With all talk of the government taking over healthcare, we are already seeing how good the government care is. Earlier, the Mayo Clinic is Scotsdale stopped taking Medicare and now Walgreens is no longer accepting any new Medicaid patients in the state of Washington. In both cases, the reason is simple, poor reimbursement and excessive unfunded mandates.
I looked at what we could do in our practice to cut costs and at the same time continue to provide the best care we could. The big thing would be to move more testing and treatments in house. This way we could package care plans for a cheaper price. Well, it turns out, the reimbursement is set by the government and the Federal Stark Law prevents us from consolidating.
So, we cant lower the prices of our care because they are set by the government, and we cant cut costs because of the government. Now, they think the solution is more government. Its like they want to make a sandwitch to feed the nation that has no bread and nothing between the slices.
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Hi Throckmorton - Clever!
I'm not even in the business and it all makes me feel crazy when I read/hear this stuff.
I backed away from the news for a few days. I just needed the break and it's amazing what a relief it is not to hear all the negativity.
But then I turned Greta on the other night and was alarmed when I heard an orthopaedic surgeon state that he has a lot of patients coming in requesting surgeries that he knows they don't need yet because they are afraid to wait because they are afraid that under the Obama plan ..they will be refused a surgical option.
This is all so surreal.
Now I am listening to the radio all day. And what planet is Pelosi on??? The CBO comes out with their info and with such reassurance in her voice ..she paints a financial picture that simply is NOT true and everyone KNOWS it.
For the life of me ..I do not understand why they just don't scrap the whole thing ..but genuinely begin to fix it. Instead of drastically converting us over to government HC .. do the tort reform, target ins companies for ridiculous things like 5 star rules and things that are not fair, lift the stark legislation that hinders physicians from saving money for patients and allows them to make money,open up the borders for purchasing ins, etc., etc., etc.
Why can't they tackle some easy stuff right away? Where they are in agreement .. keep adult students on parent's ins plan, pre-conditions should not hinder ins purchase, insured should be able to continue ins into next job if they wish. I know that maybe is more complicated then waving a wand and making it happen instantly, but they seem doable.
Just heard Rush say that 52% of patients in Greece walk into clinics when they shouldn't be. It's like the MDCD mentality ..free ...so go where you want and so they hit the ERs. You've written about this.
I'm thinking the sandwich is an over legislated "table d'hôte",*Toasted, Physician Filled Government* sandwich. Because of the "fixed" prices ..ultimately ..you'll BOTH be TOAST!
Hey Throckmorton - Come back out to play. ;)
Your opinions are missed & looking forward to your take on the passing of this HC bill.
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