Obama Health Care Plan Faces Doctors' Exam

President To Take His Case For Reform To American Medical Association

(CBS/ AP)  President Barack Obama, continuing to barnstorm for his health care proposals, will urge doctors gathered in Chicago to support wider insurance coverage and targeted federal spending cuts.

Mr. Obama planned to tell the American Medical Association's annual meeting in his hometown on Monday that overhaul cannot wait and that bringing down costs is the most important thing he can do to ensure the country's long-term fiscal health, a senior administration official said.

The official spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the president's remarks before they were delivered.

The nation's doctors, like many other groups, are divided over the president's proposals to reshape the health care delivery system. The White House anticipates heavy spending to cover the almost 50 million Americans who lack health insurance and has taken steps in recent days to outline just where that money could be found.

For instance, Mr. Obama wants to cut federal payments to hospitals by about $200 billion and cut $313 billion from Medicare and Medicaid. He also is proposing a $635 billion "down payment" in tax increases and spending cuts in the health care system.

To an audience of doctors Mr. Obama plans to say the United States spends too much on health care and gets too little in return. He says the health industry is crushing businesses and families and is leading to millions of Americans losing coverage, the administration official said.

Mr. Obama's turn before the 250,000-physician group in his latest effort to persuade skeptics that his goal to provide health care to all Americans is worth the $1 trillion price tag it is expected to run during its first decade.

The president plans to acknowledge the costs. But he also will tell the doctors it is not acceptable for the nation to leave so many without insurance, the official said.

Unified Republicans and some fiscally conservative Democrats on Capitol Hill have said they are nervous about how the administration plans to pay for Mr. Obama's ideas.

The New York Times reported Monday that Mr. Obama has been quietly making a case for reducing malpractice lawsuits to help control costs, long a goal of the AMA and Republicans. Mr. Obama has not endorsed capping jury awards.

Presidents have tried to pass health care reform for 60 years. Most recently, President Clinton failed 15 years ago, reports CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.

The White House has tried to avoid the kind of fights the Clintons had with Congress - it has deliberately not given Congress much guidance about exactly what they think should be in a health care bill - and that's caused infighting among Democrats.

Mr. Obama has been speaking privately with lawmakers about his ideas and publicly with audiences, such as a town hall style meeting last week in Green Bay, Wis. Mr. Obama and his administration officials have blanketed the nation in support of his broad ideas, and Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday said it's up to Congress to pin down the details on how to pay for them.

"They're either going to have to agree with us, come up with an alternative or we're not going to have health care," Biden told NBC's "Meet the Press."

"And we're going to get health care."

In Chicago, the president's remarks are likely to focus on how his ideas might affect the medical profession.

His proposed cuts in federal payments would hit hospitals more directly than doctors, but physicians will be affected by virtually every change that Congress eventually agrees to. Many medical professionals are not yet convinced Mr. Obama's overhaul is the best for their care or their pocketbooks.

Broadly, the AMA supports a health care "reform" - a term that changes its definition based on who is speaking - although the specifics remain unclear.

In a statement welcoming Mr. Obama, AMA president Dr. Nancy Nielsen said the medical profession wants to "reduce unnecessary costs by focusing on quality improvements, such as developing best practices for care and improving medication reconciliation."

She also said doctors need greater protection from malpractice lawsuits and antitrust restrictions.

Many congressional Republicans, insurance groups and others oppose Mr. Obama's bid for a government-run health insurance program that would compete with private companies. On Sunday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., described a government plan as a "nonstarter."

"We can make incredible improvements in American health care, but I don't think having more government - in effect putting Washington between you and your doctor - is the way to go," McConnell told CBS' Face The Nation.

"There are a whole lot of other things we can agree to do on a bipartisan basis that will dramatically improve our system," he said.

To that end, lawmakers were considering a possible compromise that involved a cooperative program that would enjoy taxpayer support without direct governmental control. The concessions could be the smoothest way to deliver the bipartisan health care legislation the administration seeks by its self-imposed August deadline, officials said.

"There is no one-size-fits-all idea," Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told CNN's "State of the Union" on Sunday.

"The president has said, 'These are the kinds of goals I'm after: lowering costs, covering all Americans, higher-quality care.' And around those goals, there are lots of ways to get there."

Momentum might be on Mr. Obama's side. Aaron Carroll, an Indiana University medical professor who has surveyed doctors' views on U.S. health care delivery, said 59 percent "favor government legislation to establish national health insurance," an increase over a previous poll's finding.

He noted that many doctors are not AMA members, and therefore the association's views should not be overrated.

[IMPeeved]

For those that want government run health care. Are you without insurance and good health care? Do you have a state program for your children SCHIPS? Can't you go to the emergency room if you are sick? Who pays for that?

Why should the government take of the best health system in the world, for a very few who don't have insurance. They are not without health care, they are without insurance.

Why not just spend the money on the few that need it? Why take away health insurance from the majority of individuals that have it already? You know it will mean rationed treatment and eventually a government that has to decide who gets treatment and who must die.

[IMPeeved]

I am over 60. Does that make me expendable under Obama's plan. I heard that in the plan, when a person reaches 60, they have to have a check up by a doctor to determin something. I am not sure what they will be looking for, but sounds to me like some day, the government will decide if a person is worth the money for health treatment. No to government run health care.

[tsparks0543]

I'm not a fan of Obama. But, at least he is trying. No one else has even come up with a plan that is workable. Not that Obama's will work. The problem with all of this is, that most of these politicians that are opposed to trying to make healthcare better, are still trying to line their pockets with our money. I work in healthcare. I'm sure that a national healthcare would only improve upon the place that I work. We work for below poverty level wages just so we can have health insurance. I have asthma and have had to be hospitalized a few times for it. Even with health insurance, our part with all of the tests and different doctors you are required to go to is still $7 or $8 thousand dollars per hospitalization. I'm still having to pay this amount out of pocket, and pay skyrocketing insurance premiums. And, don't even get me started on the drug companies. One of my inhalers a month costs over $300 dollars. The same inhaler bought at a foreign pharmacy is only about $20. What is wrong with this picture. Like I said before, yes, this system may fail, but, at least someone is trying something. That is more than we have gotten from our government before.

[Rebel_Rebel]

by -Lawyers-Guns-n-Money- June 15, 2009 5:06 PM PDT
Any certain way you want me to die Mr. President?
Posted by everet3 at 1:23 PM : Jun 15, 2009

Yup, but you won't hear it coming...SUPRISE!
____________

That was an F'n riot!!!

[marie2233]

It would be great to know exactly what is in the Health Care Plan! Is it going to be signed without being read, just like the Stimulus Bill?

[CitizenMikeM]

Good comments, bad comments, ridiculous ranting comments that make no sense whatsoever. People hear some politician spout the same old tired, worn-out demogogery and right away, that's fact. Learn to think for yourselves, take everything you hear with a LARGE grain of salt. Remember your parents telling you "Don't believe anything you hear and only half of what you see"? The poison that spews from Republicans and Democrats alike is overwhelming and spreading to the Public. The people of this country (other than lobbyists and their cronies) are no longer served by either house of Congress. The way the hatred, sarcasm, and obstructionism is spreading, we may soon revisit the era of McCarthyism of the 50's and German Facism of the 30's. When does this end? When the shooting in the streets begins?

[kathy11112]

I'm glad that Obama has addressed this issue. It would be actually nice if he had a single bit of truth in his rant. For instance Obama has said, in his campaign promises, to repeal the heinous FDA preemption which makes it IMPOSSIBLE to get redress at all from the medical industry. That is not in line with the comments that are being reported, is it? The comments that doctors are terrified of being sued is absolutely NONSENSE.
To cave to the whining of the doctors that they had to pay for their "schooling", is also pretty much nonsense. MOST of the doctors went to school with scholarships or it was paid by their trust funds.
I've written to Obama on his various websites and numerous times of the solution of this ugly situation (which has permanently and deeply harmed me):
1) Stop all advertising for drugs on the TV. We have a pathetic society that sits and whines for free drugs. But what do expect, when we are pelleted over and over about "ask your doctor if you can get this drug" "see you doctor to get more drugs". Have you been to the doctor lately when he doesn't greet you with his prescription pad in the ready? This would save trillions.
2) REPEAL the FDA preemption. Yes, this has stopped all of any redress for the harm done by the medical industry. Have we seen any savings? NO! NO! NO! The medical industry is still taking in record profits, while the nation is being foreclosed on. The malpractice "insurance" is a definite misnomer - most doctors make a profit on this "expense". Priceless for safety.
3) Many medical complaints can be taken care of with better nutrition and sometimes even herbs. Yet we are allowed the FDA to persecute "alternative" medicine practioners. Trillions of savings.
4) Stop the MANDATED harmful "preventative" medicine. Even the UK has recognized that this is a waste of money and has stopped this brainwashing of the public to think that we need harmful "tests" to imagine that every tiny bump is a cancer or "pre" cancer. Millions of savings.
5) Everyone needs to pay something. But, and this is important, everyone should have control on what type of medical "care" they need and what type of care. Millions of savings.
6) Fire the insurance companies. Trillions of savings.

[-Lawyers-Guns-n-Money-]

Any certain way you want me to die Mr. President?
Posted by everet3 at 1:23 PM : Jun 15, 2009

Yup, but you won't hear it coming...SUPRISE!

[incog-nito]

It justs boggles my mind how things could have gotten this way.
Posted by erasmus111 at 3:03 PM : Jun 15, 2009

Very simple. In many countries election are entirely publicly funded, with candidates getting equal air time, etc. Some places have a monatorium on campaigning days before the election. Other places people have the day off to vote. Results: multi-party systems and coalition governments.

In the U.S., big campaign donations are protected by "free speech". The public wants fairness but doesn't want to pay for it. The bigger your campaign war chest, the more likely you'll win. Mechanisms are put in place, such as debating requirements, to prevent third parties to get a foothold. Results: A two-party system that is really not all that different from one another.

[erasmus111]

Results: A two-party system that is really not all that different from one another.
by incog-nito June 15, 2009 4:41 PM PDT

We have 5 parties here. And what I like is that it only takes 1 month for an election! : )

[Mistamister]

test

[Mistamister]

great article

[erasmus111]

.....but the U.S. Congress works for the Insurance Companies not the American People.......
Posted by chitown639 at 2:30 PM : Jun 15, 2009

So what are you saying? It's going to be absolutely impossible to get rid of the corruption?

It justs boggles my mind how things could have gotten this way.

[chitown639]

The Insurance Companies are spending billions block the Public option in health care.....most Americans support the president's plan for health care.....but the U.S. Congress works for the Insurance Companies not the American People.......

[erasmus111]

I am dying and the doctors keep sending me to other doctor's that I cannot afford now, so how does Obama expect us the dying and disabled to afford to pay what he wants as to what we we pay now? I say at least leave things alone, they are trying to some what work now. But will kill a bunch if he does change it. And he wants all to have health insurance, yea right. If he gets his way a bunch will be without it. I am on the transplant waiting list, I need a hearing implant ( not an hearing aid but implant.) and all I have is medicare for which I have to pay 20% of that bill and eat hardly anything. Any certain way you want me to die Mr. President?
Posted by everet3 at 1:23 PM : Jun 15, 2009

You're dying because you need a hearing implant? And if you are dying from something else, why would you need a hearing implant? I'm not meaning to be insensitive, but what you are saying isn't making sense to me. Or am I reading things wrong?

[blog_fever2]

YOu have insurance and you are complaining about health care. 16,000 people die because they do not get health care. You should be happy you have some health care
Posted by mrzerato at 1:30 PM : Jun 15, 2009
***********************************************
Wow. Listen to this response. How is this fair to any human being? The healthcare industry should NOT be private. "He who oppresses the poor to increase his riches, and he who gives to the rich will surely come to poverty." Proverbs 22:16
Our common freedoms entitle us to LIFE, liberty (hence the term "liberal"), and the pursuit of happiness. Food for thought..........................

[skyk-2009]

Okay Dem's... it's time to kick the party of No to the curb and move this thing along. We can NOT continue with things as they are and that's all the Confederate Party and their Lobbyist Friends want... the same tired old scare trash they've been selling now for decades... time to change the WORST System in the WORLD... We PAY more and get LESS than anyone on the PLANET!!

[chitown639]

I need a hearing implant ( not an hearing aid but implant.) and all I have is medicare for which I have to pay 20% of that bill and eat hardly anything. Any certain way you want me to die Mr. President?
Posted by everet3

Well, since you have a problem hearing then maybe we should speak louder........THE GUY YOU VOTED FOR LAST YEAR, JOHN MCCAIN, WELL HE LOST!!!!

[mrzerato]

I am on the transplant waiting list, I need a hearing implant ( not an hearing aid but implant.) and all I have is medicare for which I have to pay 20% of that bill and eat hardly anything. Any certain way you want me to die Mr. President?
Posted by everet3

YOu have insurance and you are complaining about health care. 16,000 people die because they do not get health care. You should be happy you have some health care

[incog-nito]

Posted by everet3 at 1:23 PM : Jun 15, 2009

Things are not so great, so we should keep them the way they are. Wonderful.

[everet3]

I am dying and the doctors keep sending me to other doctor's that I cannot afford now, so how does Obama expect us the dying and disabled to afford to pay what he wants as to what we we pay now? I say at least leave things alone, they are trying to some what work now. But will kill a bunch if he does change it. And he wants all to have health insurance, yea right. If he gets his way a bunch will be without it. I am on the transplant waiting list, I need a hearing implant ( not an hearing aid but implant.) and all I have is medicare for which I have to pay 20% of that bill and eat hardly anything. Any certain way you want me to die Mr. President?