To great applause from the American Medical Association (AMA), Congress passed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act of 2015 (MACRA), almost unanimously. It was hailed as the repeal of the notorious Clinton-Gingrich sustained growth rate (SGR) formula, which threatened large pay cuts for Medicare physicians every year. It was actually a “repeal and replace” […]
The medical record has become a tool for oversight and research, without requiring consent, overriding patients’ rights to privacy, writes Susan Israel, M.D., in the winter issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Data compiled from electronic medical records and insurance claims will be used to create treatment “guidelines” that will define value-based […]
Faced with increasing bureaucratic demands and declining revenues due to price controls, more and more physicians are opting out of Medicare, Medicaid, and insurance contracts, write neuro-otologists Gerard Gianoli, M.D., and James Soileau, M.D., and office manager Beth Soileau in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. In 2008, less than […]
The Obama Administration’s attack on coal-fired electricity, through draconian “carbon” rules imposed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), makes bogus claims about lives to be saved, states the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS). The Administration is lumping together carbon dioxide—the basic building block of all living things and also a weak greenhouse gas—and […]
Healthcare reform advocates often attribute high medical costs to fee-for-service payment, writes economist Linda Gorman of the Independence Institute in the winter 2013 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons.” It is said that patients “want too much care,” and physicians “are too willing to fatten their pockets to provide it.” “Pay-for-performance systems […]
While all the talk on healthcare reform focuses on “coverage,” Juliette Madrigal-Dersch, M.D., who practices internal medicine and pediatrics in Austin, Texas, explains how coverage is often an actual barrier to care, in the summer issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. Dr. Madrigal-Dersch is the president of the Association of American Physicians […]
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rules on small particulate-matter air pollutants (PM2.5) cost the economy billions of dollars. The justification for these costly, job-destroying rules is challenged in the winter 2012 issue of the Journal of American Physicians and Surgeons. The EPA claims that tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of Americans die […]
Tucson, Ariz. In 1966, the government was afraid that a lot of self-reliant, freedom-loving Americans would refuse to participate in a government medical plan. So President Lyndon Johnson forced insurers to cancel the private plans that enrolled about half of America’s senior citizens. There was no talk of a “public option competing on a level […]
Tucson, Ariz. Not so long ago, hospitals were primarily workshops for physicians, and both hospital administrators and physicians were working for a single purpose: healing the sick. But now many hospitals—whether tax-exempt (“nonprofit”) or not—have become big businesses. Their first priority is bringing in more revenue from government and insurers, and decreasing their expenses. Physicians […]