Stanley Feld M.D.,FACP,MACE
President-elect Barack Obama is inviting Americans to spend part of the holiday season talking about health care -- and report back to him. He is encouraging average Americans to host informal gatherings to brainstorm about how to improve the U.S. system. Thomas A. Daschle will attend at least one and prepare a detailed report, complete with video, to present to the next president.
These sessions, are to be held Dec. 15 to Dec. 31. One might be invited if one made a contribution to President-elect Obama’s presidential campaign.
"In order for us to reform our health care system, we must first begin reforming how government communicates with the American people," Obama said in a statement yesterday. "These Health Care Community Discussions are a great way for the American people to have a direct say in our health reform efforts."
President-elect Obama’s statement is absolutely compelling. I believe his heart is in the right place. However, he is ignoring the other half of the primary stakeholder equation, the practicing physicians.
By applying the high-tech tools and grass-roots activism that helped him win the White House, Obama hopes to circumvent many of the traditionally powerful special interests that have quashed previous health-care reform efforts.
I believe Tom Daschle has decided on his legislative initiative already. Max Baucus (D) Montana has introduced an identical plan to congress.
Senator Kennedy is next. This call for pseudo public involvement by Barack Obama is a clever mechanism for claiming a CONSENSUS.
"What we want to do now is to move to a discussion across the country," Daschle said in a speech yesterday in Denver. "We want your exact ideas." By seeking broad public input early in the process, the incoming administration hopes to avoid some of the mistakes of President Clinton's failed initiative 15 years ago, said Daschle, who is also Obama's choice for secretary of health and human services.
"Once we get started, we have to stay focused. Let's finish it, let's not put it down."
President-elect Obama’s healthcare plan is similar to President Clinton’s failed plan. Tom Daschle spearheaded the Clinton plan in 1993. The Obama/Daschle plan is a plan for socializing medicine as the solution to our dysfunctional healthcare system. It is absolutely the wrong strategy and will make things worse.
The strategy to get the Obama/Daschle healthcare plan past is clear. I believe their consensus strategy will be so effective with the American people it will overwhelm common sense. Even Harry and Louise can not help.
John Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis had a brilliant blog concerning consensus building as it relates to medicine. This blog entry is a worthwhile read.
He begins by saying lots of Democrats have a health plan (Daschle, Baucus and Kennedy). “And the chattering class is exuberant over the idea that a consensus is emerging on health reform. With respect to the twin problems of cost and quality, just about everyone seems to hold these positions:”
Consensus Point No. 1:
I AM NOT AT FAULT.
Consensus Point No. 2:
Somebody else is at fault; and, not to put too hard an edge on it and you may have to read between the lines to see this, but a reasonable inference is that DOCTORS ARE AT FAULT.
Consensus Point No. 3:
Again, not to put too hard an edge on it and you may have to read between the lines even more diligently, but once you do you will surely conclude that we must FORCE DOCTORS TO CHANGE THE WAY THEY PRACTICE MEDICINE.
I am afraid Americans are being set up. The “consensus” is going to sweep a defective healthcare policy through the door. The result will be a very ineffective form of socialized medicine. The plan will not cure obesity, the complications of chronic disease, or the abuses to the healthcare system by all the stakeholders.
When the Obama/Daschle plan is passed we will really have problems. Patients will not have freedom to choose. Access to medical care will be limited. Physicians will have further restrictions on their ability to deliver medical care they think necessary. The government will experience unbelievable cost overruns.
Tom Daschle’s plan does nothing to repair the dysfunction in the healthcare system. Doing the right thing seems so easy to me. I can not understand why politicians who do not understand medicine and the importance of physician patient relationship do not want to listen to practicing physicians. Politicians must use common sense. I hope President-elect Obama grasps the concept before it is to late for the healthcare system.
The opinions expressed in the blog “Repairing The Healthcare System” are, mine and mine alone.
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