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Before health reform, 50% of the doctors said they wouldn't be doctors again.
So no big change. The health care system is broken for everybody.
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnal...aspx?id=506199
Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found.
The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors' own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul.
It also calls into question whether an overhaul is even doable; 72% of the doctors polled disagree with the administration's claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better-quality care at lower cost.
The IBD/TIPP Poll was conducted by mail the past two weeks, with 1,376 practicing physicians chosen randomly throughout the country taking part. Responses are still coming in, and doctors' positions on related topics — including the impact of an overhaul on senior care, medical school applications and drug development — will be covered later in this series.
Major findings included:
• Two-thirds, or 65%, of doctors say they oppose the proposed government expansion plan. This contradicts the administration's claims that doctors are part of an "unprecedented coalition" supporting a medical overhaul.
It also differs with findings of a poll released Monday by National Public Radio that suggests a "majority of physicians want public and private insurance options," and clashes with media reports such as Tuesday's front-page story in the Los Angeles Times with the headline "Doctors Go For Obama's Reform."
Nowhere in the Times story does it say doctors as a whole back the overhaul. It says only that the AMA — the "association representing the nation's physicians" and what "many still regard as the country's premier lobbying force" — is "lobbying and advertising to win public support for President Obama's sweeping plan."
The AMA, in fact, represents approximately 18% of physicians and has been hit with a number of defections by members opposed to the AMA's support of Democrats' proposed health care overhaul.
• Four of nine doctors, or 45%, said they "would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement" if Congress passes the plan the Democratic majority and White House have in mind.
More than 800,000 doctors were practicing in 2006, the government says. Projecting the poll's finding onto that population, 360,000 doctors would consider quitting.
• More than seven in 10 doctors, or 71% — the most lopsided response in the poll — answered "no" when asked if they believed "the government can cover 47 million more people and that it will cost less money and the quality of care will be better."
This response is consistent with critics who complain that the administration and congressional Democrats have yet to explain how, even with the current number of physicians and nurses, they can cover more people and lower the cost at the same time.
The only way, the critics contend, is by rationing care — giving it to some and denying it to others. That cuts against another claim by plan supporters — that care would be better.
IBD/TIPP's finding that many doctors could leave the business suggests that such rationing could be more severe than even critics believe. Rationing is one of the drawbacks associated with government plans in countries such as Canada and the U.K. Stories about growing waiting lists for badly needed care, horror stories of care gone wrong, babies born on sidewalks, and even people dying as a result of care delayed or denied are rife.
In this country, the number of doctors is already lagging population growth.
From 2003 to 2006, the number of active physicians in the U.S. grew by just 0.8% a year, adding a total of 25,700 doctors.
Recent population growth has been 1% a year. Patients, in short, are already being added faster than physicians, creating a medical bottleneck.
The great concern is that, with increased mandates, lower pay and less freedom to practice, doctors could abandon medicine in droves, as the IBD/TIPP Poll suggests. Under the proposed medical overhaul, an additional 47 million people would have to be cared for — an 18% increase in patient loads, without an equivalent increase in doctors. The actual effect could be somewhat less because a significant share of the uninsured already get care.
Even so, the government vows to cut hundreds of billions of dollars from health care spending to pay for reform, which would encourage a flight from the profession.
The U.S. today has just 2.4 physicians per 1,000 population — below the median of 3.1 for members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the official club of wealthy nations.
Adding millions of patients to physicians' caseloads would threaten to overwhelm the system. Medical gatekeepers would have to deny care to large numbers of people. That means care would have to be rationed.
"It's like giving everyone free bus passes, but there are only two buses," Dr. Ted Epperly, president of the American Academy of Family Physicians, told the Associated Press.
Hope for a surge in new doctors may be misplaced. A recent study from the Association of American Medical Colleges found steadily declining enrollment in medical schools since 1980.
The study found that, just with current patient demand, the U.S. will have 159,000 fewer doctors than it needs by 2025. Unless corrected, that would make some sort of medical rationing or long waiting lists almost mandatory.
Experiments at the state level show that an overhaul isn't likely to change much.
On Monday came word from the Massachusetts Medical Society — a group representing physicians in a state that has implemented an overhaul similar to that under consideration in Washington — that doctor shortages remain a growing problem.
Its 2009 Physician Workforce Study found that:
• The primary care specialties of family medicine and internal medicine are in short supply for a fourth straight year.
• The percentage of primary care practices closed to new patients is the highest ever recorded.
• Seven of 18 specialties — dermatology, neurology, urology, vascular surgery and (for the first time) obstetrics-gynecology, in addition to family and internal medicine — are in short supply.
• Recruitment and retention of physicians remains difficult, especially at community hospitals and with primary care.
A key reason for the doctor shortages, according to the study, is a "lingering poor practice environment in the state."
In 2006, Massachusetts passed its medical overhaul — minus a public option — similar to what's being proposed on a national scale now. It hasn't worked as expected. Costs are higher, with insurance premiums rising 22% faster than in the U.S. as a whole.
"Health spending in Massachusetts is higher than the United States on average and is growing at a faster rate," according to a recent report from the Urban Ins ute.
Other states with government-run or mandated health insurance systems, including Maine, Tennessee and Hawaii, have been forced to cut back services and coverage.
This experience has been repeated in other countries where a form of nationalized care is common. In particular, many nationalized health systems seem to have trouble finding enough doctors to meet demand.
In Britain, a lack of practicing physicians means the country has had to import thousands of foreign doctors to care for patients in the National Health Service.
"A third of (British) primary care trusts are flying in (general prac ioners) from as far away as Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Hungary, Italy and Switzerland" because of a doctor shortage, a recent story in the British Daily Mail noted.
British doctors, demoralized by long hours and burdensome rules, simply refuse to see patients at nights and weekends.
Likewise, Canadian physicians who have to deal with the stringent rules and income limits imposed by that country's national health plan have emigrated in droves to other countries, including the U.S.
Tomorrow: Why most doctors oppose the government's plan — in their own words.
Before health reform, 50% of the doctors said they wouldn't be doctors again.
So no big change. The health care system is broken for everybody.
Yeah...this is no big deal. And govt really ain't getting involved. And doctors who don't want to work for the govt...who needs 'em anyway. Prolly unpatriotic racists anyway.
The Baucus bill includes no public option, but only coops and insurance mandates. What wimps.Four of nine doctors, or 45%, said they "would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement" if Congress passes the plan the Democratic majority and White House have in mind.
The Baucus bill includes no public option.
And what are the numbers of people in med school, residency, internships? I'd also like to see the raw data of this poll.
what bill was this poll based on?
THERE IS NO PUBLIC OPTION!!
The govt is not getting into HEALTHCARE...Ya'll need to just calm down! Watch some TV (but, not that racist FOX channel)...and chill!
Basically, the reform currently coming down the pike is little more than an occasion for pols to pat themselves on the back, and pad the wallets of insurance and pharmaceutical companies. The public cost is enormous, but in its current shape reform won't lead to government run anything that I can tell.
"work for the govt"
keep up the lying, the Beck s' heads are exploding
"NO PUBLIC OPTION"
there will be a public option, the only question is how weak or strong it is.
No worries.
The govt ain't gonna run a thing.
Thousand page bills, and billions of dollars of govt spending...don't mean the govt will actually get involved or run anything.
People are just paranoid...too much time on their hands.
Put up or shut up, Southern Fried. What will the government run, under the Baucus bill? Are you even familiar with it?
Keep in mind, I'm against it. I don't defend it. I hope it doesn't pass. But you're just talking out of your hat.
I think you're unfamiliar with the quid pro quo involved here. Google "PhRMA", "Baucus", "150 million dollars".
The govt aint gonna run anything. They're spending all this money, and passing thousands of pages of bills...so they wont run a thing!
Geez...how manytimes I gotta say it?
People are too paranoid.
BREAKING NEWS: 45% of Cars May Be Crushed By Dinosaur Rampages
A study just released yesterday showed that, if scientists were to enact the plot of Jurassic Park in real life, nearly 45% of cars might be destroyed by wandering dinosaurs. Asked for comment, scientist Gene Splicer said, "It's a serious issue, one that the American public isn't looking at closely enough. Look, if we were ever to pull something like this off, let's face it, these things weigh TONS. There's going to be lots of crushed cars trampled underfoot, and John Q Public is going to want some answers to big questions. Questions like, 'Why would you even bring dinosaurs back to life?' And the President is going to need to have some answers."
The poll, conducted by Rasmussen, asked participants, "If a 20 foot tall dinosaur were to step on your car while running across the street, do you think your car would be able to withstand the pressure unscathed?" 45% of respondents said they thought their car would be crushed, 15% said they thought their car could withstand the damage, and 40% wondered what the word unscathed meant, and argued whether it was a 'real' word or not. When assured it was a real word, 20% said it's probably just another fancy word used by elite liberals.
Back to you in the studio, Norm....
Last edited by LnGrrrR; 09-16-2009 at 09:19 AM.
He's just on repeat at this point. It's like a meltdown but not nearly as funny.
The survey was conducted with 1,376 of practicing physicians between Aug 28 and Sept 15th 2008. I think a bigger sample size is needed if you want a true representation of 800,000 physicians in 100s of different specialized fields.
Further:
"Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found.
The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors' own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul."
Flawed logic. Just because a person will consider shutting down their practice or retire early because of a new health system does not at all mean they are against the proposed overhaul. Not to mention, if you take a look later in the paragraph, it looks like 45% of respondents from the poll said they "would consider leaving their practice or taking an early retirement". Leaving their practice could mean going from one practice to another(ex. Orthopedics to Pediatrics), switching medical fields(ex public to private) etc...not outright quitting practice of medicine all together.
I thought weighing one's options when new procedures and policies are put in place that affect your profession where a smart and common thing to do. In this case, the article assumes "consider leaving practice or taking an early retirement" means "quitting medicine and being opposed to a healthcare overhaul".
Also, we're never told what bill or plan the doctors think "medical overhaul" consists of. A doctor included in the 45% against could have been sitting in front of his TV watching Fox News for the past 2 months, and thinks "medical overhaul" = end of world. But of course, we're never told, so we're left to assume all medical overhauls are the same.
I think I'll take this one with a grain of salt.
Exercising his option not think. I guess persuasiveness isn't his aim here.
You don't need to poll all 800,000 if you get a representative sample? Take a statistics course.
WTF?
Thank god for the voice of reason
I actually laughed out loud for this, the first time thats happened from something online in a long time.
He never said poll all 800,000. Do you know the statistical certainty of this poll?
So what do all these doctors plan on doing after they close their practices?
Only Baucus' plan has no public option.
All 4 plans in the House have public options.
If the Dems want a public option, they can have it.
I bet the $80B "price reduction" Magic Negro did with BigPharma won't pass. The Dems can pass a bill without BigPharma's bull deals.
- $80B/10 years? BigPharma spends $60B/year on marketing, $30B/year on research.
$8B/year drug price cut? GMAFB
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