So, Congress mashes 4 huge healthcare bills together into a document so huge it makes “War and Peace” look like a pamphlet.
And they actually think something that huge & internally contradictory is going to work? You know darned well they won’t even read the whole thing! NO ONE can read that much mind-numbing crud.
There’s a word for this: EPIC FAIL.
We all know the current system sucks, to be quite blunt. But we haven’t asked the most important question of all:
Why isn’t Congress listening to doctors, nurses, pharmacists, rehabilitation therapists, imaging professionals, laboratory workers, their assistive personnel, billing/coding/documentation specialists? Sorry, this group KNOWS what patients need! And they’ve had enough experience with federal programs to know the burdens of “cost saving” regulations cost more money than they save.
I will give you that epically confusing federal legislation does create jobs. Jobs where people with brilliant minds have to turn them to making a balky system work.
There’s a much better use for brilliant minds.
Like, helping Congress figure out what’s working, what’s not, and why, not to mention how to fix it.
Cutting what doctors earn isn’t a solution. Their fees are created to cover the cost of the human & materiel resources & follow-up necessary for the procedure or action taken to benefit the patient.
Doctors have to pay nurses, medical assistants, HIM (Healthcare Information Management, aka “Medical Records”) specialists, HIPAA specialists (including ones who obtain copies of your records for you), documentation specialists, denial and billing specialists, computer consultants to buy &/or maintain the electronic records systems (and the faxing system because none of these fancy computer systems talks to each other), someone to teach the systems. They have to buy or rent space, furniture, equipment, supplies. They have to hire temps if their regular hires quit or are overwhelmed or the practice grows. Their continuing education units cost a great deal of money. Annual costs for license renewal are very expensive. Add on the cost to repay 8 years’ worth of student loans (unless the doctor comes from a very wealthy family, scholarships along with loans, grants, & work-study/jobs were a big part of financing their education). Then there is the sheer amount of brain power it takes to be a doctor.
And now, the Feds, instead of saying, “Hey, after all that, if they make some money, they’ve earned it,” they say, “Let’s cut the doctor’s reimbursement to the point where, relatively speaking, they’re making less now than they’d have made 10 or 20 years ago.”
Do you think any elected or appointed government official would take a pay cut to do what they do?
I sincerely doubt it.
And here’s another, more important question to ask your lawmakers:
ARE YOU, MR./MS. CONGRESSPERSON/SENATOR, WILLING TO GIVE UP YOUR HIGH END COVERAGE AND TAKE WHATEVER YOU PASS FOR US, FOR YOURSELVES?
If your elected officials won’t take whatever plan they pass for us, and use it exclusively as their only healthcare option, then they shouldn’t pass it for the rest of us.
The AMA thinks we can do better.
So do I.
Follow the link to petition if you agree, & sign. Then get active. Ask your elected representatives, including President Obama, if they’re willing to use the same care they’ve sentenced us to use. If not, they shouldn’t pass it.
