LA Times Wakes Up To A Downside Of Obamacare (legal, healthcare, regular)
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No, in fact it is not a strawman. Are you asserting that the system is not overloaded with trivial cases of non-sick people?
Have you ever once spoken to a nurse? Any nurse will tell you that the number of people who legitimately need medical care....especially in (but not limited to) emergency rooms.....is far exceded by those people who merely need a Tylenol, a Band-Aid, or some Benedryl.
I'm a nurse, I do triage, and I disagree. Oh, we get all kinds. We get people who want an appointment for seemingly nothing, and we get people we have to practically drag in. I would not say that "the number of people who legitimately need medical care....especially in (but not limited to) emergency rooms.....is far exceded by those people who merely need a Tylenol, a Band-Aid, or some Benedryl (sic)." For the most part, we get people calling in about a kid with a raging fever, and the parent (dads call too sometimes) will say, "oh, maybe he's just teething". These kids are usually SICK!
1. The AMA does not determine medical school and residency slots! It is a left leaning political organization. Only 20% of physicians belong to the AMA. Congress determines the number of medial school and residency slots by funding. If you want more doctors, lobby congress.
2. I was on the admissions committee at my med school for two years. Then the system was this-
a. applicants were scored on thier first six semesters of undergrad, relative to other applicants. A perfect score was 60.
b. applicants were scored on thier MCAT scores relative to other applicants (a "perfect" score was a 60). At that time, there were six individual scores and an average score. A "perfect" MCAT back then was a 15, however, you were 90th percentile if you scored an 11. Apparently the MCAT is very different now, as there is a written componant and I hear pre-meds talking about getting a "36", ect........ I don't know how many componants there are today, nor what would constitute a "perfect" score.
scores 100-120 ............ absolute accept unless interview blown
80-100........................ "think about it" and look at core science GPA, publications, ect.....
below 80......................absolute reject.
So "your friend" with a 3.90 GPA must have completely blown his/her MCATs or had some psychological problems that precluded admission.
3. "The market" cannot fix the supply of physicians, as those slots are determined by the degree of federal and state funding. You can't just "create" more slots or "build" another med school. Will NPs and PAs assume a greater role? Yes- very few physicians I know are going to take any Obamacare patients, as they are medicaid patients, who tend to be very difficult and have the lowest reimbursement.
Will agreeing to accept some level of indigent patients become a component of getting onto med school?
No, in fact it is not a strawman. Are you asserting that the system is not overloaded with trivial cases of non-sick people?
"Overloaded"? Yeah, that sounds unlikely. Trivial cases can be handed fairly quickly. Of course, having more people insured means that even hypochondriacs will have the option of booking a clinic visit with their physician like us middle-class drones, rather than having to use the (horrendously expensive) emergency room.
The downside pointed out in the OP is that the medical system has adjusted towards a sizable proportion of poor people simply going untreated, or going untreated until trivial ailments become serious. There will be a readjustment.
Will agreeing to accept some level of indigent patients become a component of getting onto med school?
Like the professional expectation of pro bono work for lawyers? Ineffective. Much better to have everybody covered somehow. Preventative treatment and early detection are major cost-savers, overall.
I'm a nurse, I do triage, and I disagree. Oh, we get all kinds. We get people who want an appointment for seemingly nothing, and we get people we have to practically drag in. I would not say that "the number of people who legitimately need medical care....especially in (but not limited to) emergency rooms.....is far exceded by those people who merely need a Tylenol, a Band-Aid, or some Benedryl (sic)." For the most part, we get people calling in about a kid with a raging fever, and the parent (dads call too sometimes) will say, "oh, maybe he's just teething". These kids are usually SICK!
I thought you worked in a doctor's office, not the ER of a hospital.
Wouldn't they be quite different in scenarios ?
Like the professional expectation of pro bono work for lawyers? Ineffective. Much better to have everybody covered somehow. Preventative treatment and early detection are major cost-savers, overall.
"Everyone covered"?
You do realize that Obamacare simply increases Medicaid roles. Very few, if any, physicians will accept Medicaid, unless in County Hosptial or University.
I thought you worked in a doctor's office, not the ER of a hospital.
Wouldn't they be quite different in scenarios ?
Yes, I work in a dr's office. You note Mr. AeroGuy said "not limited to ERs". We have a triage nurse every day. The patients can call in and talk to a nurse to see if they need an appointment. If we're crazy busy, they have to talk to us before they can make an appointment for most everything except breathing problems. If it's a calmer day, they can make an appt. w/o talking to one of us. Either way, we do not see a lot of people who have no reason at all to be going to the dr. I get way more concerned about the people who don't want to bring their kids in, often b/c they have no or sketchy insurance.
The Supreme Court already ruled on this issue. No physician can be forced to take any patient (except in emergencies) against thier will.
States tried to force physicians to see Medicaid patients as a requirement for liscence renewal. That "idea" was ruled illegal.
That's kind of ridiculous when you think about it. Imagine if ambulance drivers were allowed to select the calls that they did or did not want to take, or teachers could pick the kids they wanted to teach and discard others. It just shows the pull of organizations like the AMA that doctors aren't required to supply what is in fact an essential service. Imagine if all doctors refused to take Medicaid patients: Then what? No care for the poor?
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