Thoughts on "Healthcare Reform"?

[thorn22]

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Hey everyone. I wanted to see what current PT's, and educated students, think will be the major changes under an Obama administration for healthcare, and also how you see these changes affecting the PT profession.

Will his plans help or hurt our battle with Direct Access?

Will we receive more or less reimbursement from Medicare?

I am just looking for an overall picture of how you see this changing our field.

Thanks

 

[xMerryx]

I don't consider myself the best student or anything to have an opinion. This is a complex issue since we are not sure what's going to happen since even though he promised some things, at the end of the day he is a politician, and in this system you have to go through many interests for something to become a reality, meaning that even though he may have the right attitude and the same ideas he expressed in past debates, that doesn't mean he will be able to execute them. With that said, I just want to add my opinion about health care benefits. Many voters believed that one of the changes Obama will bring would maybe not necessarily universal health care but something closer to the concept, and more benefits for all. In a perfect world that would be great! But considering the circumstances there may not be as much money for medicare and medicaid left in the future, so it would be hard for this to change. I do not want to sound pessimistic but, coming from a country with "universal health care" (which is awful but for a whole other series of reasons) the first ones to "suffer" from budget cuts will be those allied health professionals that to "money people" will appear as optional or maybe even not that necessary. Just my humble opinion.

 

[caduceus27]

hi

In terms of healthcare reform, there maybe a light at the end of the tunnel for Obama. however, I dont think it will happen in one or two terms. The problem with insurance companies is that they define what a therapist can and cannot do and even the number of sessions the patient gets, so unless Obama can extricate the influence that insurance companies have on Capitol Hill and health care we are looking for some rough times, because of a slow and frozen economy.

 

[PTbecomingDDS]

If I remember correctly, Obama primarily focused on all children being covered while Hillary wanted more universal coverage. Consequently, this might not have a large scale impact unless your practice focuses mostly on pediatrics. But, he did appear to imply he wanted to cut healthcare costs, so I would be afraid of Medicare cuts on reimbursement as Medicare sets the standard for insurers. I hope he focuses not just on cost but on quality of care as PT salary, benefits, and overhead costs (receptionists, assistants, etc.) would not be compensated by Medicare reimbursement alone and would lead to PT clinics turning into factories to see patients in the masses just to stay afloat (not mention that less reimbursement would keep PT salaries at a plateau or even decrease!). In the end the problem is extemely complicated from liability insurance hikes ie sue happy lawyers/patients, uninsured patients in hospitals (leading to higher premiums to the insured), the fattening of americans (leading to more health problems and more costs), red tape, and even more factors that I could continue to list will need to be addressed if we want a better and less expensive health care system...😕

 

[stizzatc]

well, i dont see this happening..Hillary was close to gettin things rollin when bill was pres. but got a pretty large check and you never hear talk about reform until she started her campaign. Lobyists wont let it happen...just the way the game is played...but if it were to happen id say reimbursement decreases as well as many private clinics packin up...other than that.......im a big fan




The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination - Einstein

 

[blazersfan22]

Come on, man. It's Obama, the future of our nation is pretty clear. Our nation's children will cry for help, at which point our newly elected Father will put on his suit of shining armor, put a saddle on a donkey, which will magically transform into a unicorn. At this point, he will then travel from one physical therapy clinic to another, healing patients with nothing but a tap on the shoulder and the words "change you can believe in", until all the problems of our nation are solved and we can all be respectable industrious citizens serving the greater good. In other words, Obama will rely on the placebo effect. Either that, or he'll borrow another 820 billion dollars from the citizens to make us pay for our care. My advice, move to Canada, or Mexico, or Honduras, or Guatemala, or Bosnia, or Darfur, or Iraq...

Hope this helps 😉

 

[lee9786]

I'd like to hear some opinions from PTs in the field. How will this affect your job security, salary, number of patients seen etc...

 

[soccer31]

Come on, man. It's Obama, the future of our nation is pretty clear. Our nation's children will cry for help, at which point our newly elected Father will put on his suit of shining armor, put a saddle on a donkey, which will magically transform into a unicorn. At this point, he will then travel from one physical therapy clinic to another, healing patients with nothing but a tap on the shoulder and the words "change you can believe in", until all the problems of our nation are solved and we can all be respectable industrious citizens serving the greater good. In other words, Obama will rely on the placebo effect. Either that, or he'll borrow another 820 billion dollars from the citizens to make us pay for our care. My advice, move to Canada, or Mexico, or Honduras, or Guatemala, or Bosnia, or Darfur, or Iraq...

Hope this helps 😉

This was one of the dumbest things I ever read in my entire life! I think we should discuss the future of our profession, however lets try to leave our personal feelings towards politicians out of the equation because it won't help at all!

 

[truthseeker]

This was one of the dumbest things I ever read in my entire life! I think we should discuss the future of our profession, however lets try to leave our personal feelings towards politicians out of the equation because it won't help at all!

But Soccer, it is about politicians and the spin they put on healthcare. Have you looked at the wait times for elective procedures in Canada? in England? What is the incentive to be the best when you are not rewarded for it? Why would someone spend 7 years (PT) or 12-16 years (MD with residency) of their lives to work for the government? Let me ask you to do one thing: List 2 things that has gotten better when the government has managed it?

Housing - no
post office vs UPS/Fed EX - no
Medicare - no
Medicaid - no
etc. . . etc . . .

Have you ever hired someone? I hired a nanny the last two summers, paid under two grand and had to file unemployment insurance, pay social security taxes etc . . . Several of the president's cabinet secretary nominees, including the one for the Dept of the Treasury (in charge of the IRS) were upbraided for not paying taxes on various things, one of which was domestic/household employees. They said that it "was too complicated".
Now that is the person nominated to run the darn bureaucracy!!! Do you think that they are going to simplify the tax code? no.

Do you think they will simplify provision of health care? I think not. If we get universal health care, we will have to read a stinking manual to see if this code is covered with this diagnosis, can we use these two codes together, do we need a modifier when we submit. Our own pay will drop, which will attract less qualified practitioners and then the quality will go in the crapper.

So, I actually agree with what Blazersfan said. You do understand that he was being sarcastic right?

 

[jesspt]

I'm not sure that many of the changes he campaigned on will actually come to pass. However, if he is able to get legislation in place that makes insurance coverage mandatory for children, you can bet that reimbursement from federal third party mayors will drop to try to stretch federal health care dollars. At that point I'd be pretty tempted to not see Medicare patients.

 

[mcc0037]

Read the books Money-Driven Medicine by Maggie Mahar and Slaves to Medicine by Dr. George Beauchamp (MD). It gives a great insight on how this healthcare system evolved, how politicians/CEOs/insurances/shareholders manipulated the system, and how out of control the system really is. When tax dollars are involved, it is as political as it gets. Health coverage is raping pocketbooks, the quality of healthcare is waaay below average, and the business of medicine competes for profits rather than cooperating to improve the art of medicine. Patients are not the number one priority in this system, it is the goal of saving money and to profit. HMO knows what I'm talking about. Not just that, there are a lot of people who are living really really really unhealthy lifestyles (overweight/obesity, smoking, heart disease, lack of physical checkups/screenings) that are costing them, us, and everyone else. As for Obama's healthcare proposal, its easier said than done. We'll just have to wait and see. It sounds possible but I'm not totally sold on it.

On another note, as for direct access, the transition is being acquainted in a lot of states but limited at best. Just don't expect to be reimbursed if one goes over their limited "authority", if any, depending on the state. It will probably remain this way for a while. Its great that there is progress but this shift will be in baby steps if any. Again, this issue revolves around politics and will continue to do so. As for now, in most states, keep the prescriptions coming and keep your cool. 😎 Here is a table from the APTA website in 2007 of PT limitations (I think) from each state:

http://www.apta.org/AM/Template.cfm...MPLATE=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&CONTENTID=22369

 

[xMerryx]

This was one of the dumbest things I ever read in my entire life! I think we should discuss the future of our profession, however lets try to leave our personal feelings towards politicians out of the equation because it won't help at all!

Yes, we have to be serious. But I have to say that in some level I agree with the ironic comment above and here is why: Yes, we will all love all the great things not only Obama, but many people promise, HOWEVER, we have to realize that there are consequences to every action and those consequences can benefit some, but not others....or maybe, in the long run, may not benefit anyone (or maybe just a few)