Obama Hits Campaign Trail Again This Week To Tout ObamaCare

July 26, 2009 | By: doctor horton
Filed Under: Other

The President has repeatedly stated that health care reform is not a political issue.  He has accused Republicans of turning it into a political issue. Yet this week President Obama is set once again to hit the campaign trail.

On Wednesday the President will visit Raleigh, North Carolina and hold a town hall meeting at Broughton High School.  North Carolina has been noted to be a “crucible for health care“.  The Times & Observer sets the scene for what the President will be walking into on Wednesday:

Rallies, phone banks and door-to-door canvassing are under way, TV commercials blast on the airwaves, and petitions appear beside ripe tomatoes at farmers markets. It’s July in a nonelection year, but the political machinery is fully engaged, complete with letter-writing campaigns and statewide bus tours….

…Though the health-care debate is national, it is particularly loud in North Carolina because of the concentration of moderate Democrats that both sides see as potentially persuadable, particularly freshman Sen. Kay Hagan.

The Tar Heel State is also the home of some major players in the health-care industry, including GlaxoSmithKline, one of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies.

Moreover, North Carolina is now seen as one of the nation’s newest battleground states, having gone for Obama last November after voting Republican in the previous seven elections.

One night last week at Raleigh’s RBC Center, home of the Carolina Hurricanes hockey team, opponents were trying to fan opposition to Obama’s health-care proposal, literally.

The 350 people who packed into the club room were given fans that bore a drawing of a hand and the slogan: “Hands Off My Health Care.”

Following the Raleigh event on Wednesday, the president will travel to Bristol, Virginia to have a town hall meeting inside a Kroger grocery store.  This is a key location because it is in the heart of Appalachia, a region that is frequently talked about in the health care reform debate.  The President’s visit to Bristol comes one week after an Read More »

July 26, 2009 | doctor horton | Leave a comment

ObamaCare’s Biggest Opponent Is Not The GOP, It Is The Medical Profession

July 26, 2009 | By: doctor horton
Filed Under: Other

Why are Speaker Pelosi and President Obama having difficulty with the health care reform bill even though the Democrats have a supermajority?  It is because they are politicians and are viewed as untrustworthy my most Americans.  These politicians’ biggest opponent is not the GOP, it is the medical profession.  In order to gain the support of the American people they must publicly challenge the integrity of 4 of the 5 most trusted professions.

Which of the following do you trust?

A)BillClinton_185641t

B) obama1-773649

(pic from: My Man Mitt)

C)pelosi

D)normal_rockwell_doctor

Gallop performs an Annual Honesty and Ethics poll that rates different professions.  Each year there is little change.  Physicians are usually in the top 3 or 4 and politicians are near the bottom.  The most recent Gallop poll was conducted in 11/08 and reported results that were consistent with this claim.  The question was asked:  Please tell me how you would rate the honesty and ethical standards of people in these different fields — very high, high, average, low, or very low? This particular poll looked at 21 professions among them were nurses, pharmacists, teachers, medical doctors, congressmen, lobbyists, and journalists.  The results were typical of years past and showed physicians were near among the most trusted and politicians were near the bottom of the list.  At the very Read More »

July 26, 2009 | doctor horton | 2 Comments

Update: CNN Calls Doctors Racists

July 25, 2009 | By: doctor horton
Filed Under: Culture, Politics

Well, I was just at the CNN website and their doctor hit job is now the leading story for the whole site.

cnn2

July 25, 2009 | doctor horton | Leave a comment

CNN Calls Doctors Racists, Joins Obama In Attacking The Doctor Patient Relationship

July 23, 2009 | By: doctor horton
Filed Under: Culture, Other, Politics

Yesterday it was the President of the United States who attacked the integrity of the doctor patient relationship. Today CNN joins Obama in the attack on doctor’s integrity by accusing them of being racists.  The headline reads: “Does your doctor judge you based on your color?”
Select excerpts:

Studies show blacks and whites are treated differently.

While it’s extremely difficult to tell in any given situation how much race — consciously or unconsciously — plays a role in a doctor’s decision making, multiple studies over several decades have found doctors make different decisions for black patients and white patients even when they have the same medical problems and the same insurance.

“It’s absolutely proven through studies that a black man and a white man going to the hospital with the same complaint will be treated differently,” Dr. Neil Calman, a family physician and president of the Institute for Family Health in New York, said. Calman is also Reid’s regular physician.

For example, a 2005 study found African-American cardiac patients were less likely than whites to receive a lifesaving procedure called revascularization, where doctors restore the flow of oxygen to the heart. The study authors at RTI International, a research institute, noted that all of the patients had Medicare, which covers the cost of revascularization.

In a study conducted in 2007, Harvard researchers showed doctors a vignette about a 50-year-old man with chest pain who arrived at the emergency room, where an EKG showed he’d had a heart attack. Sometimes the researchers paired the medical history with a photo of black man and other times with a photo of a white man.

The doctors were significantly more likely to recommend lifesaving drugs when they thought the patient was white than when they thought the patient was black.

Is it racism or something else?

Video link: here.

I think this is a bunch of bull.

Elsewhere today, a group representing the nation’s ENT surgeons responded to President Obama’s press briefing with remarks on tonsillectomy procedures:

(HT: HotAir)

Responding to a question, President Obama said, “Part of what we want to do is to make sure that those decisions are being made by doctors and medical experts based on evidence, based on what works…. Read More »

July 23, 2009 | doctor horton | 1 Comment

Paging Doctor Horton

July 23, 2009 | By: Mr. MacIan
Filed Under: Other

Hey, Doctor Horton:

Did you unnecessarily remove anyone’s tonsils today?

July 23, 2009 | Mr. MacIan | 1 Comment

Obama’s New Strategy: Attacking The Doctor Patient Relationship

July 22, 2009 | By: doctor horton
Filed Under: Politics

During his press conference tonight, the President wielded this attack against the doctor patient relationship:

You come in and you have a sore throat, or your child has a sore throat, or you have repeated sore throats.  The doctor may look at the reimbursement system and say, “You know what? I make a lot more money if I take this kid’s tonsils out.”  Now, that may be the right thing to do, but I’d rather have that doctor making those decisions just based on whether you really need your kid’s tonsils out…or whether it might make more sense just to change, maybe they have allergies maybe they have something else that would make a difference.

The video can be seen here.

An effective argument against socialized medicine in this debate has been an appeal to the doctor patient relationship: “Who do you trust more, your doctor or the government?” The majority of physicians are against socialized medicine. Likewise, the majority of patients don’t like the government making their health decisions for them. Neither the American people nor their doctors are interested in forming a doctor-government-patient relationship. This relationship is a big obstacle to ObamaCare, and I think the democrats know this. Therefore, I am not surprised when dumb and offensive statements like this are made.

July 22, 2009 | doctor horton | 3 Comments

Dems Want to Give Doctors $245 billion Medicare Sweetener

July 22, 2009 | By: doctor horton
Filed Under: Other

From the AP:

House Democrats want to give doctors a $245 billion sweetener that helps ensure their critical support for a health care overhaul bill. Next up: Trying to explain how they could do it without breaking President Barack Obama’s promise that health legislation won’t increase the federal deficit.

Obama reiterated the pledge in a “CBS Evening News” interview Tuesday, saying: “It’s got to be deficit neutral. It can’t add to our deficits.”

So what of the Congressional Budget Office’s conclusion that the House bill does add to the deficit?

Democrats and the Obama administration argue that the $245 billion included for doctors — the approximate 10-year cost of adjusting Medicare reimbursement rates so physicians don’t face big annual pay cuts — does not have to be counted in the overall cost of the health care bill.

Read More »

July 22, 2009 | doctor horton | Leave a comment

Update: Mayo Clinic Reacts To House Health Care Bill

July 22, 2009 | By: doctor horton
Filed Under: Politics

Update

Tonight during the Obama press conference the president fielded a question about the Mayo Clinic’s reaction to the House health care bill.  Over the past two days Mayo Clinic has posted two updates to their previous statement regarding the house health care bill.  It will be interesting to see how this story plays out over the next few days.

From Mayo Clinic’s Health Policy Blog, 7/21/09

Late yesterday, Mayo Clinic became aware of the concept of development of an Independent Medicare Advisory Council. We applaud the direction of this proposal. We view favorably the concept of an independent body that can move Medicare to a “value- based payment” model.  An independent Medicare advisory commission focused on defining value, measuring it, and finding ways to pay for value could have significant, positive impact on health care for the long term.  While we think the proposal’s timeline of 2014 is too long to wait to see value-based reforms, we look forward to working with the administration on refining and strengthening their new proposal. This, and other, bold concepts have the potential to “bend the cost curve” in U.S. health spending without compromising health.

Today on Health Policy Blog, 7/22/09

An open letter to congress.

What is an Independent Medicare Advisory Council? The Office of Management and Budget blog at WhiteHouse.gov referenced the Council on 7/17/09:

Read More »

July 22, 2009 | doctor horton | Leave a comment

Are We Headed For A Health Care Brawl?

July 22, 2009 | By: doctor horton
Filed Under: Culture, Politics

Is this video a preview of what we may see in the United States Congress  as the health care debate heats up over the next few weeks?  This video shows a brawl which took place in the South Korean parliament on July 22, 2009.  Check out the background news story from the AP.

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July 22, 2009 | doctor horton | 1 Comment

Paging Doctor Marx?

July 21, 2009 | By: doctor horton
Filed Under: Other, Philosophy, Politics

Today, Investor’s Business Daily published a cartoon by political cartoonist Michael Ramirez.  In this cartoon Karl Marx is pictured as a doctor making a house call on behalf of Government Health Care.  Marx is pictured putting on the glove and telling the patient, “Hello, I’m your new doctor…bend over.”  The cartoon is entitled, “The House Call.” (HT: HotAir)

dr marx

Also today, President Obama was interviewed on the today show by Meredith Vieira who asked him if he would support a surtax on Americans making a certain salary.  In his reply the President promised that the “rich” will need to sacrifice for the sake of the community under his health care plan.

Vieira: “But would you support a surtax on people that are making more than $280,000 a year to help pay for this health care reform?”

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The cartoon by Ramirez is not the first time the ideals of President Obama have been associated with the ideals of Marx.  During the 2008 presidential campaign it was then candidate Obama who said to Joe The Plumber,  “I think when you spread the wealth around its good for everybody.”  This phrase was later referenced by an Orlando news anchor when during an interview with Joe Biden she attempted to compare the sayings of Obama with the sayings of Karl Marx.  She asked Biden:

You may recognize this famous quote, “From each according to his abilities to each according to his needs,” that’s from Karl Marx.  How is Senator Obama not being a Marxist if he intends to spread the wealth around?

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July 21, 2009 | doctor horton | Leave a comment