The Doctors' Opinions, Common Sense, & The Next Lame Duck Congress

During recent discussions regarding healthcare reform I have suggested to several people that they ask their own doctors' opinion. Last night Bill O'Reilly gave some figures in this regard that are far more statistically accurate concerning the Medical Community's feelings than just a random check like I suggested.

Bill reported that 46.3% of primary-care physicians, those who work in the critical fields of family and internal medicine, not only feel that they would want to quit but that they might be cast out of medicine if BO's healthcare reform plan passes into law. These physicians said that they would either want to leave medicine or that they would be forced out by the changes to the system. You can read the entire New England Journal of Medicine survey conducted by the Medicus Firm, a leading physician search and consulting firm based in Atlanta and Dallas. They found that a majority of physicians said healthcare reform would cause the quality of American medical care to deteriorate and it could be the "final straw" that sends a sizeable number of doctors out of medicine.

Now 49% of Americans who support BO's healthcare reform plan give their reason as it will provide coverage to the 30 million Americans (it was 47 million before you strip out illegals which BO has reluctantly done & people covered by Medicare) without healthcare insurance. I presented the following breakdown to members of our group of the uninsured on September 30, 2007 as follows in a posting I entitled "From 'Apathy To Dependence' Through Universal Health Care" - "A good percentage of the current push for universal healthcare comes from the notion that we have 47 million people in America who don't have healthcare insurance. The Kaiser Family Foundation, a left leaning non-profit group frequently quoted by the media, puts the number of uninsured Americans who do not qualify for current government programs and make less than $50,000 a year between 13.9 million and 8.2 million. Ten million of the remaining approximate 36 million are not U.S. citizens @ all (they predominantly use the very costly emergency room treatments @ our expense for free medical care), 8.3 million uninsured people make between $50,000 and $74,999 per year, 8.74 million make more than $75,000 a year, & 9 million did, in fact, have health coverage through Medicare. So out of the so-called 47 million uninsured Americans, 10 million aren't American, 9 million are insured, & 17 million are young and healthy & choose not to have insurance. If the federal government wants to get into this why not just have a program to help the 8.2 million to 13.9 million people who really could use the help?" This is still the question today but then again we know the answer don't we?

As we all know Pelosi has her House ready to pass the Senate healthcare bill the minute 216 votes can be had by "deeming" the Senate bill passed by a House rule without an actual vote on the bill - pretty insulting isn't it especially for a third grader studying the Constitution if there is such a student any more?

Unemployment stats show that 6 million people have been unemployed longer than 27 weeks & that there are six job applicants for every job available & yet BO persists in pursuing Universal Healthcare when there are only 8.2 to 13.9 million out of 300 million Americans who do not have healthcare insurance. Couple this with the aforementioned Pelosi plan to pass the healthcare bill & common sense tells you there is something here that is not right for our country.

In his news conference today committed statist & left wing Congressman Dennis Kucinich let it slip after a ride on Air Force One when he said "we must get control of private health insurance companies."

We have to work very hard to forestall this current healthcare reform push but the barrage will continue until the new Congress takes their oath in January 2011 - especially including the lame duck session between November & January when we are most vulnerable.