Proof that liberals are assaulting Physicians

[Path or bust]

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Doctors Fire up the Obamacare Waaambulance
Next step, replace doctors with iPads.
Photo by David McNew/Getty Images

Medical doctors are highly paid professionals. They earn more money—a lot more money—than your average American. What's more, American doctors get paid more than doctors in any other country. Given how much of health care is financed either directly (Medicare, Medicaid, Veterans Affairs, public-sector workers) or indirectly (tax subsidy for employer-provided insurance) by the federal government, it's natural to make restraining doctors' income part of any program for making health care more affordable. So when you read stories about doctors whining that Affordable Care Act exchange plans don't pay them enough, please throw up a little in your mouth and proceed to ignore the doctors' complaints. The only practical reason to worry about low compensation for doctors in the ACA exchanges is it may cause them to boycott exchange patients. If that happens, the solution is to reduce doctors' payment rates elsewhere in the system. If we ever reach the point where American doctors have been squeezed so badly that they start fleeing north of the border to get higher pay in Canada, then we've squeezed too hard. Until that happens, forget about it.

But also spare a thought for the journalists. The Affordable Care Act is a big deal. ACA implementation is a big deal. People should write stories about how much doctors get paid in ACA plans. But people who write stories on this subject without noting the yawning pay gap between American doctors and doctors in Canada, France, Germany, etc. are doing their readers a disservice.

What we really ought to be doing is working to further pressure the incomes of doctors through supply-side reforms. That means letting nurse practitioners treat patients without kicking a slice upstairs to an M.D., letting more doctors immigrate to the United States, and opening more medical schools. Common sense says that since the population both grows and ages over time, there should be more people admitted to medical school today than were 30 years ago. But that's not the case. Instead we produce roughly the same number of new doctors, admissions standards have gotten tougher, and doctors have become scarcer.

Matthew Yglesias is Slate's business and economics correspondent. He is the author ofThe Rent Is Too Damn High.



http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/11/20/doctors_pay_under_obamacare_cut_the_whining.html

 

[AZpath]

Lovely bundle of sunshin this one is. He forgets little thing like that most many foreign country pay less but also pay for medical.
Also, once the pay sale is distroyed you will has no doctors coming here for overseas.

 

[Thrombus]

We can look forward to this clown in the Clinton administration (to whom the ascp has given tens of thousands of our dollars to)

 

[KluverB]

So, would this constitute proof that conservatives are assaulting laboratory physicians specifically? I'm assuming TN is GOP controlled.
http://pathologyblawg.com/pathology...ld-tennessee-slashes-pathology-reimbursement/

 

[WEBB PINKERTON]

What does BC/BS of Tennessee have to do with the GOP?
If Quest wants to do lab work for Medicaid patients for 52% of Medicare rates, let them.

Liberals hate physicians because the stupid libs went to school for worthless degrees and they are jealous. Unfortunantly education seems to be where the liberals end up working, filling impressionable youth with their hatred.

God I wish MSNBC would just shut down. That channel is nothing but loud mouth liberals spewing hate. The prison shows that come on late at night are good though.

 

[Thrombus]

So, would this constitute proof that conservatives are assaulting laboratory physicians specifically? I'm assuming TN is GOP controlled.
http://pathologyblawg.com/pathology...ld-tennessee-slashes-pathology-reimbursement/

I see this as a result of pathologist oversupply after programs have been incentivized to flood the market making 100's of thousands per resident.

I have yet to see any conservative attempt to control our payments by centralizing federal power to CMS.
Nor have I ever heard a conservative spew that physicians are paid too much.

Note that one strategy to further commoditize us by the left is to increase training programs, as the above author states, and deleverage the entire profession. This has already happened in our field and the results play out as they plan in Tennessee.

The left'a worst nightmare is upward mobility. Many physicians, myself included, come from families who did not have much. This motivated us to work hard and try to get ahead. The central planners throughout history have wanted a peasant class and the ruling class. Unfortunately history literacy is so remote that most fail to see the peril of centralized power who promises much and delivers crumbs thanks to our mediocre govt controlled education system (along with science/math, finance, economic illiteracy).

 

[gbwillner]

Newsflash! Idiot reporter doesn't really grasp all the intricate details, problems, structure, or function health care in this country! Everybody panic!

 

[Path or bust]

Newsflash! Idiot reporter doesn't really grasp all the intricate details, problems, structure, or function health care in this country! Everybody panic!

Newsflash, maybe you should panic, since idiot reporters unlike "intelligent valuable pathologists" influence policy in this country.

 

[KluverB]

The left'a worst nightmare is upward mobility. Many physicians, myself included, come from families who did not have much. This motivated us to work hard and try to get ahead. The central planners throughout history have wanted a peasant class and the ruling class. Unfortunately history literacy is so remote that most fail to see the peril of centralized power who promises much and delivers crumbs thanks to our mediocre govt controlled education system (along with science/math, finance, economic illiteracy).

I don't know what the exact numbers are, or whether the data is even out there, but I bet that the number of non-IMG physicians who come from "modest" backgrounds is actually quite low. So, you're in the minority.

Your historic literacy is somewhat skewed. I would advise you to stop watching Glenn Beck. But ok, shall we play the left-right game....

Yes, upward mobility is the Left's worst nightmare, mainly because it's anathema to its belief in social equality. Therefore it is in the Right's best interest to dangle the carrot of upward mobility in front of the peasant masses. It gives them motivation to work hard and try to get ahead, and advance up the class hierarchy. Obviously, it has to let the occasional peon through just so the vast majority doesn't realize all the wool that's been pulled over its sun-scorched head, and we go back to where all this right-left division started, with the heads of the ruling class rolling into a wicker basket.

What was this thread about, again?

 

[longlakeboy]

Oh, wow, a Slate writer produced a piece of argumentative, reactionary trolling against a popular opinion. Color me shocked. We should definitely get upset about this wholly unique situation on slate.com.

 

[2121115]

Slate is essentially a troll website. All of their articles are written argumentatively to bait people. It is not remotely on the level of some other more reputable online mags (The Atlantic, etc).

 

[Path or bust]

Slate is essentially a troll website. All of their articles are written argumentatively to bait people. It is not remotely on the level of some other more reputable online mags (The Atlantic, etc).

Is it just slate? It's all the news outlets, mostly liberal.
Maybe pathology deserves these cuts...can't even get a consensus from pathologists.

To Cut Health-Care Costs, Pay Doctors Less

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-12-12/to-cut-health-care-costs-pay-doctors-less.html


Doctors Already Make More Than Enough Money

An annual bill to prevent them from taking pay cuts may finally die. They can afford it.

http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/doctors-already-make-more-than-enough-money-20130620

 

[KluverB]

It's ok everybody, it's a Liberal on Liberal assault.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17372802

J Gen Intern Med. 2007 Apr;22(4):514-7.
Political self-characterization of U.S. medical students.
Frank E, Carrera J, Dharamsi S.
Source
Department of Health Care and Epidemiology, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada. [email protected]

Abstract
BACKGROUND:
There have been no prior studies of the political self-characterization of U.S. physicians-in-training, and little is known about physicians' political leanings or the critical relationship between medical issues and political orientations of physicians and physicians-in-training.

METHODS:
All medical students in the class of 2003 at 16 nationally representative U.S. schools were eligible to complete three questionnaire administrations (at freshman orientation, entrance to wards, and senior year).

RESULTS:
Among these medical students, 5% self-characterized as politically very conservative, 21% conservative, 33% moderate, 31% liberal, and 9% as very liberal." Being male, white, Protestant, intending to specialize in Surgery or anesthesiology/pathology/radiology, or currently or previously being married significantly (P < or = .001) increased the likelihood that a student self-identified as very conservative or conservative. Disagreement or strong disagreement with the statements, "I'm glad I chose to become a physician" and "Access to care is a fundamental human right," were also both associated with being very conservative or conservative. Being more liberal was reported by blacks and Hispanics; those intending to become ob-gyns, psychiatrists, and pediatric subspecialists; and atheists, Jews, and adherents of eastern religions.

CONCLUSIONS:
U.S. medical students are considerably more likely to be liberal than conservative and are more likely to be liberal than are other young U.S. adults. Future U.S. physicians may be more receptive to liberal messages than conservative ones, and their political orientation may profoundly affect their health system attitudes.

 

[yaah]

Yglesias is not a troll. He is a thoughtful and intelligent blogger with an economist background. He is only recently part of slate. He is definitely liberal but don't dismiss his opinions just because of that. People like this are starting to write policy because they have rational and coherent arguments. Many of his posts about healthcare do take an anti-physician bent which operates under a lot of assumptions, mainly that if doctors are paid less they will still work as hard and strive to be efficient. I doubt that.

Of course, IMHO the worst argument for doctors is unfortunately put forward by the sleazy members of the profession. Some of the highest paid physicians are the least ethical - working only in ways to maximize income. Unfortunately the only way to really stop these doctors is to take down the whole profession. This is truly unfortunate.

 

[Thrombus]

Journalists could write about abuses and expose the fraudsters. Seems like a simple solution. Unfortunately the media is one giant fail.

 

[yaah]

Well they do, once they're exposed. As I said that is part of the problem - the doctors people hear about are the bad ones.

 

[DermViser]

Newsflash! Idiot reporter doesn't really grasp all the intricate details, problems, structure, or function health care in this country! Everybody panic!

You do know that Matthew Iglesias and that whole ThinkProgress crowd have the ear of President Obama right?

 

[DermViser]

Yglesias is not a troll. He is a thoughtful and intelligent blogger with an economist background. He is only recently part of slate. He is definitely liberal but don't dismiss his opinions just because of that. People like this are starting to write policy because they have rational and coherent arguments. Many of his posts about healthcare do take an anti-physician bent which operates under a lot of assumptions, mainly that if doctors are paid less they will still work as hard and strive to be efficient. I doubt that.

Of course, IMHO the worst argument for doctors is unfortunately put forward by the sleazy members of the profession. Some of the highest paid physicians are the least ethical - working only in ways to maximize income. Unfortunately the only way to really stop these doctors is to take down the whole profession. This is truly unfortunate.

Yes, this blog post of his is "thoughtful and intelligent". His degree is in Philosophy and he has no background in economics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Yglesias. Just bc you name yourself a "business and economics correspondent"esp. at a ridiculous left-leaning site like Slate, doesn't mean you have those credentials.

 

[yaah]

Yes, this blog post of his is "thoughtful and intelligent". His degree is in Philosophy and he has no background in economics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Yglesias. Just bc you name yourself a "business and economics correspondent"esp. at a ridiculous left-leaning site like Slate, doesn't mean you have those credentials.

Says the person who has probably only read one of his blog posts. Dismiss him all you want, he is widely respected as a commentator, specifically on economic policy. Note that I did not say I agreed with this particular blog post. It is a bit more inflammatory and dismissive sounding than his typical posts. You guys need to get better at critical reading.

 

[DermViser]

Says the person who has probably only read one of his blog posts. Dismiss him all you want, he is widely respected as a commentator, specifically on economic policy. Note that I did not say I agreed with this particular blog post. It is a bit more inflammatory and dismissive sounding than his typical posts. You guys need to get better at critical reading.

No, I have read many of his other idiotic blog posts (i.e. dentists, etc.), which you apparently think are "thoughtful and intelligent", yet in the next sentence you say, he is operating "under a lot of assumptions" - thus making him neither thoughtful nor intelligent. This is why he is relegated to writing for Slate where his views will be eaten for mass consumption by the general public who have no idea how things work, and hail him for being their liberal demigod for sticking it to the doctors. He doesn't have ANY credentials in economics. His degree was in Philosophy from Harvard.