Take Two Aspirin and Go Galt in the Morning
Two medical stories out of Texas this morning. First up, Lone Star docs are dropping Medicare patients at accelerating rates:
Two years after a survey found nearly half of Texas doctors weren’t taking some new Medicare patients, new data shows 100 to 200 a year are now ending all involvement with the program. Before 2007, the number of doctors opting out averaged less than a handful a year.
“This new data shows the Medicare system is beginning to implode,” said Dr. Susan Bailey, president of the Texas Medical Association. “If Congress doesn’t fix Medicare soon, there’ll be more and more doctors dropping out and Congress’ promise to provide medical care to seniors will be broken.”
Next up, doctors willing to see Medicare patients are more and more likely to have come from Third World medical schools:
Of the roughly 1,500 doctors who have received fast-tracked licenses in the last three years in exchange for agreeing to treat the state’s neediest patients, nearly 40 percent were trained at international schools, everywhere from India and Mexico to Uzbekistan and Rwanda, and a quarter were trained in Texas. The Texas Medical Board fast-tracked more licenses for doctors trained in Pakistan than it did for those educated in Louisiana or Oklahoma.
And there you have it. The best and brightest doctors aren’t willing to work for slave wages (relatively speaking, but still), and the doctors who are willing — surprise! — might not be nearly as well trained.
Sure, Harvard will keep producing lawyers, but fewer of our best and brightest will be attending medical school. And that indicates lower overall quality of care for everyone down the line.
Of course, there’s a solution for doctors who won’t treat Medicare/Medicaid patients. It’s called “single payer.” That’s when, doctors either take government payment and nothing but government payment, or they stop being doctors.
That’s the Progressive dream, and an American nightmare.
“That’s the Progressive dream, and an American nightmare.”
Which is precisely why I was so strongly opposed to the health care reform package. I mean, on merits, it deserved to fail and it should have failed. Bigger picture, though, it is obvious that it merely a first step toward that Progressive dream–and once that’s in place there will be no turning back.
I got a letter from my doc last Saturday telling me she’s retiring at the end of June. She stopped taking Medicare patients months ago. I’ve been quietly encouraging her to Go Galt for the past 18 months. I’m ecstatic for her.
Is anybody surprised that this is happening? Even when (and if) we can repeal the obamacare monstrosity, the damage done is already profound.
How bad do things have to get before the knuckleheaded statists figure out…. Nevermind, I just answered my own question.
Well, being I’m a NYer, I already live in a Socialist’s Wet Dream Society, and even here docs are cutting out Medicare patients. Before you know it, private hospitals will have to follow suit or go bankrupt, EMTALA notwithstanding.
Thanks Big Govt, for making sure we are all truly economically equal. Now you’ll have to excuse me. I’m off to the store to begin hoarding toilet paper so I can avoid the TP lines to come…
So is there any real chance any of you will actually GO Galt instead of just constantly flapping your lips about it? Enough already. Time to crap or hop off the pot
Unremarkulus –
What part of doctors are already doing just exactly that were you unclear on?
How does being trained as a doctor abroad imply that they’re not well trained? The article you listed stated that TX did test candidates thoroughly before certifying them. Also, being educated in the US medical schools doesn’t always mean they graduate good doctors. I’ve had the displeasure of being treated by a few truly bad doctors who were educated and trained right here in the U.S.A!
naman:
-Damon Runyon