We Told You So: The New "Obamacare Sux" Thread

[Krill]

Oh, it looks like the flu, but I'm only allowed to diagnoses the common cold.

[PLATO]

Exactly.

If you want more primary care physicians, you'll either have to A) pay us more, or B) forgive our med school loans.

As it stands, I'll likely finish paying off my med school loan around the time I turn 60. Some people simply can not deal with that degree of debt.

I happen to know a good number of people who have Doctorates which took them 7 years or so to obtain that make a lot less than most Doctors. Of course, they don't have to deal with the risk (in most cases) that comes with possible mal-practice liability. Nonetheless...I don't see anyone proposing to fordive the college debt of most physicists (or to pay them more for that matter).

I believe that if you want more Doctors, then you expand medical schools. There are a lot of folks who can't get in even though they are willing and qualified. I have a cousin who could not get into a U.S. medical school, but got his degree in the Carribbean. He has had a great career in Oregon as a GP for over 30 years and never an issue...

[Guynemer]

No, of course not. But I do think we need somebody that can diagnose and prescribe treatment for a common cold that doesn't have to go through 7 years of med school and intern training.

You are certainly more of an expert than I will ever be. Does it really take that level of training to diagnose and treat most common ailments? Could there not be some training for the "This is above my head...I have made you an appointment with a "Level 2" Doctor"?

Why can't we have different levels of competentcy? It seems that we do once you have the MD...hence specialist. Maybe we have a 5 year program for a "Generalist"?

I would be interested to know your thoughts and reasoning on this. I am just throwing ideas up against the wall.

1. If your doctor is prescribing you anything for a common cold, you need to find another doctor.

2. Does it take that long to diagnose common ailments? Probably not. Does it take that long to learn what the red flags are, when to order tests, what tests to order, when to follow up, what (if any) medicine to prescribe, what medicines to avoid, and how to communicate all this to a lay person? Undoubtedly; it probably takes more than we're doing already.

3. I don't disagree with you at all that we need more med schools and/or expand existing med schools. We are not keeping up with population growth at all.

[PLATO]

Oh, it looks like the flu, but I'm only allowed to diagnoses the common cold.

touche!

[PLATO]

1. If your doctor is prescribing you anything for a common cold, you need to find another doctor.

So prescribing bed rest and plenty of fluids is a bad idea? Who knew?

"Prescribe treatment" not "prescribe medicine"

[Tupac Shakur]

ObamaCare and the '29ers'
How the new mandates are already reducing full-time employment.

Here's a trend you'll be reading more about: part-time "job sharing," not only within firms but across different businesses.

It's already happening across the country at fast-food restaurants, as employers try to avoid being punished by the Affordable Care Act. In some cases we've heard about, a local McDonalds has hired employees to operate the cash register or flip burgers for 20 hours a week and then the workers head to the nearby Burger King or Wendy's to log another 20 hours. Other employees take the opposite shifts.

Welcome to the strange new world of small-business hiring under ObamaCare. The law requires firms with 50 or more "full-time equivalent workers" to offer health plans to employees who work more than 30 hours a week. (The law says "equivalent" because two 15 hour a week workers equal one full-time worker.) Employers that pass the 50-employee threshold and don't offer insurance face a $2,000 penalty for each uncovered worker beyond 30 employees. So by hiring the 50th worker, the firm pays a penalty on the previous 20 as well.

These employment cliffs are especially perverse economic incentives. Thousands of employers will face a $40,000 penalty if they dare expand and hire a 50th worker. The law is effectively a $2,000 tax on each additional hire after that, so to move to 60 workers costs $60,000.

ObamaCare and the '29ers' - WSJ.com

[kentonio]

as employers try to avoid being punished by the Affordable Care Act.

Pretty ****ed up country where contributing to healthcare is considered a punishment. Must be nice for business when if your uninsured workers get sick you can just fire them and hire some more.

[kentonio]

Bah, stupid double posts.

[Tupac Shakur]

People respond to incentives. Your posting would be significantly less retarded if you would internalize that fact.

[kentonio]

There are huge incentives to ensuring all citizens receive healthcare, you have a larger available worker pool, far less health related performance issues, less absence issues and on a wider social level things like less crime, less bankruptcy, and less dependence on welfare due to avoidable health problems.

Maybe if you selfish idiots could pull your heads out of your asses for two seconds and stop all dreaming you're going to be super rich one day, you might start looking out for your own interests.

[Aeson]

Maybe if you selfish idiots could pull your heads out of your asses for two seconds and stop all dreaming you're going to be super rich one day, you might start looking out for your own interests.

It's not about selfishness or greed. It's a required response to remain a competitive business.

[Hauldren Collider]

Good lord Kentonio. You don't even ****ing understand the term "incentive" as used in this context.

[Zevico]

1. If your doctor is prescribing you anything for a common cold, you need to find another doctor.

2. Does it take that long to diagnose common ailments? Probably not. Does it take that long to learn what the red flags are, when to order tests, what tests to order, when to follow up, what (if any) medicine to prescribe, what medicines to avoid, and how to communicate all this to a lay person? Undoubtedly; it probably takes more than we're doing already.

3. I don't disagree with you at all that we need more med schools and/or expand existing med schools. We are not keeping up with population growth at all.

Just to jump in here a minute. In Australia medicine is a three year course. From there you specialise. General practice is a two year specialisation. This is just from memory though. It might have changed, it's been a while since I checked.

[kentonio]

It's not about selfishness or greed. It's a required response to remain a competitive business.

It is absolutely about selfishness and greed and above all an inability to see that business can exist competitively in an environment where employees are treated like stakeholders rather than merely disposable assets.

Good lord Kentonio. You don't even ****ing understand the term "incentive" as used in this context.

Please stop being stupid, just for one second.

[DaShi]

Please stop being stupid, just for one second.

Agreed. HC, you complain when no contributes to a debate and just makes insults. Yet you frequently call people stupid in this thread. You have not established any credibility that you know more than any on this forum about, well, anything. You have been regularly shown to have made up facts about topics that you clearly know little about. And your toadying is just pathetic. Thankfully you at least have reg to make you look a little better in comparison.