Obama rallies physicians for reform

It was a sea of white coats Monday in the White House Rose Garden as President Obama hosted a photo op with 150 doctors from around the country.

“Nobody has more credibility with the American people on this issue than you do,” Obama told the doctors, saying the “people who are most supportive of reform are the very medical professionals who know the health care system best.”
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Doctors surely see the need for reform every day. Obama noted, “They’ve seen far too much of the time they want to devote to taking care of patients spent filling out forms and haggling with insurance companies about payments. These doctors know what need to be fixed about our health care system and they know what health insurance reform will do.”

Besides taking a few minutes to reiterate what is in the proposals coming out of congressional committees, Obama was rallying support from the medical community. Last week, his campaign network Organizing for America, started raising money for doctor-themed ads.

A June poll found that almost 75 percent of Americans said they trust doctors to recommend the right course for reform, according to Politico. And Obama is counting on docs to speak out in support.

But clearly, not everyone in the healthcare community supports his plans, and there doesn’t seem to be consensus on what health reform should look like. In our own Great American Physician survey, we found most docs agree the system needs fixing, but the solutions varied.

What do you think of Obama's approach to rally physician support?

What Obama Thinks of Doctors

Did anyone notice that President Obama seemed to be calling American physicians hucksters last night? I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't heard it with my own ears. A reporter asked if he'd be willing to "guarantee" that the government wouldn't prevent patients from gaining access to particular treatments. The president said no, he would not. Then he said:

"Right now, doctors, a lot of times, are forced to make decisions based on the fee payment schedule that's out there. So if they're looking and -- and you come in and you've got a bad sore throat, or your child has a bad sore throat, or has repeated sore throats, the doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say to himself, "You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out."

Now, that may be the right thing to do. But I'd rather have that doctor making those decisions just based on whether you really need your kid's tonsils out or whether it might make more sense just to change -- maybe they have allergies. Maybe they have something else that would make a difference."


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Got that?
You're "forced" to make decisions based on the fee schedule, and you're unnecessarily removing children's tonsils(!) just to make a buck. Fear not, however, because "part of what we want to do is to free doctors, patients, hospitals to make decisions based on what's best for patient care."

Well. That is quite a statement. I wonder what you all think of it: Are you indeed performing unnecessary procedures because of the fee schedule? Have you ever said to yourself something like "You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out," and then done so, needlessly? What other unnecessary and potentially dangerous procedures have you performed on children, just because you'd "make a lot more money"? (Don't worry; it's an anonymous forum.) Do you find that statement insulting? Is anyone concerned that the President of the United States thinks that this is what you do?