The doctors want it, dammit....

[kentuck]

All of the recent polls that I have seen show that the big majority of doctors support health care reform. Are we to believe the doctors or the politicians? The people of this country need to understand that many politicians are against something that the majority of doctors are for. Who is better equipped to give us an honest opinion on healthcare? Politicians or doctors?

The deeply partisan Republicans have been so brazen as to put out in front, as spokesmen for their side of the issue, two or three doctors that have taken the side of their Party and the politicians. In fact, most doctors still support the Hippocratic oath. At least, most people believe doctors to sincerely believe in the oath. Doctors are still held in the highest regard in this country. Most of them want to help people by attending to the sick.

Doctors support health care reform. We are on the right side. We simply need to let the people know that we are on the side of most of the doctors in this country. Let them try and ridicule that.

[RB TexLa]

1. Doctors want to help people? Yeah, help them get their insurance card and checkbook out

[Art_from_Ark]

2. I don't know where those poll numbers come from

but the US doctors I've had the pleasure (misfortune) to deal with seem to overwhelmingly support the status quo.

[obliviously]

3. 45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting

45% Of Doctors Would Consider Quitting If Congress Passes Health Care Overhaul

By TERRY JONES
News Analysis by IBD | Posted Tuesday, September 15, 2009 4:30 PM PT

Two of every three practicing physicians oppose the medical overhaul plan under consideration in Washington, and hundreds of thousands would think about shutting down their practices or retiring early if it were adopted, a new IBD/TIPP Poll has found.

IBD Exclusive Series: Condition Critical: What Doctors Think About Health Reform


The poll contradicts the claims of not only the White House, but also doctors' own lobby — the powerful American Medical Association — both of which suggest the medical profession is behind the proposed overhaul.

It also calls into question whether an overhaul is even doable; 72% of the doctors polled disagree with the administration's claim that the government can cover 47 million more people with better-quality care at lower cost.

The IBD/TIPP Poll was conducted by mail the past two weeks, with 1,376 practicing physicians chosen randomly throughout the country taking part. Responses are still coming in, and doctors' positions on related topics — including the impact of an overhaul on senior care, medical school applications and drug development — will be covered later in this series.

Major findings included:

• Two-thirds, or 65%, of doctors say they oppose the proposed government expansion plan. This contradicts the administration's claims that doctors are part of an "unprecedented coalition" supporting a medical overhaul.

It also differs with findings of a poll released Monday by National Public Radio that suggests a "majority of physicians want public and private insurance options," and clashes with media reports such as Tuesday's front-page story in the Los Angeles Times with the headline "Doctors Go For Obama's Reform."

Nowhere in the Times story does it say doctors as a whole back the overhaul. It says only that the AMA — the "association representing the nation's physicians" and what "many still regard as the country's premier lobbying force" — is "lobbying and advertising to win public support for President Obama's sweeping plan."

The AMA, in fact, represents approximately 18% of physicians and has been hit with a number of defections by members opposed to the AMA's support of Democrats' proposed health care overhaul

http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=337909690110379

[kentuck]

4. They are contradicting the AMA??

They are desperate.

[obliviously]

5. It appears that way.

[RoyGBiv]

6. "The" Plan ...

Something closer to truth can be found in the phrasing.

Doctors oppose "the" plan.

Which plan?

There's more than one, you know.

[obliviously]

7. They need to regroup and start over

this whole thing has morphed into something nobody wants!

[Feron]

8. Robert Wood Johnson Foundation poll found that..

"62.9 percent of physicians nationwide support proposals to expand health care coverage that include both public and private insurance options"

[Hugabear]

10. That's absolute bullshit

So what, all these doctors are going to give up their lucrative careers over this? What fucking nonsense. What are they going to do instead of practicing medicine? It's scaremongering and they know it.

[SoCalDem]

9. Most doctors want to doctor..not fill out endless piles of forms and spend hours on the phone

A salary structure should be set up, and they should all go on salary...I bet most would be fine with this, if it meant they made enough, and had their medical school debt taken away..and never have to beg an insurance company again:)