Obama: Doctor-Choice Is Vital To Health Care Plan

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama says Americans will still be able to choose their doctors under the health care changes he is seeking.

The president met Wednesday at the White House with five governors to discuss their views on revamping the nation's health care system.

Obama said they all agreed that priorities include controlling costs, assuring the choice of doctors and providing high-quality care.

Obama said it is essential to enact wide-ranging health care changes this year.

He met with Republican governors Jim Douglas of Vermont and Mike Rounds of South Dakota, and with Democrats Jim Doyle of Wisconsin, Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and Christine Gregoire of Washington.

Comments

[murphysmom]

I just heard Sebelius respond yes to Sen. Dingell when he asked: 1. if the public option must adhere to the same rules and regulations as all others plans 2. hospitals and doctors are not required to participate in the public option 3. the public option will offer the same minimum benefit design as all other plans in "the exchange" (what is the exchange?)

I might as well keep what I have--especially if with the public option they can drop you like the private insurers do! This needs to be taken care of if the public option is following the same rules and guidelines as we have now!!! What wil be the difference?

[jmpurser]

That's what the President means when he says that the government plan (public option) that competes "on a level playing field" with private companies.

So our tax dollars will go to screw Americans just like some of the most reviled companies in America.

The alternative is to go with a Single Payer plan but President Obama took that off the table.

[wonketteRAWKS]

So he wants to mandate health insurance and then tax it?

[chuckleatlibs]

I just heard on the ABC Nightly News that 83% of people are happy with their healthcare, although 85% are concerned about rising costs. So I want to know how on earth 'reform' can occur. What needs to be figured out is WHY healthcare costs are so high. They increase by double digits every year! Only 37% want a public plan if it will put private insurers out of business, so all you lovers of a single-payer system are in the minority. I think this is going to get very ugly.

[Mugzi]

It would be interesting to know where they got their data. According to Lake Research almost 70% want health care reform. Where is the 37% from? Personally, I think we need a choice - private insurance and single payer. Or better yet, make it 3 choices!

[andyg]

A major cost is lawyers fees, tort reform would help.

[TheBaffler]

That's a lie the insurance companies like to spread to justify their gouging of doctors on premiums.

If a doctor doesn't want to get sued, he/she shouldn't botch things. When things do get botched, the victim should be entitled to fair compensation. Capping settlements and penalties only serves to increase profit for the already obscenely profitable insurance industry.

[Marcospinelli]

At a meeting of the American Medical Association, Barack Obama tackled the model "that has taken the pursuit of medicine from a profession — a calling — to a business." He reminded doctors: "You didn't enter this profession to become bean counters and paper pushers. You entered this profession to be healers. And that's what our health care system should let you be."

Listening to him, I thought of one small tale from the annals of medicine. A few days earlier, a friend had an appointment to consider a rather serious heart procedure. After 15 minutes, the cardiologist stood up to leave. My friend was startled. "I have more questions," she said. He answered, "I have another patient," and walked away.

I am sure that he didn't become a cardiologist to treat patients like travelers in a revolving door. I am also sure that no rational system would allot minimum time for an office visit to decide on a procedure that will cost, on average, $35,000. But there we are.

Somewhere along the way, with the help of insurers and incentives, by paying for procedures rather than patient care, we have created a culture of medicine that pushes doctors away from the "calling."

http://www.mercurynews.com/opinion/ci_12623824

[BethinIllinois]

I read this online yesterday, which means either you're a professional blogger/poster, you are posting everywhere or you're lifting other people's words.

[Marcospinelli]

Open your eyes real wide, and look at the bottom line.

See the link?

[Marcospinelli]

Great!

You can choose your doctor under SINGLE PAYER UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE.

[jmpurser]

"Obama said they all agreed that priorities include controlling costs, assuring the choice of doctors and providing high-quality care."

If we all agree those are the priorities then which one of them isn't done best by Single Payer? If your employer picks your health insurance company then how do you get to pick your doctor? How does that control costs? If the private insurance companies are under pressure to reduce costs WHILE maintaining their 30% overhead then how will that not effect quality of care?

[JackNasty]

Under the for-profit health care plan that my employer currently purchases for us, I have to use the doctors on the insurance company's approved list or pay a huge premium. One of my favorite doctors has not been able to negotiate reasonable fees with the insurer and he is not included on that list.

I would welcome any public reform that sets reasonable fees across the board. So would that doctor I mentioned. That would eliminate discount shopping by insurance companies as a basis for providing medical care. Standardized fees is one of the basis sound management of universally available health care in Japan, Sweden, Denmark, Spain, Germany, Britain, Italy and France.

Bargain health care

[bygollymissmolly]

Seniors on Medicare have the ability to choose any doctor they want. People who are covered by for-profit health insurance companies do not. You have to choose a doctor that is in their list of preferred providers. Medical also rarely, if ever, turns down a treatment requested by a doctor. The for-profit health insurance companies routinely turn down requested treatment.

Which plan would you rather have?

[naschkatze]

Under the current system, though, doctors have the right to choose the patients they want too. They can turn down Medicare and Medicaid patients, and they can even insist on no patients with insurance period. I see problems with the medical profession down the line if they don't like what we get.

[nyc1977]

It is very funny when people fail to look at all sides of things. Is it free for a Doctor to provide healthcare for their patients? NO!!! they have to pay for office space, electricity, front desk staff, billing staff, nurses, etc. So does it make sense that they will be able to provide better care when they will have to see more patients to cover overhead. Will that lead to better healthcare? So why is it ok that someonelse dictates how much they are going to be reimbursed? Electricians, plumbers, lawyers all set a price and if you don't pay there is a lien on your house or you are sued. In other countries where healthcare is nationalized, physician education is paid for. Here they leave school with $250,000++ in debt. Everyone expects them to work for less, spend less time with patients (doing less of what they went into medicine for), and then be open to lawsuits for a bad outcome. A bad outcome does not mean negligence but simply that someone has a known complication but still can sue and possibly win and take away everything this person might have. So you see, just like everyone is thinking about themselves, so too must doctors. And yes they will stop seeing patients with the public option or they simply will leave the profession. And I don't blame them. We expect them to run a business to provide us care but we expect to dictate the prices?

[hankandted]

Interesting, since in many private insurers health plans you have to use the doctors on their lists. So, can we conclude that there will choice of doctor regardless of plan?

[rxvette]

I think keeping physician choice is definitely something that needs to be in healthcare reform. Right now the private insurance companies largely dictate which doctor you can and cannot see. I'd love to see a government plan that allowed choice. Wouldn't that be great social healthcare for all of you right wing extremists out there? A private insurance industry that severely restricts choices and tells you what you can and cannot have done for your healthcare needs and a government program that lets you choose your doctor and lets your doctor and yourself choose what's best in terms of treatment. Because that's how our current system works right now. The private capitalistic healthcare companies dictate everything that happens to you. So much for the free market theory.

Read this to see how our system is a failure:

http://rxvette.blogspot.com/2009/05/healthcare-reform-touches-home.html

[MaryanneAZ]

The doctor is not as important as the availability of one's medical records. So much time and money is wasted with reinventing the wheel when one goes to a new doctor or specialist. If a specialist could pull up your general medical records on the internet, he could go straight to the specific issue and not repeat basic diagnostics.

[drvittoriarepetto]

I always make copies of my patients' x-ray & lab reports and give it to them.
And I always tell them to request their records/test results from other doctors; it is their legal right under HPAA.

[Marcospinelli]

It's already paid for. The funds for electronicizing medical records was in the stimulus bill. Over my loud objections.

[Agent420]

One priority....a system like in all the other industrialized countries. To many that means socialized medicine. I say call it what you want, but it is what we want.

[YOUCANKEEPTHECHANGE]

Its what you want!! I dont want government run health care. I like the health care an options I have now.

[bygollymissmolly]

Well, if there is a public option, you will be able to keep the plan you have now. So why would you care if we want a government option.

BTW, just wait until something serious happens to you and then come back and tell us how much you like your current plan.

My daughter is a bankruptcy attorney who recently did a bankruptcy for a couple in their 50's. Their daughter almost died in an automobile accident. After all her treatments, the family was left holding the bag on over $200,000 in unpaid medical bills. And they had a health insurance plan they thought was great.

[timberdoodle]

What is wrong with Americans? Is everyone intellectually challenged to the degree they can't figure anything out for themselves and rely on anti social media types like Rush and Fox crew for their limited knowledge on issues.

Every modern country in the entire world has universal health care and their citizens love it and would revolt if anyone tried to take it away. It is a right not a privilege as it is life and death.

No one dictates what doctor to see or stands between the patient and the doctor in any of these countries. You people may have to improve your education system long before you can get your country out of the dark ages.

[MaryanneAZ]

We elect and re-elect representatives to Congress who in no way represent us. That's the simple answer to the big problem. We cannot get what we want because we do not elect representatives who care about their constituents' needs above big donors to their campaigns.

[PaxEterna]

Who has choice now?

Only those who can afford the best care.

The rest of us are constrained by fees we cannot pay, doctors who are either in our plan or not, and ditto for hospitals and drugs.

This is a fatuous argument.

Until I have the same health care - and range of choices that say, Sen Kennedy has - I don't think the President's emphasis on choice is very meaningful.

In fact, it is insulting. This is a sound bite only. "Choice" is only relative in this country to how much money you have. That is the ticket to better neighborhoods, better schools, better everything.

$ should not be the ticket to health care. From Hippocrates on down, any committed health care professional would not put profit take above patient care. Sadly we do not live in that kind of consciousness.

National Referendum.

Women for equal care.

It's time ....

He needs to 'evolve" a bit more into the reality camp that most of us live in.

[Dude77007]

I don't understand what the big deal is on Doctor choice. Most people are currently on employer paid or partially paid healthcare plans. Employer sponsored plans are an employee benefit AT THE OIPTION OF THE EMPLOYER. There is no government mandate that your employer offer any insurance plan paid for or otherwise. It is the employer who negotiates with the insurance companies on which plans they will offer and pay for. Employers offer plans that the company can afford and not necessairly a plan(s) that meet all employees needs, usually a HMO, PPO or POS. Tthese plans have IN NETWORK and OUT OF NETWORK doctor options. When an employer changes plans , you can lose your favorite doctor or for a doctor to terminate his contract with that particular insurance plan. SO WE HAVE ALWAYS HAD TO USE IN-NETWORK DOCTORS or pay more and have had the risk of our doctor leaving the network. So your choice of doctor has always been at the mercy of the insurance carrier , the doctor and your employer. SO GET OVER IT!!!

As for the government telling your doctor what services they can provide, THE INSURANCE COMPANIES HAVE BEEN DOING THIS FOR YEARS!! It is a fact, that on major medical issues, the insurance company is in contact with the hospital and doctors every few days ,MANAGING COSTS and dictating what services can be provided.

As a Benefits manager, I would like to see a real discussion on this issue with FACTS.

[olmossy]

Or your doctor may , like mine last month, move to another city. there are no gaurantees. There never were. My in-laws up in Wis. was being treated for a heart ailment and his insurance co. dropped his doctor.

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