Presidential candidate Kamala Harris was treated to a CNN forum Monday night where she said let’s go ahead and scrap private health insurance. Then she backpedaled, and then CNN backpedaled on saying she backpedaled when her campaign contacted CNN and told them she hadn’t backpedaled at all.
In short, it still leaves us at Harris pushing Medicare for all, and in her magnanimity perhaps allowing some private health insurers to stay in business if they so choose.
A lot of Democrats (and Bernie Sanders) are advocating for Medicare for all, but on Tuesday, pediatrician Joe Silverman posted a great thread explaining just what’s wrong with the idea and why it will create a crisis in health care.
Ok, let’s briefly talk about @KamalaHarris’s “Medicare for all.” I guess I shouldn’t continue to be surprised when political hacks lie to us but, you know, I just am. Here are some medical business realities:
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— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
1. Medicine is a moderately low margin business. That means that the vast majority of the revenues we take in goes to pay rent, salaries, supplies, insurance, etc. My partners and I take home what’s left.
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— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
2. That margin is small enough that even small factors like the severity of the flu season can mean the difference between a good and bad year for us financially.
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— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
3. Public insurance pays for crap. I take TRICARE (military families) as an emotional thing. TRICARE pays me less than my cost to provide care. I personally lose money on it. TRICARE pays Medicare rates.
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— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
5. The government doesn’t care what I make. I’m a private contractor for TRICARE. If my entire practice was TRICARE/Medicare, I’d be out of business within three months. The government doesn’t give a shit. They pay what they pay and I suck it up or stop taking their patients.
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— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
6. So when we move to Medicare for all, what happens to most doctors who own their own practices? We get fucked. We close our doors and beg hospitals to hire us. It’ll be a massive crisis.
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— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
7. “Oh, doctors are greedy!” Right. I literally will lose money in Medicare for all. That’s a 100%+ tax on private practice doctors. Nice work @TheDemocrats.
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— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
9. That’s how they’ll move from single payer/Medicare for all to a government owned and run healthcare system like Canada’s. When 45% of doctors shut their doors, it will be a massive self-induced crisis and the only solution will be MOAR GOVERNMENT.
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— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
10. I guarantee you they’ll make private care illegal except for themselves in special VIP government clinics.
BTW, when that all happens, DM me and I’ll do a black market house call. I’m not even joking. Cash only.
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— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
As an aside, when I look around my office at the equipment, supplies, furniture, etc and think of @KamalaHarris, all I have to say is “You didn’t pay for this!” I did. I’ll burn it all down before I’ll let @TheDemocrats have any of it.
— Joe Pilot, MD (@JoeSilverman7) January 29, 2019
“I’ll burn it all down before I’ll let the Democrats have any of it” — we want those words on a big wall poster. Beautiful.
Brilliant post.
— pipermcq (@pipermcq) January 30, 2019
Holy crap, I couldn't have said this better…
— Rxercist ☠️ (@Rxercist) January 29, 2019
THREAD:
The second the Gov't takes the ability to make a good/great living away from doctors less brilliant people will BECOME doctors. Then you can go visit @BernieSanders or @KamalaHarris or @AOC and see if THEY can perform your life saving surgery.https://t.co/D3dNFsSEHs
— BonkPolitics (@BonkPolitics) January 29, 2019
My friend's wife runs a neurology practice and they both became conservative once they found out how difficult the government makes private practice.
— Bitter Grizzly (@Bitter_Grizzly) January 30, 2019
People think doctors are rolling in $$$$, because back in the day they were (and some specialists are.) But not so much anymore. There are plenty of other careers that pay more but do less for human beings.
— connie423 (@connie423) January 29, 2019
No one should have their salaries and wages stolen.
— Ron Mann (@RonaldWMann1) January 30, 2019
This should explain to some why a lot of doctors take the bare minimum of Medicare patients, and why more and more will move to a concierge set-up. Easy to understand thread. Thank you!
— David Tannehill (@david_tannehill) January 30, 2019
Rock on Joe Pilot. I’m 66. I do this shit only cause I love it. If it’s medicare for all I’m done. A recent study showed 46.8 %of docs plan to retire early……you will see the tsunami if Kamala and AOC get their way.
— Pointofdomination (@JeffreyLunn1) January 30, 2019
The @TheDemocrats are fully aware of these points, it’s their plan. The more the people are reliant on government, the more power they receive for another generation
— Robert Flores (@rfloreslv) January 29, 2019
Great points. And the cold hard fact of the matter is its not about medical care anyway. It's about power and control.
— The Kulak Panda Detective (@mchip50) January 29, 2019
Brilliant post.
— pipermcq (@pipermcq) January 30, 2019
Now do “free college for all.”
Related:
ICYMI ==> POPCORN time! Dems flee Kamala Harris’ targeting of private health plans, and it speaks VOLUMES https://t.co/4k70uPFEKn
— Twitchy Team (@TwitchyTeam) January 30, 2019
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