Dental Editorial: A Health Care Reform Conundrum

A Health Care Reform Conundrum

Our discussion of mercury led to such, ahem, heated discussions on our blog that I took the unprecedented step of closing the comments down to finally force a truce. After that, I thought it was time to move on to something more light-hearted… like health care reform.

I’ve been so busy it’s been hard enough just keeping up with my own blog. But someone forwarded me an email that really caught my eye. It’s so dead-on I wish I could take credit for having written it myself.

Here you go:

So let me get this straight…

This health care plan will be written by a committee whose head says he doesn’t understand it, passed by a Congress that hasn’t read it and whose members will be exempt from it, signed by a president who smokes, funded by a treasury chief who did not pay his taxes, overseen by a surgeon general who is obese, and financed by a country that is dead broke…

What could possibly go wrong?

Terry

Left out was “by a group of people that are mainly attorney’s and are against tort reform”. Imagine that! It seems that everyone must participate, except the legal profession.
E. SALISBURY, DDS

THERE IS NO DOUBT THAT DENTISTRY WILL HAVE IT’S TURN IN THE BARREL WHEN IT COMES TO HEALTH CARE REFORM AND IT WILL NOT BE PRETTY. DENTAL INSURANCE IS THE BIGGEST SCAM, IT ONLY BENEFITS THE INSURANCE CO. PREMIUM LEVELS HAVE RISEN TO 2009 LEVELS BUT THE BENEFIT LEVELS HAVE STAYED AT THE 1960′S LEVELS. DENTISTS HAVE ONLY THEMSELVES TO BLAME. THEY ALL RAN AROUND LIKE CHICKENS WITHOUT HEADS THINKING THAT IF I DON’T TAKE THIS INSURANCE I WILL LOSE MY PATIENTS. SO, INSTEAD OF BEING GOOD DR.S THEY LET THE INSURANCE COMPANIES TAKE OVER THEIR BUSINESSES. PRETTY SOON DELTA DENTAL WILL RUN THE DENTAL INDUSTRY TELLING YOU WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT DO. THE BEST WAY TO COMBAT THIS IS NOT TO ACCEPT INSURANCE AT ALL . TELL YOUR PATIENTS YOU WILL FILL OUT THEIR INSURANCE FORMS AND SUBMIT THEM AND THE INSURANCE CO. WILL SEND THEM THE CHECK. EVERY TIME YOU ACCEPT A FEE FROM AN INSURANCE CO. YOU EFFECTIVELY HAVE INCREASED YOUR OVERHEAD. IT IS TIME THE DENTAL INDUSTRY STANDS UP TO THESE INS. COS AND TAKE BACK YOUR DIGNITY AS A PROFESSIONALS.
Joe

There is no way to finance healthcare for the masses except on the backs of successful (the media call them rich) people. I worked hard while in school, which opened doors and created opportunities. I took those opportunities and capitalized on them. I became “successful”. I am regularly penalized for my success. Taxes, matching social security, matching medicare, state fees, DEP fees, etc. Now I am to be penalized more? Taking all the money from those that are successful and redistribuitng it to those that aren’t is Robin Hood governement. This is known as socialism. When those that strive to become successful are so penalized for that success, it becomes a disincentive to work hard. What is the point?
morton feldbaum

effective affordable universal health-care can only be created if the following ideas are incorporated 1. comprehensive tort reform. 2.stopping pharmaceutical companies from marketing directly to the public. 3.having the costs financed by a$ tax on ALL working and self-employed people. 4. taking the burden of health-care away from employers. 5.abolishing all our current separate medical plans such as medicaid, medicare, medical, veterans administration,etc.,and consoldating all the infra-structures into one. 6.issue every citizen and legal resident of the country with a medical card with picture and finger-print and create a computer system to ensure verification and maintain records of treatment. 7. establish a list of services and procedures that are to be covered which MUST include all preventive care and diagnostic procedures. 8.allow medical insurance companies to sell insuranc efor only those procedures not covered by the universal plan. 9.some of those people previously working for the insurance companies could work for the government program to help expedite payment to providers. 10.set up a workable system to root out fraud and punish offenders. 11. and finally, set up a system whereby doctors could pay off their huge tuition bills by practicing (for pay) in under-served areas for pre-determined amounts of time.
http://www.SmilePage.com David C. Page. D.D.S.

My big concern: If dentists as a whole don’t STAY OUT of a national health plan, then they will dragged or forced in. Some participation will likely be mandated. Fees will be set and set way down. First time national-free-care patrons will demand front-of-the-line service. State licensure may require national “service”, by federal mandate. Relicensure may depend upon a quota of “national” service and patient evaluations. Doubt it? Wilder things have happened the past 12 months.
http://www.thevisibledentist.com/ The Visible Dentist

Ah yes, the essence of health care reform by the Obama administration. Anyone else smell revolution in the air?

John Barremore
Houston, TX
http://N/A Bob Guzauskas, DDS

An irony of Obama’s health care reform is that his number one and two choices for Secretary of HEW – Tom Daschle (Mayo advisory board) and Mayo CEO Dr Denis Cortese, any many collaborators – have written a great plan. Have you heard anything about it?

A Health Care Reform Conundrum

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