In case you missed it, here is video of the President of the United States of America accusing surgeons of lopping off the limbs of diabetics, for no other reason than financial gain.
I don’t know where he came up with such a notion. Maybe from his wife, a former hospital administrator and patient dumper. Regardless, anyone who has ever read a diabetic’s medical chart knows that amputation is the last thing physicians want to do. Of course that didn’t stop Dear Leader from making such an outrageous comment.
Recently he claimed that pediatricians (who don’t even perform tonsillectomies) yank out kids’ tonsils because it’s more lucrative than treating allergies. Since that claim didn’t sway the people to accept ObummerCare, he had to up the ante. It looks like the AMA is calling his bluff.
We agree with President Obama on the importance of prevention. However, a recent example used to illustrate his important point was misleading. Surgeons are not paid $30,000 to $50,000 to amputate a diabetic’s foot. Medicare pays a surgeon, on average, from $541.72 to $708.71 for one of two procedures involving a foot amputation. It is possible that the total bill, hospital stay, rehabilitation, prosthesis, etc. may approach the larger amount mentioned.
In the case of tonsillectomies, a patient is referred to a surgeon after medication therapy has proven to be ineffective. Actually, the medical profession itself recognized questions about utilization and appropriateness of tonsillectomies and took action by developing clinical guidelines, which has resulted in a sharp decline in the rate of tonsillectomies.
These types of examples create the impression that physicians are motivated by payment levels rather than what is best for patients. The AMA will continue to stress to our elected leaders that physicians are dedicated to putting patients first and optimizing health care quality.
Wasn’t he supposed to be the smartest politician ever? How can someone so smart make such outlandish comments and expect to get away with it? It may have been possible before the age of You Tube. But those days are over. The media can only provide so much cover for this imbecile who happens to reside in the White House.
What will he claim next? That psychiatrists perform lobotomies because they have a better fee schedule than psychotherapy? Oh yeah, we don’t do those anymore in the US. At least for now. Please don’t report this to that flag website, we wouldn’t want to give them any ideas.
H/T Hot Air
So why is the AMA supporting this plan then?
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They are not fully supporting the plan they are only supporting PARTS of the plan. Keep in mind that only 20% of the physicians in the US are members of the AMA so that doesn’t mean that the medical community as a whole supports the same things as the AMA.
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The Lonely Conservative claims he does not know where President Obama came up with such a figure. How about in the AMA statement which notes, “It is possible that the total bill, hospital stay, rehabilitation, prosthesis, etc. may approach the larger amount mentioned.” Isn’t that exactly the point the President was making?
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The primary care physician, the one tasked with helping the patient manage diabetes, would not profit from an amputation. And I’m a she not a he.
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yes they would because the hospital would profit.
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He is correct. Taking into account ALL the costs, it will cost the healthcare system much more money to FIX things such as heart surgery, or amputations. Hundreds of thousands, Why not pay for prevention; we all win; A) healthy patient B)less tax dollars C)happier doctors.
Why is everyone reading into this.. His massage is clear to me.
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it DOES cost the patient $30,000 for amuptation
and doctors do NOT work with patients to get
their glucose levels down
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