Whoops: Did Obama forget who the “bad guys” are in the health care debate?
July 23rd, 2009 by Rightwing Czar at 11:56 amOf course he didn’t.
As someone who works in the health care industry, I found a post this morning in the Green Room at Hot Air pretty compelling. In it, Slublog rightfully calls Obama out for demeaning health care professionals in last night’s presser when he suggested that doctor’s are making their decisions based profit:
[T]hose in healthcare work hard to earn the RN behind their name or the Dr. in front of it. The vast majority of them do not do so because of the paycheck they’ll earn, but because they know their work will help save or improve the lives of others. When the president suggested otherwise, he slandered the motives of every doctor and nurse who treats patients on a daily basis.
Exactly. But I want to make a further point. Hasn’t Obama been telling us this whole time that it is the big bad insurance companies that are causing the problems in health care? Aren’t they the ones that are making record profits and tying the hands of doctors in giving good patient care? Did Obama forget who the bad guys were?
In fact, Obama has repeatedly said he wants doctors and patients making their decisions together – and he has repeatedly told Americans that his health care plan will let that happen. He has been insistent on this point because he doesn’t want Americans to realize that what he actually wants is some sort of “health advisory board” full of beurocrats that decide who gets what treatment, when they get it, and what kind of treatments are acceptable.
But the President might have accidently revealed his hand last night when he started talking about doctors trying to make money. He is clearly saying that he does not want doctors making decisions about patient care because they are only interested in profit. If Obama believes that doctors can’t be trusted to make good decisions about what a patient really needs, then why should we believe him when he says he wants to make sure that it is doctors who make those decisions?
Of course, the truth is that Obama’s speeches about letting doctors and patients decide what’s best is just another one of his noble myths. Sure, he wants them to make their decisions together – as long as they are deciding between the treatment options that the federal government has said they can choose from.
“Here in Soviet Russia, you can buy any color car you want, just as long as it’s black!”
Update: Welcome all you Hot Air readers! I hope you all look around and come back often!
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:43 pm
So This Is What It’s Come To, Eh?…
Thanks for the link, Donald. And if your’re here on your own, be sure to check out his American Power roundup on the topic Pardon me for being a bit insulted, but according to President Obama I am the problem…….
July 23rd, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Color me somewhat impressed. It’s really nice to know your doctor has three mansions, seven cars, a significant investment portfolio, and might be trip around the world. It really helps make the $145,000 doctor bill — after insurance is done– seem reasonable. Thank YOU!
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Realist, when they say “doctors” they mean actual MD’s the country over. Not the plastic surgeons of Beverly Hills your describing.
I realize reality doesn’t fit your liberal narrative but there it is. Doctors, just like the rest of us do not have gobs of money like your fantasy imagines. Oh, they can’t be punished by governemnt dictating healthcare otherwise. Funny how Obama and the liberal kooks demonized the Insurance Industry as the greedy ones all along. They have now switched to doctors being the greedy ones. I am surprised pres. Idiot hasn’t started spouting the patients are the greedy ones, expecting to be cured!
what a kook you are. Everyone but you is loaded with money. Everyone else should get that money taken away to benefit you and your ilk. Get off your a$$ and work for what you want.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:23 pm
I respect the jobs health care professionals do. I wouldn’t want to do it. After experiencing it though, i have to say our health care system is very far from perfect. The CYA syndrome is unbelievable and should not be tolerated by anyone aspiring to be called a professional. I hear a lot of stories about how much doctors make but when you see the cars, houses, wives (don’t mean to be sexist) vacations etc. it’s hard to believe they are really hurting. I believe it is disingenuous to say they don’t do it for the money. I think the first cost cutting measures should be on specialists pay and on the drug companies. There is no reason the rest of the industrialized world to be subsidized by the US. Finally, we are broke. We can’t afford to subsidize everyone even if we weren’t.
Imagine how much your car would cost and how poorly it would work if engineers operated in the same way health care workers do and if you could walk into a show room and pick the car you wanted regardless of cost or if you even planned or paying for it. Of course, you would pick the BMW, get the hyundai, and the bill for the aston martin.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:31 pm
Realist,
My wife and I just finished our ten year education to practice as a physicians. That is 4 years of Medical School, 4 years of residency, and 2 years of fellowship. That is ten years of making 33K so that we can practice medicine. We both own about 100K of debt for our training,. Its hard to name any other profession that demands so much.
Now we are living in a modest house and driving 10 year old cars. So your perception as a realist is a little off.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:32 pm
I think many doctors are greedy. I went to an ENT to get earwax removed and they charged the insurance company 300 dollars for a procedure that couldn’t have cost more than 25 cents.
July 23rd, 2009 at 10:34 pm
Until tort reform is thrown in the mix, “health reform” is a joke. As long as someone can hit the lotto for a mistake, health costs will always be high.
And furthermore, as long as the government has a partial hand in the health industry, costs will always be exorbitant to anyone not on a government program. Government mandates for lower costs on procedures require them to charge other patients more to make up for the lost revenue. So, it’s either go all the way in or all the way out to control costs. Or, have a half & half situation like it is now and try to contain costs through regulation.
I thought it ironic that Obama would paint the doctors as greedy, but he’s totally against tort reform to cap the greedy trial lawyers cashflow. Of course, trial lawyers by and far invest their money into the Democratic Party. And the fact that Democrats stripped out a Republican amendment for tort reform in the current “health reform” bill, exhibits clearly why they invest their money in the Democratic Party.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:11 pm
This latest condemnation of the profit motive, following his prior whining about the same in other industries he has taken over, should once and for all reveal what exists at his core: an authoritarian, Marxist heart.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:13 pm
I have children who are professionals in the health care system and they say it has needed reform for years. When I complain about premiums, my out of pocket, or the bills I get, they tell me I’m paying for the uninsured they are seeing every day. I have one grown child who has a $5,000 deductible and only uses his health care in case he has something dire happen because he can’t afford the out of pocket. We’ve been talking about health care reform for 60 years – and that’s all we do is talk, talk, talk, and then we’ll cry when if falls apart and blame the government for not doing something sooner. Because that’s the way we are in the US Well, I for one will not criticize anyone taking on the job of president. How would you like to be the guy running this country full of armchair experts – and whiners? Or for that matter – how would you like to deal with the bunch of idiots we have in Congress on both side of the aisle? Boys that make up the BLUE DOGS???? Like the classroom bullies. And the guy in the White House can’t even wear the jeans he wants without someone making a comment about how he could do better. Couldn’t we all!!
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:35 pm
Bea – apparently it only takes about 2 weeks to come up with health care “reform”, so we shouldn’t be too inconvenienced if the current system collapses. I have had good and bad experiences with the system, but overall, like a solid majority of Americans, I am satisfied with it. The system can be improved and some kind of coverage added for those in need. It doesn’t need to be ripped up root and branch to be replaced by an unplanned and untested theory during a major financial upheaval. There will be an awful lot of suffering by many individuals as they fall through the cracks while the new system is debugged and adjusted.
A leaky roof needs to get fixed. Ripping it off, before making a plan, before finding a contractor, without a means of payment, in the middle of a hurricane is criminally stupid. Sorry Rahm, some crises must go to waste.
PS Some of the “Boys” that make up the Blue Dogs are women.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:40 pm
While the HC industry is not perfect, its still very good and can be improved upon with some wholesale changes. It does not need a complete makeover implemented by the same morons who brought us Social Security, Public Education, Medicaire/Aid, among other mismanaged Gov’t run institutions/programs currently failing and economically crippling us.
HC is not an easy fix, nor is it subject to hasty solutions. It needs to address issues which is causing the failure, however, this requires hard choices and setting special interests, ego, and partison politics aside. Therefore, I should stop right here and say its a lost cause, but I’ll list my suggestions anyway.
*Before anything is done for Healthcare, it would be wise to tackle immigration reform first
(If amnesty is granted, then all lax immigration policies + borders need to be renforced next – don’t want anyone else coming in for a free lunch)
** Tort Reform!!!!! ( But Barry wouldn’t want to shut-out his buddies – in fact there’s a perk stuffed in his reform plan that have trial lawyers salvating)
***Limit exsisting Federal regulations and licensing (the Gov’t already doesn’t play fair with setting costs, underpaying doctors, and burdening the system with bureacratic piles of paperwork)
****Clean up corruption – even with 5% fraud, it costs billions a year (about 80 bil.)
*****Sacrifice Special Interests – (well, that ain’t happening)
Well, now that I’m out of the LaLa Land scenario, I guess the reality is to try and institute programs that don’t dismantle the exsisting system (ex: Refundable Tax credits, Medical CC program, Savings acct…), and leaves the bureacrats out of it. That, or just never, ever get sick and stash your money in your mattress.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:45 pm
For you class envy clowns, I have a suggestion for you: Dedicate 15 years or so of your life learning the profession, spend $100,000 or so getting an education, more if you set up a practice, then work 100 hours a week to give away all the health care you want.
Until then, just shut the hell up.
The clown in chief doesn’t have a problem with the health care system, he has a problem with the Capitalist system. And unfortunately, he has plenty of clueless boobs who can’t wait to follow him off a cliff…and worse…they can vote.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:56 pm
A-Rod makes a zillion dollars a year because not just anybody can hit a baseball like he does. If just anybody could be a doctor, they wouldn’t get paid so much, either.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:28 am
Aww the poor widdle doctors have it so bad.
It must suck to not be able to buy that third SUV.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:00 am
yeah sam, they have it so bad. So why don’t you provide yourself your own healthcare? Oh right, because you lack the brains and the talent to do so. They will charge what the market will bear, plus what they have to charge to cover malpractice insurance and government mandated freebiecare. If you value your health you’ll pay, and until the burgers you flip qualify as gourmet, you’ll get paid what you are worth, the same as they are.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Samir, you’re an idiot troll! Very constructive comment, though I can understand how it is hard for you to type much, being bent over like you are for your president.
July 24th, 2009 at 2:10 am
This is what Obama meant to say – too funny – and true.
http://speakmymindblog.com/2009/07/24/obama%e2%80%99s-insurance-reform-news-conference-%e2%80%93-corrected-text/
July 24th, 2009 at 4:33 am
So why isn’t he going after other supposedly rich bastards …
… greedy trial lawyers who often file frivolous suits just to get a “nuisance” settlement
… the greedy vice presidents of community outreach at urban hospitals (funny how he didn’t call out the fact that his wife made $300K a year and didn’t pull anybody’s tonsils out.)
… the greedy Hollywood actors earning millions per film
— the greedy politicians who get to take the red pill while shoving the blue pill down everybody else’s throats!
He really missed an opportunity!
July 24th, 2009 at 5:08 am
Samir–You’re a good example of part of the problem. Did you try to take care of the earwax problem yourself?? I hope you had to pay a deductible. Insurance was meant to cover catasrophic health events. Your post is so ridiculous–it must be a hoax, a spoof or sarcasm. Seriously, I think you are an infiltrator trying to make democrats look silly, or worse.
July 24th, 2009 at 5:14 am
Three items:
1. None of this is about healthcare. Don’t take your eyes off of the real
target -controlling the masses.
2.Healthcare has two major enemies – a. tort protection -the expense gets passed on and – b. bureacracy – both a and b require time and money deflected from care. (i.e.home health RNs have become 90% laptop data-processing bureaucrats, hardly touching patients) Wait till Obamacare….
3 response to Reasons post: Your envy and hatred of doctors (and what else)will destroy you. (I watched my similar-minded brother openly assail a team of physicians because they were deliberatly planning their rounds to interrupt my dying mother’s lunch.) It is about anger and hate. The medical community is not evil – (though some are) just as Judas was a poor Christian -doesn”t mean Christ was.
July 24th, 2009 at 6:12 am
Sorry that last comment was for Realist -not Reason -too early…zzzzz.
July 24th, 2009 at 6:52 am
Excellent post. Great points, all.
July 24th, 2009 at 7:42 am
Another two thoughts I haven’t heard in all of this scapegoating, first the (envy the rich card against the insurance companies, then, the vicious attack by Obama on my personal physician, in Obama’ s scapegoat dejure game)
One point I seek to raise is the “settled law”, created from eminations from penumbras and now is constitutional; the “right of privacy” between a woman and her physician. Millions of bureacrats who leak destructive secrets to the NYTimes can hardly be considered privacy, now can it?
The other is a major part of the expense of medical care (besides bureacrats in the medicare/ medicaid game) is lawyers – fear of lawyers, and the terrible burden they place on healthcare – to pay themselves (speaking of rich doctors -how about rich lawyers?) Will Obamacare really seek to lower costs by preventing them from getting their talons into other people’s money and ultimately, health?
Since OBamacare is shifting responsibility for the nation’s healthcare to the government -what role will this prime wing of the big government party play. Will the party who now loathes rich doctors, shun the role of their own lawyers, and stop their lucrative livelyhoods? Doubtful. Life under liberalism certainly gets interesting.
July 24th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Damn that evil greedy Profit! … Um… when did profit and capitalism become such a terrible thing again? You realize that without some profit motivation, nobody is going to bother going through the incredibly difficult decades long process of becoming a doctor in the first place? Punish the eville greedy doctors and you won’t have any doctors left, you genius socialist bastards.
July 24th, 2009 at 9:15 am
And this is why I’m getting into healthcare law. You docs need somebody in YOUR corner for a change. Look me up in 5 years if you need some legal protection.
July 24th, 2009 at 9:21 am
[...] Rightwing Czar touches on a subject that I have spoken with freinds about for the last 24 hours, yet unfortunately have not had the opportunity to write about here as of yet. During his speech Wednesday night, President Obama implied that Doctors decided how best to treat their patient, based on how much they would be compensated. In doing so, the President has not only demeaned Doctors and Nurses nationwide, but he has forgotten who he initially claimed the “bad guys” were. Hasn’t Obama been telling us this whole time that it is the big bad insurance companies that are causing the problems in health care? Aren’t they the ones that are making record profits and tying the hands of doctors in giving good patient care? Did Obama forget who the bad guys were? [...]
July 24th, 2009 at 9:23 am
Of course doctors just love for everyone to think that they are doing it for the humanitarian reasons, and then still pull in 6-figures every year.
July 24th, 2009 at 9:34 am
The game of this administration (and Democrats in general) is divide and conquer. The colonists used it very successfully in the past – and the collectivists are doing it now. They need to vilify success in order for the drones like Realist (in your dreams) and Samir (25c? which third world country did you immigrate from?) to “rally” for the theft of the producers in the name of justice.
BTW – it’s no coincidence that George Orwell’s ideas about personal freedom and state authority developed when he was a British colonial administrator in Burma. We are headed towards an Orwellian world and every day brings new evidence of it.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:12 am
Realist – a little math-word problem exercise for you.
Two kids graduate high school, one decides to become a plumber, the other wants to be a doctor.
The plumber makes an average of $25,000 the first five years, gets licensed, then makes an average of $50K for the following five years. At the end of ten years the plumber has earned $375,000
He’ll make an average of $60K per year after that until retirement.
The doctor ends up $100,000 in debt before he starts.
So, how many years before the doctor making $120,000 per year breaks even with the plumber making $60K per year?
and, let’s not forget, the doctor is also “giving up” a good part of his or her twenties to become a doctor.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:23 am
“Of course doctors just love for everyone to think that they are doing it for the humanitarian reasons, and then still pull in 6-figures every year.”
Democrats protect the AIG execs who make a whole lot more than that.
And instead of all this class envy carping, why don’t you spend another 12 years in school, pay the malpractice premiums and show us all how to do it for free?
July 24th, 2009 at 10:24 am
What we really need is a single payer legal system.
July 24th, 2009 at 10:53 am
I am a doctor. I make 6 figures a yr. I work 7 days a week for both in patient in the hospital and out patient care in my office. I never heard that any of my doctor friends has 3 houses and 7 cars. I just told a patient ” No ” to his blood test request yesterday because it was not necesseary. I do not make any decision based on kick back from labs or imaging centers.
Doctors are hard-working people. If you think that we are greedy people like lawers and dirty politicians, please do not come to see us. Do not contibute any money to our million- dollar mansion.
There will be a nation wide shortage of doctors and nurses if this bill passed. I will be gone for sure. Both of my parents are doctors and that is how I got into this field. However, I just told my son not studying medicine. The long training and student loan are not worth it.
July 24th, 2009 at 11:05 am
Who in the world would go to an ENT to get earwax removed? Your primary care provider is well qualified to do just that. ENTs are specialists with prices to match. We are a specialty referral-only practice and once had a patient self-refer for a urinary tract infection! She could have gone to a doc-in-a-box clinic and paid her co-pay but she was so convinced she had something horrible, she finagled her way into our office. She ended up with our routine new patient charge for a UTI. Unbelievable.
In most socialized medicine systems, the government subsidizes most or all of physician training. Why? Because there is no way you can convince top notch people to spend the years and the dollars to become an MD if all they can make is the average plumber’s salary. Lower the bar and you lower the quality of the applicants and diminish the value of the profession. No way around it.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
As I related to Giacomo over at Joust the Facts …
“He is clearly saying that he does not want doctors making decisions about patient care because they are only interested in profit.”
As if the denizens of the “non-profit” world are not subject to the corrosive effects of greed …
… like the scientist who presents his findings in a way that will maximize his opportunity to obtain further funding, by reinforcing the preconceptions and agendas of the Powers that Be.
… like the academic that goes along with the Party Line, in order to improve the likelihood he will be granted tenure.
… like the activist — or politician — or President — who doesn’t let a crisis go to waste; instead, they mix fear and envy to keep the contributions coming … or stay in office.
This goes beyond medicine … as an engineer who designs equipment for our warfighters, I do seek to bring my employer — and myself — an honest profit … not by Any Means Necessary, but by providing the most cost-effective solutions in my field. My desire for profit does NOT, despite the implications of this President, lead me to do less than my best in that regard … for I know that the lives of both our warriors and the innocents they encounter can depend upon the effectiveness (including cost — for a system too expensive to deploy where it’s needed is worse than no system at all) of my work.
The underlying assumption of Mr. Obama’s statement above … that the “non-profit” are inherently more moral and trustworthy than those who publicly declare that the pursuit of legitimate profit is their objective … is a piece of the conventional wisdom of the last century, that belongs in the dustbin of this one.
July 25th, 2009 at 1:21 pm
When did the profit motive become the only reason to do anything? When did that become the new patriotism? Ask not what you could do for your country, ask what’s in it for Blue Cross/Blue Shield.