One of the main complaints registered by doctors on the Glenn Beck forum was the intrusion of insurance companies in their lives. Many physicians were outspoken about how screwed up the system is because of a third party payer. We could not be more in agreement with this conclusion. However, the public and most doctors are addicted to the insurance drug. They have no idea how to get along without it. Patients expect everything to be covered (and somehow don’t get that full coverage causes exorbitantly high premiums) and doctors don’t have any idea how to run a cash medicine practice. But the tide is turning. Estimates are that nearly 20% of family practice physicians are looking at going cash. New models for cash medicine are emerging. PriceDoc is one that allows patients to bid for doctor services. Conceirge medicine is gaining ground. Medical societies are being created that focus on lifestyle medicine for cash. We think the 80/20 rule applies. 80% of physicians will stay in the old system and go along with whatever the government imposes on them (and keep complaining) and 20% will look to innovative strategies to change, such as moving to cash. Let us know your thoughts on this topic.

Sixteen highly regarded physicians representing many fields -cardiology, oncology, general surgery, internal medicine, and others, assembled at the Grand Hyatt in New York City to discuss the impact of the currently proposed health bills on their patients. As reported by Betsy McCaughey of www.defendyourhealthcare.us, here are the main concerns addressed by these physicians:

There’s been a rash of shows over the last month talking to doctors about healthcare reform. Results of a survey from Investors Business Daily was released in October stating that 45% of physicians will consider quitting if the current healthcare reform bill was passed. Opponents sited flaws in the survey however, it has been found in many surveys of physicians that as many as 60% have said they would quit medicine and seek another profession if they could make as much money. The problem is that most physiciaans cannot find a job that pays as well as medicine. What do you think? How dissatisfied are you with your career? What part of it is most dissatisfying? Are you considering quitting? Let us know your thoughts.

Any doctor who doesn’t believe that they will be taking the hit to finance healthcare reform (an every other government run program) is in la la land. Check out what just happened in Michigan.

After the President’s speech on September 9^th, J. James Rohack, MD, President of the AMA released a statement that read in part, “President Obama recognized what physicians have long known – that medical liability reform is needed to bring down the cost of health care, and he is directing the Department of Health and Human Services to take action now. Recognizing the critical need for medical liability reform is an important step toward reducing unnecessary costs. Everyday physicians across the country are forced to consider the broken medical liability system when making decisions, resulting in defensive medicine that adds to unnecessary health costs. We cannot ignore this problem if health-system reform is going to address the growing cost of care.” The AMA sent a letter to the President urging him that any agreement on healthcare must include such medical liability reform

We have the luxury (or course) of speaking to doctors every day from all over the country and hearing from our inside contacts in the industry. We have heard every conceivable reaction to healthcare reform and what does it all mean. Surveys show that there are a growing number of doctors against healthcare reform as it now stands. Many ask, “Healthcare reform, what is the status? Here’s what we believe will be the effects on doctors no matter what legislation gets passed.

“Regrettably”, said the medical device rep to the M.D., “there isn’t a good code for this. It’s not reimbursable.” The physician quickly responded, “Good. Once it gets a code, then my compensation goes down.” What? No code? Non-reimbursible is a good thing? This statement reflects the growing trend among physicians to implement cash medicine in their practice. Here’s why. Multiple forces are converging to drive this change.