[Ip-health] Obama warns doctors....

[Miles Teg]

[After exporting junk health care models (just like junk finance)
supported by idiot savants at top-rate rich country universities (the
credit ratings agency equivalent of the academic and policy worlds) the
reality is biting...

Come on WHO shout out loud as you did to developing countries when you
supported the Structural Adjustment Programme type policies:

Steer DO NOT row!

Steer DO NOT row.

If it was good enough for poor countries in crisis, why is it suddenly
not good enough for the US in a crisis? A little collateral damage, as
Albright mentioned, is ok...!



*Obama warns doctors over reforms*

President Obama: "Reform is not a luxury, it is a necessity"

US President Barack Obama has told a meeting of doctors that spiralling
healthcare costs could bankrupt the American economy.

The US could "go the way of General Motors" unless the health system is
reformed, Mr Obama said at the American Medical Association's annual
meeting.

Doctors, along with other groups, are divided over Mr Obama's proposals.

Health reform was one of Mr Obama's key election promises. Nearly 50
million people are without medical insurance.

Mr Obama is proposing a 10-year reform programme, estimated to cost
about $1 trillion, that would make healthcare available to all Americans.

'Forcing out waste'

In his speech to the American Medical Association (AMA), President Obama
compared the US with the country's ailing car industry.

If we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM -
paying more, getting less, and going broke
Barack Obama

Massive US healthcare battle looms

"A big part of what led General Motors and Chrysler into trouble were
the huge costs they racked up providing healthcare for their workers -
costs that made them less profitable and less competitive with
automakers around the world."

"If we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM -
paying more, getting less, and going broke," Mr Obama added.

He outlined his plans for "a health insurance exchange" which would
allow Americans to choose between private plans and a public option that
will "inject competition into the health care market... force waste out
of the system and keep the insurance companies honest".

Many groups - including the AMA - have expressed concern that a public
plan would have competitive advantages that would ultimately drive
private insurers out of the market.

An AMA board member told a Senate panel hearing last week that the group
"strongly opposes" a public, government-run insurance plan that pays
physicians at the rates of the Medicare programme for the elderly.

OBAMA'S HEALTH PLAN
"Health insurance exchange" allowing Americans to compare and choose
between private and public options
All Americans may be required to get health insurance
Insurance companies barred form denying coverage to people with
pre-existing conidtions

Dr Samantha Rosman said the AMA is in favour "of a new option that is
market-based and not run by the government".

Many doctors would like to reduce costs by capping the amount of money
that can be awarded to patients in the event of medical malpractice.

They say that the fear of malpractice lawsuits sometimes forces doctors
to perform unnecessary procedures, driving up costs.

But Mr Obama, in his speech to the AMA, rejected caps on malpractice
suits, provoking boos from his audience.

He reiterated that he would be "open" to the idea of requiring all
Americans to have health insurance, and stressed that insurance
companies would no longer be able to deny coverage to people with
pre-existing conditions.

On Sunday, Mr Obama announced $313bn (=C2=A3190bn) in proposed savings to
help reform healthcare.

He said the savings - made by cutting waste in the Medicare programme
and the Medicaid programme for poor people - would "rein in unnecessary
spending and increase efficiency and the quality of care".

The money comes on top of the $635bn down payment on reform detailed in
the budget proposal submitted to Congress this year.

The US spends more than $2 trillion a year on healthcare, although about
15% of the population have no medical cover.

BBC NEWS | Americas | Obama warns doctors over reforms (16 June 2009)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8100605.stm