ACTION NEEDED: President Obama insults doctors
AAPS Member, Tom Price, MD, Congressman from GA, says that the President insulted doctors during his news conference last night.
House bill would destroy private insurance—and private medicine
Provisions of the plan: Obama promised that you could keep your health plan—but the “tri-committee” House bill, “America’s Affordable Health Choices Act of 2009” (H.R. 3200), assures that this will not be possible. Unless your […]
Myth 10. If you like your health plan and your doctor, you can keep them.
The reason that the President needs to promise that he won’t take away your health plan or your doctor is that he believes that he could. After all, there is no right to choose a […]
Should Doctors Dump the AMA?
Yesterday the AMA endorsed the House legislation that would in effect establish government medicine. Why did they do it? They sold out for a few percentage points in the SGR. Do you think a miniscule […]
Myth 9. A “public option” is needed to spur competition, keep private plans honest, and bring down costs.
The White House claims that the choice of a public plan operating alongside private plans would spur private plans to improve. It also promises that all plans would be playing by the same rules.
Myth 8. Spending more on prevention and “wellness” will enable us to spend less on medical care while improving health.
The idea of having a “wellness” rather than a “disease” orientation is politically appealing, and politicians on both sides of the aisle promise painless savings of “billions” by “incenting doctors” to “keep people healthy.”
Myth 7. Universal coverage, enforced through an individual mandate, as in Massachusetts, will achieve universal access and reduce costs.
According to the implicit hypothesis underlying the rush to “health care reform,” the main barrier to ideal care for all at an affordable cost is the absence of universal “coverage”—payment and supervision—by an appropriate (governmental […]
Myth 6: Life expectancy is longer in other countries because they have universal tax-funded medical coverage, and the U.S. does not.
The longest-lived people are probably the Japanese. They have good genes, are seldom overweight, and eat lots of fish. They have had a government-funded medical system since 1927—and they also have a robust private medical […]
Myth 5. Cost control and quality will emerge from comparative effectiveness research.
Congress appropriated $1.1 billion—the total worth of 1,100 millionaires—to “comparative effectiveness research” (CER). It promised that CER would not turn out to be “cost-effectiveness research”—and the rationale for treatment rationing and denial—although it defeated a […]
