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HEALTH REFORM: Docs Across the US Join Obama in Support of Reform
Today, President Obama welcomed doctors (including my dad!) from every state to the Rose Garden to rally in support of health reform. "People who are most supportive of reform are those who know the health system best -- the doctors and nurses of America," the president told the crowd.
Though doctors have been hesitant (and sometimes hostile) toward reform in the past, many doctor groups came out in strong support of health reform this year, including the AMA and the ACP. Doctors know our current health care system is unsustainable, and they've seen firsthand the painful, personal toll it takes on patients and their families.
Obama outlined how health reform would help Americans -- these doctors' patients -- by providing secure and stable coverage, more affordable choices, and eliminating lifetime spending limits on care. The legislation would also prevent insurance companies from denying coverage based on preexisting conditions.
Moreover, the president explained exactly how health reform would help physicians. Doctors would be able to spend more time with patients and less time doing paperwork and fighting with insurance companies. "Doctors took an oath to heal people and save lives," said Obama. They didn't take the oath to become "bean-counters" or to spend their time on the phone arguing with insurance companies.
Reform would offer loan forgiveness to physicians practicing in underserved rural areas. Obama also expressed commitment to reforming the sustainable growth rate system (how much doctors get paid under Medicare) and reforming malpractice in a way that protects patients but still answers doctors' concerns about practicing defensive medicine.
As I mentioned before, my dad, a practicing physician from Pennsylvania, was at the rally today. As he previously wrote on our blog, doctors want to do the right thing for their patients -- and meaningful health reform is part of the right thing. "All of you have devoted your lives to the healing of others," the president told the doctors at the White House, "and all of you understand that your job would be a lot easier if we reform our health care system."
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Physicians for Obamacare
I wouldn't characterize this scripted Rose Garden photo-op as 'Docs across the Country Support Obama...". It was only 150 docs who heard a 9 minute address by the president. The other 99.8% of the nation's physicians were working in their offices and hospitals taking care of sick people and trying to keep others well. I don't know any medical colleague who supports Obamacare. Most physicians I know don't believe it will be good for the medical profession or for our patients. None of these doctors were invited to the Rose Garden party. www.MDWhistleblower.blogspot.com
physicians
Actually one of the biggest changes between now and 1994 is how much physicians attitudes have changed -- how many of them now support reform. Not just the organized groups like the AMA (and you know its historic and influential opposition to reform) but doctors we meet and hear from all the time. Not every doctor. Not every specialty. Not every city. But both what members of our policy team see and hear, and the public opinion data on physicians suggests that doctors know the current system isn't working for their patients. Not as well as it should for the insured. And not at all for the uninsured and the uninsurable.
Your online profile mentions that you do colonoscopies so I'm guessing your are GI. Every time you detect an early cancer or a pre-cancer or a polyp that's a red flag for cancer, I would hope you feel a sense of satisfaction, that this is what you went into medicine for, to prevent illness, to save lives. But I also hope you wonder -- when a patient at elevated risk doesn't come back two or three or five years later -- has he or she moved? Changed doctors? Or have they lost their insurance, and care that should be essential is now a luxury.