Well , we are on the brink of having national healthcare forced down our throat, but not without a fight! Even Governor Schwartzenegger of Calee-Fornia is jumping on the band wagon, blaming his congressional representatives with not considering the citizens of his state:
"We also will inspire and push extra hard the California congressional
delegation, the bipartisan delegation, because they're not . . .
representing us really well in this case," Schwarzenegger said in a
interview taped Saturday. "If you think about that, the Senate just
voted for a healthcare bill that is saying basically that California
should pay for Nebraska, so that Nebraska never has to pay any extra
money."
He refers to the "sweetheart" deal Nelson got for the state of Nebraska, where the Feds will essentially pay for Nebraska's Medicaid program.
The pie will be getting smaller despite the program getting bigger. Consult fees have already been dropped, so now if your primary care doc wants you to see a specialist he is hardly getting paid. Whether we like it or not the government, and private insureers are compiling quality and patient satisfaction data on all physicians. It is only a matter of time before they cut the pay to those they deem bad docs or even unfriendly docs.
As physicians we need to continue to stick together in this fight. When gas prices rose 2 summers back to the $3.50 plus level in this country it was the tipping point for sales of SUV's; what will physicians' tipping point be before they truly band together and say no more!