Keeping an eye on the weasels of the world

I ended up taking a trip to visit my doctor at the hospital where he practices after spending the last couple of days ill in bed. Generally I love to visit my doctor because he is great, intelligent and has relatives in the UK which gives him a unique perspective on the future of the American health care system. More importantly my doctor is accessible. I sent him a text message with my symptoms and he asked me to come in immediately.

Unfortunately all of that may change as the meddling Democrats seek to put a wedge between me and my heath care as I know it today. I don’t know about you but I am thankful for the quality of care I have received in my lifetime. Is it perfect? No. But it is leaps and bounds that of other countries. For that I am thankful. But not liberals.

Every time I visit my doctor I take the opportunity to discuss politics with respect to the Democrat led initiative to take over the health care industry under the guise of “reform”. During my exam we discussed the elephant in the room as my doctor  relayed his belief that the pending reform won’t be the change that people expect or want. His opinion is that American’s that voted for Obama will get change but won’t be happy with it once they realize that the reality falls short of the promise.

When asked about his opinion he discussed the cost of health care; specifically tort reform. Today doctors practice defensive medicine resulting in unnecessary procedures that drive up costs. CAT Scans for common headaches, GI tests for cramps, C-Sections as a hedge against cerebral palsy. If Democrats really wanted to address rising costs they would take on their trial lawyer friends to stop ridiculous lawsuits.

Doctor Shortage

One of the other trends seen in the medical field is a deficit of doctors. As costs go up the field becomes less lucrative. This has had a specific impact on the number of men versus women entering the field which leads to some unique problems similar to that seen in education. A specific impact has been seen in the primary care field which is our first line of defense from a preventive perspective.Men have been moving away from Primary Care over to more specialty fields. This trend coincides with a general decline in the incomes of Primary Care Physicians, further eroding the access that people have to basic care.

While some believe that having more women as PCPs could lead to a more compassionate experience it is particularly notable that this also leads to bigger shortages because women are more likely to work around family schedules and take longer leave for childcare after giving birth than their male counterparts.

Nothing that the Democrats are proposing will address these issues. PCP incomes will decline further as the government starts pushing itself into the field, removing competition, decreasing choice and driving away creative healing.

Today I have the sort of care I need. As I left my doctor’s office I thought about my experience and wondered how the Democrats were going to destroy the level of service I have today. I have no doubt that Democrats will make matters worse. The only question is how bad!

I urge all people to strike up conversations with your doctors. Discuss the state of health care and see what they think. After all, they are the people closest to the problems and the solutions. You may be enlightened by what you hear.

Update: Listening to a caller to Rush I am reminded that Congresswoman Donna Edwards appeared on the miserably misinformed Bill Press radio show. She spewed all the standard lies about the number of uninsured and took a page out of the socialist playbook as she talked about the need to take the middle man out of the picture; specifically attacking the profit motive  (i.e. the insurance companies). This leads me to wonder, how does replacing the insurance companies with the government solve our problems?

Please enjoy this week’s submissions.

Council Submissions

• Joshuapundit - Using The “J” Word
• Rhymes With Right - WaPo: Do As We Say, Not As Obama Did
• The Glittering Eye - Fallacies in Healthcare Reform (Updated)
• The Colossus of Rhodey - Still more on Honduras
• Bookworm Room - Sterilizing our way to paradise
• Soccer Dad - A masterful assuaging
• Mere Rhetoric - Khamenei Seizes Control Of Iranian Republican Guard Militias, Installs Son As Head Thug
• The Provocateur - Dr. Charles Nemeroff and Emory University’s Culture of Corruption
• Right Truth - Relentless pursuit of destruction 2009
• The Razor - Book Review – Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture

Non-Council Submissions

• Submitted By: The Watcher – Christian Science Monitor - Nearly all my professors are Democrats. Isn’t that a problem?
• Submitted By: The Watcher – Legal Insurrection - Sotomayor Threw O’Connor Under The Bus
• Submitted By: Joshuapundit – David Kahane/NRO - I Still Hate You Sarah Palin
• Submitted By: Rhymes With Right – Big Lizards - Who’s an Embryo? St. Francis of Genomia at the NIH
• Submitted By: The Glittering Eye – zombietime - John Holdren, Obama’s Science Czar, says: Forced abortions and mass sterilization needed to save the planet
• Submitted By: The Colossus of Rhodey – The Chronicle Review - Islamic Civilization in Peril
• Submitted By: Bookworm Room – Rebirth of Reason - Dinner at the White House — a parable
• Submitted By: Soccer Dad – Rubin Reports - Al-Jazira’s Cartoons: A Glimpse at Real Mainstream Arab Thinking
• Submitted By: Mere Rhetoric – David Kahane / NRO - I Still Hate You, Sarah Palin
• Submitted By: The Provocateur – Politics Daily - Sarah “Barracuda” Palin and the Pirahnnas of the Press
• Submitted By: Right Truth – American Thinker - Obama the Trickster
• Submitted By: The Razor – IBD Editorials - Truth In Lending: Behind the Meltdown

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