The Bad Medicine of the Republican Doctors
By Jon Perr Friday Sep 11, 2009 6:00am
When the GOP trotted out the hapless Rep. Charles Boustany (R-LA) to deliver the response to President Obama, the former cardiologist became just the latest Republican physician deployed to halt health care reform. As it turns out, the repentant Birther was an unfortunate choice to carry the GOP banner of tort reform, given his own history of malpractice suits. Of course, as his colleagues Tom Price, Tom Coburn and Bill Frist all show, when it comes to the politics of health care, Boustany isn't the only Republican doctor offering Americans the wrong diagnosis and bad prescriptions.
Georgia's Tom Price, a one-time orthopedic surgeon and current chairman of the Republican Study Committee, is a case in point. While the GOP tried to block the passage of Medicare in the 1960's and tried to slash its budget by 15% in the 1990's, today's Republicans pretend to be the defenders of the system Newt Gingrich famously said they hoped to see "wither on the vine." But in a July op-ed, Dr. Price reminded America's seniors why it is Republicans and not President Obama they should fear when it comes to Medicare:
Going down the path of more government will only compound the problem. While the stated goal remains noble, as a physician, I can attest that nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government's intrusion into medicine through Medicare.
Then there's Oklahoma Senator and unexpected Obama confidante Tom Coburn. As a Senate candidate in 2004, Dr. Coburn famously warned that "lesbianism is so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they'll only let one girl go to the bathroom." Upon his arrival in the Senate, the former obstetrician was elevated to the Judiciary Committee despite having advocated the death penalty for doctors who perform abortions. More recently, Coburn the C Street marriage counselor to John Ensign and Mark Sanford turned Deather:
In an interview with KOTV, Coburn said that he disagreed with Obama's dismissal of fears that reform will "pull the plug on grandma."
Coburn said that he'd offered three amendments seeking an "absolute prohibition" on rationing care based on effectiveness research.
"Why would you not want an absolute prohibition? Because you ultimately plan to ration care," Coburn said. "Their plan is to control costs by limiting options."
Last but certainly not least is former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist.
As you'll recall, the young Frist was a frequent visitor to animal shelters where the future Doctor adopted stray cats only to dissect them later as part of his learn-at-home medical studies. In December 2004, the Tennessee Senator tried to defend a federally-funded abstinence program which claimed that HIV/AIDS could be contracted through tears and sweat. Pressed by ABC News host George Stephanopoulos, Frist was forced to recant. "It would be very hard," he said.
But it was during the 2005 Terri Schiavo affair in which Majority Leader Frist used a national platform to abuse his medical background for partisan political leverage. Rejecting a medical consensus (later confirmed during the autopsy) that Ms. Schiavo was blind and in a "persistent vegetative state," Dr. Frist offered a videotape diagnosis to the contrary on the floor of the Senate:
"I question it based on a review of the video footage which I spent an hour or so looking at last night in my office," he said in a lengthy speech in which he quoted medical texts and standards. "She certainly seems to respond to visual stimuli."
Despite those embarrassments and his close call in 2007 with an insider trading probe investigating his sale of stock from the HCA business started by his father and brother, Bill Frist is back on your television screen cheerleading Republican opposition to Democratic health insurance reform initiatives.
Even after President Obama's powerful speech last night, the outcome of the fierce health care debate is still far from certain. But one thing Americans can count in the political war over health reform is that the doctors of the Republican Party will do everything they can to kill it.
(This piece also appears at Perrspectives.)
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Doctors and, in particular, organized medicine are on board for health reform:
http://cmhmd.blogspot.com/2009/09/organized-m...
In spite of what the whiners say...
http://cmhmd.blogspot.com/2009/06/from-our-fr...
Cheers,
that link is a misleading, in regards to the AMA. it mentions the AMA, and their 1/4 million members, supporting HR3200... then mentions the AMA's reason for support, including:
- Coverage to all Americans through health insurance market reforms (notice, no mention of public option, let alone single payer)
- Individual responsibility for health insurance, including premium assistance to those who need it (sounds like a support for indiv mandate, but no mention of employer mandate, nor, again, a public option for those that might be forced into insurance that is dreadful)
not mentioned in that blog post, from NYTimes:
"As the health care debate heats up, the American Medical Association is letting Congress know that it will oppose creation of a government-sponsored insurance plan, which President Obama and many other Democrats see as an essential element of legislation to remake the health care system."
AMA statement: “The A.M.A. does not believe that creating a public health insurance option for non-disabled individuals under age 65 is the best way to expand health insurance coverage and lower costs. The introduction of a new public plan threatens to restrict patient choice by driving out private insurers, which currently provide coverage for nearly 70 percent of Americans.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/11/us/politics...
sure the AMA might support this insurance-friendly health "reform", but they sure as hell are standing in the way of TRUE reform.
On a conference call with physicains in PA, NJ, NY, Mass., AMA reiterated support for a public plan as long as it was on a "level playing field" and did not compel participation or tie fees to Medicare.
I realize that's a few "buts," but it does not change the underlying overall support for HC reform.
So, they really are NOT standing in the way. I will admit, they have not been as forthcoming in the media as they should be, but I expect that is because they'd rather keep working quietly and frankly, not risk angering the many conservative physicians who are still members.
I think it boils down to this: As leaders of our profession ( I consider myself one), we must rise above the petty fights and truly advocate for our patients, including those not in front of us because they can't afford to be, and advocate for universal equitable access to health care.
and i didn't realize that is your blog
Q: Will Public Plan crowd out private insurers?
A: Bill is written so choice to join PP is limited (to the uninsured, small businesses and some others) but this could change and we must be vigilant.
vigilant to stop any more inclusion of choice of a public option? that isn't much of an option, then, if people that already have insurance can't choose to opt in to it.
this still leads me to question the AMA's real motives. i realize that the AMA has a lot of conservative members, and the AMA is careful to waterdown any reform that would make those supporting a for-profit health system balk... but, really, the AMA seems, at best, to go begrudgingly along with minimal health insurance reform, and are using their clout to stop meaningful reform. obviously just my opinion. and, again, thanks for providing this info.
The AMA has long standing and long reiterated policy in favor of universal access to health care. They also have policy against single payer, against increased government role, etc.
What changed is that there are now enough progressives in leadership and that go to the House of Delegates (the policy making body) who realize that those two things are clearly contradictory. How to walk that tightwire of living up to our professional/ethical/moral obligations and still banging away on that old ideology is tough.
But, please don't stop with the AMA. Every large physician organization is in favor of health reform as I posted. Some of the smaller ones are on the fence, and Anesthesiologists and radiologists are just embarrassing themselve by focusing on the money as their TOP priority.
So, even if the AMA isn't being full throated, look who's on our side: Internists and subspecialists, family practitioners, pediatricians, OB-GYNs, osteopaths and even the College of Surgeons!
If the GOP are that awful, then I suggest you Democrats in here call Obama and the other Dems to tell them to stop their bipartisan bull-crap already!
I am in the Green Party now because I am so tired of the hideous Dems trying to play nice with idiots like the guy featured above.
Yes, the GOP are disgusting, but, the Dems insanely try to play footsies with them.
And Obama's "healthcare reform" is also hideous too.
sued 8 times for malpractice--faulted twice..Look at most of the DR.s turned legislators--most roll out of medicine for a reason --it is not the money--!!! EGO and power driven but not capable of practicing within the law for the patients! Coburn is the same...
The AMA represent less than 20% of practicing physicians and most of the membership is retired!
This guy is not even articulate!
But this guy reminds me too much of Pee Wee Herman, for me to take him seriously.The whole time he was talking I was wondering when he was gonna say "I know you are but what am I?"
All these Reslug doctors are quacks and would have lost their licenses to practice anyway, so they quit like the Dimwit Palin.
Negative, negative, negative. Easy to critize, but where are the real comprehensive solutions? The issues are coverage, cost, and quality of service. This guy and the Republicans have zero real ideas to help improve these issues.
Great this guy is a "Doctor", but he is likely another one of these idiot doctors driving around in his Bentley ripping off the American public. Doctors in this country get paid way too much money, especially compared to Doctors in just about all other countries. Many of them are very good at gaming the system. Owning testing and MRI facilities, and hospitals, which they direct their patients who they often see as revenue generators.
Trusting a Republican doctor is like trusting the fox in the hen house.
chickens and a spare bushel of corn for an office visit, I say let them argue for the good old days before government interference.
All parts of the political spectrum are for state's rights when they agree with the state and for the federal government when they agree with it.
Medicare or Medicaid is coupling that with a for-profit medical organization (hospital, clinic, etc.). That and the grifters that figure out how to game the system. Insuring, treating and curing people has no business being a profit making venture, someone is bound to lose so that some Skull and Bones thug at the top can throw his wife an awesome birthday party or buy a hand-made yacht. As long as there is money to be made it will never be about doing right by a patient.
Why would anyone listen to a moron that thinks he can buy a title for $18,500? Pompous and stupid? It's a winning combination.
Titles cost a lot more than that.
to 95% and get it over with. People are tired of paying for their failed adventures and folly's.
You forgot Frist helped try to pass through protection for Eli Lilly for damage from thimerosal. He and Dick Armey slipped a rider for them into the Homeland Insecurity bill.
of Boustany. He suffers from acute narcissism, paranoia, a persecution complex, cognitive dissonance and teh stupid.
I also noticed he has an acute case of dookey breath.
when the Marx Brothers were revelaed to be unrelated to Karl.
I quit watching when they kept showing reruns of the 3 Stooges without Curly!
Mine was an act of political conscience against corporate manipulation by the MSM.
A cartel of Quacks! Too bad we can't pull the plug on these rejects!
And, he's BALD! Pretty Much!
He don't need no steenkin medical skills.
He's a nobility kinda dude!
^
what a friggin dolt
i am going to refer to him as Darth Boustany from here on out...
have as many screws loose as this guy.
Demand your Choice of Doctor rights abundantly.
was is the percentage of total screws loose among the medical profession? What will it cost to tighten them?
being a patient of any one of these creeps. That's probably a reason why they moved into politics - no patients and they realized they could make beaucoup bucks without actually working!!
I cannot, in my wildest imagination, having a Pap test done by Tom Coburn or, dog forbid, Phil Gingrey.....EW-w-w-wwW!!!
Relax, just a little pin prick
Dr. RonPaul? Are he and RuPaul related?
I can attest that nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government's intrusion into medicine through Medicare. - charlie boustany
i would counter that the 8 people that had to sue boustany for medical malpractice would see his medical practice as negatively impacting health care more than anything else.
charles "below the acceptable standard of care" boustany: a danger to america's health care.
those that can't, become Thug arseholes in congress.
Dr. Dean settled on state politics, huh?
My thoughts exactly.
Those who can (practice medicine), do. Those who can't, become Congress critters.
They put the bad actors in public office.
Doesn't it?
When I first saw this I thought it was an SNL skit.... this guy looked ridiculous, his suit, the background, his posture, his language.... it seemed to be a parity.
It was like looking into the very eyes of the healthcare problem in the country.
He looked more like an insurance industry executive. Not someone who was here to help the people.
here's your Insurance Card."
"My Doctor?"
"Good afternoon Mr. Joe, I'm Doctor Boustany. Your chart here says' your all fu*ked up."
"Good, let us begin the first round of tests"
"Tests"?
"Relax Mr. Joe we have the best Technology known to man here"
Never mind Mr. Joe.
"Relax, your in good hands with All State Mr. Joe . . our highly trained specialists spare no effort or cost in the treatment of all your ailments."
"Relax Mr Joe. Your going to be here for a while. Now we'll need to do an MRI as step one here just to be safe and make sure there are no other inner conditions which have led to this unfortunate event"
LOL evet.
Is Joe a tard?
^
They will push out there little toy puppet to say that they diagree with a widely supported fact and then everyone gets to say that there is discord in the scientific field. It's simply a rediculous story that is getting old fast.
and I'm telling you, there was an earnest debate among republicans here as to whether they should let boustany do the rebuttal or give bobby jindal an honorary medical degree and let him have another swat at it. True story!
in Oklahoma? And someone should dissect Bill Frist, and prove that he has no heart.
and Meryl Streep.
if you'd ever met one of the heterosexual men from Oklahoma.
In a state where Toby Keith is considered a sex symbol, it's no wonder why Oklahoma ladies like other ladies...
So this is the guy who hid in a store at the Capitol when videographer Mike Stark tried to ask him if he was a birther or was it a deather? Probably a dirther.
Somewhere yesterday, probably here on C&L, someone posted a link to an article which discussed how much money Boustany has taken from the healthcare and insurance industries. Here it is again:
http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/i...
because malpractice insurance is too high? So they trot out some clown who has been sued 8 times for malpractice?
Wouldn't it just be easier to yank the licenses of crappy doctor like Boustany?
Having Boustany deliver the rebuttal to Obama's speech is like having this guy teach driver safety:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCHdZxO4_tQ
If I encountered an doctor that had an expression like that on his face - I'd turn tail and run as fast as I could.
*
Since we know the Republican party runs candidates that believe the earth is only 5,000 years old and that men rode around on dinosaurs, would you go see a Doctor that would vote for someone like that, even if they themselves didn't believe that way?
Think about that for just a bit before you reply.
"nothing has had a greater negative effect on the delivery of health care than the federal government's intrusion into medicine through Medicare."
In 2008 the feds paid out about $450,000,000,000 in Medicare payments. Lets see what the 'negative effect' would be if all of that money stopped flowing. I bet 90 percent of hospitals, doctors, nurses, etc. would close up shop the very next day.
"We have to make health care affordable" sounds reasonable, but the words are utterly meaningless. What is affordable? Affordable for whom? If you're dirt poor there's nothing that is affordable. If you're lower middle class, and your $60,000 surgery were even slashed by a whopping 90%, your $6,000 balance is still unaffordable. (Forget it; nothing is going to be slashed by 90%.)
Health care is made "affordable" when you have a huge risk pool (i.e., a risk pool composed of every American) and payments are made into the system for every person in the pool, and instead of paying stockholders, these health care dollars are used to pay for health care. It's fairly simple. Put the insurance companies into the claims processing business as federal contractors. Illness should not be a profit-making industry.
Another repug who has taken the hypocritical oath.
That's not a doctor, that's one of the actors on the Aussie show, The Chaser's War on Everything.
http://chaserswaroneverything.files.wordpress...
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