwise are lying, and I have caught some of those already both on the net and in person!
    Thank you for your comment though.

  5. Dr. Exhausted,
    Without making a judgment call, here is another doctor’s view of the bill’s passage into law.
    “We as a nation—and in particular those of us in medicine—now have work to do to defend and deliver on this promise and to address the legitimate concerns about costs while making health care better for everyone. But that is the remarkable thing. We have finally been given the work to do.” – Dr. Gawande
    http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2010/03/watching-the-health-care-vote.html

  6. Hey Jen, I have time off, and how appropriate during this time of devastation to my profession.
    Another effort to demean and diminish the opinions of those who do not walk goosestep behind the current leadership in DC.
    Nice try though!
    Oh, and by the way, this legislation will allow us to spend more time and do more important things with our patients?
    Please, educate us with the specifics of the bill, and reference the page numbers to verify your statements, that will equivocally and effectively guarantee the improvement of care by providers!
    2,700 pages to review. Hear from you, when, next Thursday?
    I am beginning to suspect some of these proponents are Democrat extremists, who will project ad nauseum their behaviors onto critics.
    You, the objective readers, pay attention and decide.

  7. I’m beginning to suspect that ExhaustedMD is not a real MD. He seems to be spending too much time in cyberspace to be a real doctor who has more important things to do with his patients.

  9. Look at all these smiling faces, because
    1. Hopefully some of them will not be in future photo opps after Jan 2011
    2. Some of them will claim they had no idea what they were supporting by Jan 2014, if still there.
    3. Some of them will continue to claim the good of this legislation will come to bear by Jan 2020 (God they are still in office by then!)
    And for all you smiling now, enjoy your moment. The realities of this I hope do you what you wish for.
    Just watch the advocates scream loudest when the consequences start biting them on the asses!!!

  10. GET THOSE COSTS DOWN!! otherwise it will be like the housing bubble, you have the house but the mortgages are too high to keep the house. I am for the universal coverage but I also know we can not sustain this unless they start being efficient. For now Insur, Hospitals, Pharma, devices are the ones going to make more profits because of extra millions of customers.

  11. At long last! And now the real work of informing, educating, and inspiring healthcare consumers, providers, and payors to engage in positive forward movement so that all may be well served.