Soon, only the uber-wealthy will have Primary Physicians

[MARIS61]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34019606/ns/health-health_care/

 

[BLAZER PROPHET]

I think your case of hysteria is not well founded.

However, when doctors will be getting "medicare" dollars (or about 1/50th of their usual billing) off the federal plan, I wonder what effect that will have on healthcare.

 

[Buzz Killington]

I see a bunch going to cash-only, no insurance accepted!

 

[maxiep]

The real issue is that specialists will be few and far between. Docs will go back to general practice. After all, specialities won't pay the way they once did, so why go through all that extra education and expense?

Basically, the guy that takes out your appendix will be the same person doing bypass surgery.

 

[maxiep]

BTW, that article hit on the reality of Obamacare. The poor and the middle class will be stuck with whatever health care the government deigns to give them. The wealthy will pay "medical consultants". These people will be the best physicians who can't be licenced by the government because they won't take Obamacare patients. Instead, you pay a premium to see them and get the care you want. If they're surgeons, they'll have offices on the other side of the Rio Grande.

In other words, Obamacare doesn't level the medical playing field; it just ensures everyone but the wealthy lose their choice to receive exceptional care.

 

[Buzz Killington]

The real issue is that specialists will be few and far between. Docs will go back to general practice. After all, specialities won't pay the way they once did, so why go through all that extra education and expense?

Basically, the guy that takes out your appendix will be the same person doing bypass surgery.

 

[Buzz Killington]

BTW, that article hit on the reality of Obamacare. The poor and the middle class will be stuck with whatever health care the government deigns to give them. The wealthy will pay "medical consultants". These people will be the best physicians who can't be licenced by the government because they won't take Obamacare patients. Instead, you pay a premium to see them and get the care you want. If they're surgeons, they'll have offices on the other side of the Rio Grande.

In other words, Obamacare doesn't level the medical playing field; it just ensures everyone but the wealthy lose their choice to receive exceptional care.

well, the standard of care will just be lowered. long waits to get things done once the system is flooded.

 

[MARIS61]

In other words, Obamacare doesn't level the medical playing field; it just ensures everyone but the wealthy lose their choice to receive exceptional care.

What planet are you from?

Nobody but the wealthy receives exceptional healthcare in America currently.

The average Joe has no choice, no option, no chance in hell to receive exceptional healthcare. He gets whatever budget-plan insurance his employer offers, and pays through the nose for it. And that's if he's lucky enough to have a job and even luckier to have an employer who is one of the roughly 20% who still offer at least some sort of healthcare insurance.

Now the few who can actually afford health insurance have to pay another $100-$500 a month "retainer" just so their lazy, arrogant physician will spend 20 minutes with them once in awhile.

 

[Denny Crane]

The real issue is that specialists will be few and far between. Docs will go back to general practice. After all, specialities won't pay the way they once did, so why go through all that extra education and expense?

Basically, the guy that takes out your appendix will be the same person doing bypass surgery.

What planet are you from?

Nobody but the wealthy receives exceptional healthcare in America currently.

The average Joe has no choice, no option, no chance in hell to receive exceptional healthcare. He gets whatever budget-plan insurance his employer offers, and pays through the nose for it. And that's if he's lucky enough to have a job and even luckier to have an employer who is one of the roughly 20% who still offer at least some sort of healthcare insurance.

Now the few who can actually afford health insurance have to pay another $100-$500 a month "retainer" just so their lazy, arrogant physician will spend 20 minutes with them once in awhile.

maxiep, you have got it backwards. And MARIS, you don't seem to get it.

There's a shortage of primary care doctors.

The move to smaller, premium practices will worsen an already dire shortage of primary care doctors, creating an elite group of well-compensated physicians who see fewer and fewer upscale patients, dumping the rest on their increasingly harried colleagues, critics contend.

The U.S. is short by between 40,000 and 50,000 primary care doctors now, a figure that’s expected to top 125,000 by 2020, according to the American Academy of Family Physicians. That means people who don’t want or can’t afford concierge plans will have a harder time than ever finding a doctor.

Primary care is what most people need. There's already a shortage of these doctors that they have to ration their time by these means. We all are looking at dumping an additional 10% more patients/hours on these guys; they're all going to end up quitting or specializing if they can't make a fair living, considering the cost of their time and money (education) and liability risks (lawsuits).

We all better get used to being treated by nurses most of the time, and now it might make sense why I've been saying govt. should be opening clinics instead of wasting our money on pork barrel bills that don't address the problem in the title of those bills.