Quote of the Day: “Going into this project we generally knew about the shortage of physicians; what we didn’t know is how much worse it could get over the next few years. The bottom line is that the person you’ve known as your family doctor could be getting ready to disappear – and there might not be a replacement.” — Lou Goodman, PhD, President, The Physicians’ Foundation
Subject: We hate our new website, but I have good news . . .
I’ve referred to our new website as our version of New Coke or Microsoft Vista. It’s probably the biggest mistake I’ve made since we started DownsizeDC.org. But I can report three pieces of good news . . .
1. Our new technical team is fantastic
2. They’re quickly learning how our system works, and how to fix it
3. They’ve just installed their first fix, a TEMPORARY workaround of our most serious, pressing problem with the site
Our permanent fix will be much better. But this new temp fix will work, and you can use it for today’s action item (please read on) . . .
The Physician’s Foundation has surveyed primary care doctors, finding that nearly HALF of them plan to reduce or eliminate their practices in the next three years!
That’s right — HALF of America’s PRIMARY CARE doctors (not specialists) may be about to DISAPPEAR!
The doctors planning to quit give the following reasons . . .
* Too much non-clinical paperwork
* Difficulty getting reimbursed
* Too much government regulation
* Lack of time (caused by the above problems) to form patient relationships
“Tens of thousands of primary care doctors face the same problems as millions of ordinary citizens: frustrations in dealing with HMOs and government red tape,” says Sandra Johnson, a Board Member of The Physicians’ Foundation.
But in response, our politicians want to turn our entire health care system into one giant HMO, through new regulations such as . . .
* Universal electronic medical records that will be tied to . . .
* Comparative Effectiveness Research (CER) that will be used to determine which treatments you can and cannot recieve, just like an HMO does
As Cato’s Michael Tanner observes, “The advocates of government-sponsored CER clearly intend for it to be used as a basis for rationing care, not just in government programs, but for private insurance as well.”
To all of these problems we would add the over-all problem that . . .
* America ALREADY HAS SOCIALIST HEALTH CARE where nearly half of all medical care is already funded with tax dollars
* Therefore, prices for treatment are set by what the government is willing to pay
* Which means that there are NO FREE MARKET PRICES IN MEDICINE
* And whenever there are no free market prices, SHORTAGES RESULT!
Losing HALF of all our primary care doctors in the space of just 3 years will be a SHORTAGE THAT KILLS PEOPLE!
Frankly, I’m skeptical of this claim. But if it’s a third of primary care doctors over six years, this is still disasterous news, isn’t it?
We should . . . Resist. Withdraw consent.
If you’ve used our Educate the Powerful System before, do the following . . .
* Go to our home page http://www.downsizedc.org/
* Click on the log-in button at the right of the navigation bar near the top of the page
* Log-in. You’ll be taken to a new page, with links in the middle.
* Right in that list of links, scroll down, and click on the one for campaign number 16. Federal Health Care Monopoly . . . First Do No Harm
* Scroll down to the form at the bottom of the page and send Congress a message saying that you strongly oppose any additional federal involvement in health care.
Use your personal comments to mention the Physicians’ survey and the reasons why we stand to lose HALF of our primary care doctors in the space of just 3 years. Ask them to roll-back federal regulation and spending on health care, and expand Health Savings Accounts, including for Medicare recipients.
If you’re going to be sending your very first message to Congress using our system, click on this link, scroll down to the form, fill it out, and send your message.
Thank you for being a part of the growing Downsize DC Army. We’re closing in on 24,800 members.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.