Bloviating Zeppelin

(in-ep-toc'-ra-cy) - a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the least capable of producing, and where the members of society least likely to sustain themselves or succeed, are rewarded with goods and services paid for by the confiscated wealth of a diminishing number of producers.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

What if nearly half of all physicians in America stopped practicing medicine?

The very first sentence in a recent New England Journal of Medicine Career Center article:

What if nearly half of all physicians in America stopped practicing medicine?

Why would the NEJM article even write that? Read on:

While a sudden loss of half of the nations physicians seems unlikely, a very dramatic decrease in the physician workforce could become a reality as an unexpected side effect of health reform.

Continuing:

The results from the survey, entitled “Physician Survey: Health Reform’s Impact on Physician Supply and Quality of Medical Care,” were intriguing, particularly in light of the most recently published career projections from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). The BLS predicts a more than a 22 percent increase in physician jobs during the ten-year period ending in 2018. This places physician careers in the top 20 fastest-growing occupations from 2008 to 2018. Meanwhile, nearly one-third of physicians responding to the survey indicated that they will want to leave medical practice after health reform is implemented.

Please read the entire article.

There's every likelihood ObamaKare will pass.

And you will see this nation shattered on many fronts.

Gird thy loins, America. You're about to become a Third World ObamaKare Nation.

BZ

19 Comments:

Z said...: oh, GOD, BZ, this is getting so serious.........and the leftwingers just don't see it.
Dennis Prager's guest host had a great show today with Republican health care ideas, etc etc...SO many people called in asking "WHy aren't they LISTENING?"

answer: they want America to FAIL.; Wed Mar 10, 10:16:00 PM PST
Bd said...: More shameless and baseless scare tactics from the loony right to encourage their own to vote against something that would help them. Instead, let's keep the insurance companies making obscene profits on our health and denying coverage. Fools.; Thu Mar 11, 05:21:00 AM PST
Greybeard said...: I'll ask the question that went unanswered in the last post.
Bd or Tim can educate me...
We've gotten into this economic mess by opening up the checkbook and writing checks we don't have deposits to cover.
The country is already bankdrupt because we are rewarding failure left and right.
Where is the money for this HUGE BOONDOGGLE gonna come from?

(And the reason they won't answer my question is obvious...
PAY NOT ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!); Thu Mar 11, 06:56:00 AM PST
A Jacksonian said...: What happens when the majority just stop taking insurance, lower their prices, have you sign a contract not to sue for malpractice and then give you decent healthcare without the overhead... and you taking responsibility for your own health?

You would save money, that overhead is a killer for practices already. And the main non-payer of claims is the US government for Medicare, so if you want to end the idea of those supposedly 'insuring' your health not paying, the place to start is with the biggest deadbeat... not insurance companies, but the US government. That is how the government 'saves' money: by not paying out the going rate for treatment. That cost shifts to the private arena where doctors can charge more.

I have yet to see one part of government that delivers anything on time, on budget and able to do so without expanding staff and overhead. Which increases cost and decreases quality as more 'oversight' means less accountability and more finger pointing at the other layers of the bureaucracy.

And why is it a good thing to subsidize big business via mandating that only big business can get National coverage for employees when other business associations and even voluntary patient groups can meet the same criteria? I know, big business needs lots of help from the government, now, doesn't it? Glad to know that those wanting this stuff support big business perks from government and big government perks from business... too bad the citizen gets screwed in-between them. I'm glad to see the Left is all for government and big business sleeping together... really, all those anti-business marches and such were a facade to empower big businesses and screw medium and small sized ones with regulations, taxation, and 'oversight'. While big business helped write the regulations. Just what the Left loves.; Thu Mar 11, 07:53:00 AM PST
Chris said...: BZ, doesn't Bd know insurance is a product. Much like a car, or a book. People buy the products. If there is a demand, then why try to squash the people wo make the products? He is against the evil corporations, but yet he still buys their product. Typical liberal hypocritical way of life. Punish those in business, doing what they do best.BUSINESS! doesn't he know every large company started out small, so does that make him a hater of small businesses too? As for the physicians, can you blame them?; Thu Mar 11, 08:22:00 AM PST
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: Where will the "free" aspects end?

BZ; Thu Mar 11, 08:29:00 AM PST
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: bd: obscene profits. Margins on insurance companies are roughly 2 - 3%. Grocery stores have margins of about the same. Therefore those heinous businesses should be regulated horribly as well, those profit mongers.

BZ; Thu Mar 11, 08:30:00 AM PST
TexasFred said...: It IS a strong possibility, no matter what the moonbats, the Brain Dead or the Obama ass-kissers say...; Thu Mar 11, 10:25:00 AM PST
Greybeard said...: For Bd and Tim, let me try it in a different language:
Ooohay isay onnagay aypay orfay isthay oondogglebay?; Thu Mar 11, 01:56:00 PM PST
CJ said...: Here's my take, for what it's worth.

"Health insurance" has become something it should not be.

Americans with "health insurance" have little or no incentive to control the cost of their treatments because they do not pay for it.

"Health insurance" should be for one thing: Catastrophic illness.

Every day health care costs - trips to the doctor for a cold or the flu or a sore knee should be paid for by the individual.

That provides incentive for the individual to become involved in his/her health care. If I'm paying for a test or treatment, I am more apt to question whether or not it is necessary and to work out a deal with my doctor.

Doctors today are more apt to agree to a deal with patient willing to forgo the insurance company billing headache and pay cash for their visit.

There is nothing the government has become involved that it has not screwed up. It is that simple.

cjh; Thu Mar 11, 03:03:00 PM PST
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: cj: I'd have to agree. If I want to visit the doc for a cold or for toe fungus or a minor problem I should be willing to pay a fair price -- not thousands of dollars but not a "co-pay" of $10 either -- which is almost nothing. I don't believe people would object to that kind of fee; they want to know they'll be covered for catastrophic events.

BZ; Thu Mar 11, 03:58:00 PM PST
Tim said...: Greybeard, we always seem to have the money to fight wars, subsidize farmers, give $10 billion in tax breaks to big oil in a year that they have record profits and all of the other Republican special interests. These physicians are not going to quit doctoring. They are just reacting with their gut to a survey. The truth is that the 37 million are being treated now, they are just not paying for it or showing up in the ER. tell you what Greybeard, name the last Republican administration that delivered a surplus and paid down the debt. Remember "deficets don't matter" and "starving the beast". This is the most disengenuous and threadbare argument out there used over and over by the Repiblicans when they are out of power and instantly forgot the moment they get back in power. Cut the defense budget in half and we still spend over three times on the military than China, the next biggest military spender. We've heard this before when Clinton was in office and it;s still a lie.
Z- I'd say it's the Republicans who want America to fail by undermining Obama and the choice of the electorate by obstructing and not collaborating. The current healthcare bill is full of republican ideas. Anything truly progressive has been taken out.
Chris, I work in healthcare and believe me, doctors make anywhere from $125,000-400,000 a year depending on their specialty. If anuthing they'll take a mild haircut in taxes. As far as the insurance companies, they are no better than the mega banks. Lack of regulations allow them to screw people over at will, which is why Obamacare is even happening.; Thu Mar 11, 04:05:00 PM PST
Tom said...: I'm waiting for the ration books...; Thu Mar 11, 05:17:00 PM PST
dmurray said...: Tim, an attorney in california just landed twenty four million dollars for a tort wherein a father ran over his daughter with an owner operator truck and got the owner of the load sued. The plaintiff's attorney did his job well and took the respondent's attorney to the woodshed. How about you ask Mr. Buccola, the plaintiff's attorney, to lighten up on his percentage. How about you ask the Trial Lawyers Association to lighten up on their percentages since they revel in raising the jolly roger. Sounds like the tort reform we need to get the lawyers out of our pockets.

Leave foreign policy out of tort reform. It is a false choice to decide whether to pursue al Quaeda or fund a school. You would have had FDR hand over Hawaii and ten western states and hope that that was all Imperial Japan wanted.

President Al Gore probably would have made the same offer to Mullah Omar and Osama bin Laden after 9/11/01.

Republicans don't have the imagination to make Obama fail. Obama is fully equipped to run himself and this nation into the ground all by himself. All the Republicans have to do is hand out popcorn for the show and then pick up the pieces this November.

Democrats, however, knowing that their Mark of Cain bloody fingerprints are all over the entire fiasco of healthcare think that they can get Republican window dressing to share their criminal culpability. Dear Lord help the GOP keep their knees together on that one!

I know people who seek "healthcare" in a former Warsaw pact country. They have rationing like we will have. When a pregnant mother is in the clinic or hospital they see a health care professional its the white coat with their hand extended, palm up. Cash better be forthcoming or there will be an even longer wait. Still hurt? Off you go to the "private clinic" where cash is king for your eyes, stomach or any other painful malady. Ask around.

If anything the Republicans have done the most clever thing they have done in simply pointing out that they told Obama, Reid and Pelosi so.

I'll vote for a Democrat when they learn to respect innocent life, the sanctity of life and the value of the traditional nuclear family.

Go ahead, say, "Nucular." I do and I enjoy it.; Thu Mar 11, 05:20:00 PM PST
Bd said...: The AMA supports health care reform.

The current health care delivery system will bankrupt us.

Many say this reform will be defect neutral.

Health Care companies in CA raided rates by 39%. Don't they dont make obscene profits.

And so what if it does cost us? It's time people. It's time. We're 37th in the world in health care delivery and in the top 5 for the best health care-if you can afford it. Wake up. Your families lives may depend on it.

The GOP never respected life, they could've changed RvW but need this wedge issue alive to divide us. Instead they killed millions in Iraq. Yeah, respect.; Thu Mar 11, 06:42:00 PM PST
dmurray said...: Bd said, "The GOP never respected life, they could've changed RvW but need this wedge issue alive to divide us. Instead they killed millions in Iraq. Yeah, respect."

My "healthcare insurance" went up ten percent this year. I know someone in Sonoma County whose Anthem went down thirty one dollars. Anecdotal? Support your statisical bulge, Homes.

Also at least state a theory as to how Roe v. Wade, much less Doe v. Bolton or Griswold v. Connecticut could have been reversed by the Grand Old Party.

Did Sherman reverse polarity on Mr.Peabody's WayBack machine in order to link 1973 to 2001? Was the use of an aluminum foil hat involved?

My apologies to Jay Ward, Hans Conreid, William Conrad and to Dr. Phil for a statement masquerading as a question regarding the hat.; Thu Mar 11, 07:18:00 PM PST
Ron Russell said...: BZ, the law of unintended consequences just may kick in if Obamacare is passed. I'm afraid there will be many more side effects and unpredictable results. Its almost like opening Pandora's Box! Linking to this post at TOTUS.; Fri Mar 12, 03:19:00 AM PST
Bloviating Zeppelin said...: First, I suspect the NEJM is not the local political organ for Fox News or the GOP. Far from it. Second, enough with the federal spending. Simply enough. It's time to cut federal spending, not increase it.

Third, I don't trust the government to mind my hangnail much less hold sway over my access to healthcare. I've already had cancer, fought it and won. I'm getting it again and will continue to get it. I'll be rationed out of this mess and limited as to the number of appearances I make to, now, my dermatologist. I've already had my surgery, chunks removed, my brother has cancer, my father just died from it. I want the federal government FAR, FAR away from telling me what, at my age, I can and cannot seek in terms of remedy required for my body. If for no other reason than the MASSIVE amount of spending, this bill cannot go through. Ron mentions unintended and/or unforeseen consequences? We haven't begun to calculate those.

DM: of course we're "owed" federal healthcare. We're "owed" housing. We're "owed" college, just ask the students. Where does it stop?

BZ; Fri Mar 12, 04:28:00 AM PST
Tim said...: Dmurray- Nobody is talking about surrendering to al Queada, for cryin' out loud. B2 bombers, F22 fighters (which can not fly in the rain) and zillions of other dollar wasting defense programs are just a start. You make the false choice. Just remember, it was your party who were the isolationists in WW2.
I'll agree that caps on lawsuits is a good idea. I also agree that tighter requlations on banks is a good idea. When they can charge you 36% interest on your credit card but pay you 0.25% on your deposits something is very wrong. That's legal loan sharking. There's a lot of social justice issues that are out of whack in this country.
"I give a poor child food and they call me a saint, I ask why the poor have no food and they call me a communist"; Fri Mar 12, 05:24:00 AM PST

Bloviating Zeppelin

: Name: Bloviating Zeppelin; Location: Sierra Nevada Mountains, Fornicalia, United States

A former Democrat in my tender and ignorant youth, I am now a Conservative first and, these days, quite a distant Republican with a dash of Libertarian mixed in for good measure. I believe in God, the strength of America, the brilliance of our Founding Fathers, the valor of our military, and the need for Leadership in all forms and on every level. I am not an advocate of censorship as I believe everyone on the Far Left has a God-given right to be painfully stupid -- as I have a right to expose said stupidity. UPDATED NOTE: Recent legal references mandate that I make clear that these writings are ONLY my written OPINIONS and those of no one else. FAIR USE NOTICE - This web site may contain copyrighted material, which may not always have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such images and excerpts are made available for the purpose of analysis and critique, as well as to advance understanding of social, political, media and cultural issues. We believe this constitutes 'fair use' as explained in Section 107 of the US Copyright Law. ADVERTISING: I do NOT, however, ask for nor display advertisements here.

View my complete profile

Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]

This Page

Bloviating Zeppelin

Thursday, March 11, 2010

What if nearly half of all physicians in America stopped practicing medicine?

19 Comments:

Bloviating Zeppelin

About Me

Previous Posts