President Obama is pulling out his "secret weapon" in the healthcare debate.

[kentuck]

Doctors and nurses. Nobody knows more than these folks about what is needed. The President is now speaking on MSNBC.

[tridim]

1. It's his "spiffy" secret weapon.

[gratuitous]

2. What a despicable creep!

The only people we should listen to about health care reform are insurance company CEOs and their paid mouthpieces! It's unamerican, communistic, socialistic and fascist for doctors and nurses to weigh in on health care. Do you want medical professionals to interfere with the patient-insurer relationship? I think not!

[kentuck]

3. I know !

That's pretty low of him. That's not fair. :-)

[KansDem]

13. I agree! Sen. Baucus didn't have any doctors or nurses on during his committee hearings!

He had real experts, like health-care CEOs!

In fact, some doctors and nurses were ejected from the hearings because they were too noisy. If their input was valued, they'd be on the ones providing answers!

:sarcasm:

[MineralMan]

4. Yeah...who needs doctors telling us what to do about

our health concerns? MBAs are much better qualified...

[alfredo]

8. No, unmedicated ADD sufferers on Fox News are better qualified.

[Oregone]

5. Hopefully he screens his secret weapons thoroughly

We can't have the mean-spirited, divisive, horrible Single-Payer advocates up there with him. Can ya believe, they actually want everyone covered without them being slaves to the boss or the bank? Phew

[Kajsa]

6. Nurses and doctors?

What's next?-

the patients?

:)

[derby378]

7. He's a little late, I think...

The public option is currently dead in the Senate, thanks to Baucus and his minions. But at least there's increasing pressure from the House, which is still fighting for the public option.

[liberal N proud]

10. This news is the uphill of the roller coaster we have been riding

Public Option, no public option back and forth.

Actually what I have been told about this roller coaster is there are 4 bills in the Senate. The M$M is only talking about one.

[AndyA]

17. Only ONE bill is dead as far as the public option is concerned.

And it's the worst of the lot, so good riddance. (The Baucus bill is a disgrace.)

Pelosi says the House will have a public option. Reid says the bill that passes in the Senate will as well. The M$M is telling you what they want you to hear. Don't believe everything they say. There are other bills still in process, and there's still a lot of wrangling left to do.

The public option isn't dead. (Yet.)

[derby378]

24. I'm confident that the public option itself isn't dead

But there is still much work to be done before it becomes a reality.

[CTyankee]

19. Don't be so sure. Schumer was pretty positive on the process over a week ago when I saw

him on MSNBC. He thinks the strategy will end up with us getting the PO. He knew we wouldn't get it in Committee so they've devised a strategy that will put it over the top in the full Senate. I'm going to trust him on this and keep my fingers crossed.

For one thing, they know that 65-70% of Americans WANT a PO...and they're gonna go after the money grubbing health insurers with a vengeance.

[Ineeda]

9. question about "defensive medicine."

WIKI: Defensive medicine is the practice of diagnostic or therapeutic measures conducted primarily not to ensure the health of the patient, but as a safeguard against possible malpractice liability. Fear of litigation has been cited <1> as the driving force behind defensive medicine. Defensive medicine is especially common in the United States of America, with rates as high as 79% <2> to 93% <3>, particularly in emergency medicine, obstetrics, and other high-risk specialties.

Here's my question: when insurance companies deny tests and treatments that a doctor deems necessary, who gets sued when things go awry? I've never heard of an insurance company being sued - only doctors, who, as a result, have to guard against this with malpractice insurance, adding to their costs.

[Barack_America]

11. Insurance companies don't deny care, just payment.

They argue there is a difference, though we know there really isn't.

[Ineeda]

20. Right. But

when a patient doesn't get the test or treatment because of insurance denials, NOT the doctor's negligence, why isn't the insurance company sued instead of the doctor? Are they exempt from litigation or something?

[zipplewrath]

21. Mulitple layers

The insurance companies have set it up so that they aren't "denying care". As such, they can't be sued for any equivalent of "malpractice". They have set up boards which decide which procedures will be "covered" and under what conditions. These boards are usually staffed by medical experts, and lay out a "standard of care". They can't be sued either because the doctor is ultimately responsible for what procedures to recommend. These boards just come up with "guidelines". They all have multiple "appeal" options and so in the end, the decision to not get the procedure is ultimately you and your doctors. No insurance company is required to "cover" anything. They merely have to do things in certain ways if they do "cover" them. It varies by state. Absurd, yes, but all created by the insurance industry in cooperation with lawyers, courts, and legislatures. Welcome to America!

[Barack_America]

22. Sometimes they are.

But they cannot be sued for malpractice.

Also, doctors are not sued for treatments denied by health insurance. As long as they prescribe the treatment, they're in the clear.

[Echo In Light]

12. Might be fun to see how Corp interests try to paint these doctors/nurses as ...what?

Too ... well informed and realistic?

Too ... Left-wing?

Too ... altruistic, and compassionate?

[KansDem]

15. They'll be "swift-gurneyed"

Wait for Fox to label them as "elitists" and folks you wouldn't want to have a beer with...

[Echo In Light]

18. They'll try to dig into the personal dirt of each one, I'm sure

[Romulox]

14. So....doctors and nurses are pushing tort reform, or mandatory private insurance?

:shrug:

[Barack_America]

16. I've been waiting for this.

A majority of doctors and patients support health insurance reform containing a public option.

Legislators arguing against a public option obviously do not have the interests of doctors and patients in mind.

It's that simple. Make them reveal themselves as the whores they are.

[Happyhippychick]

23. "Excuse me while I whip this out"

:rofl:

[slipslidingaway]

25. Doctors for America had 40 of the 150 seats at the table...

since PNHP has more members I wonder how many doctors from their group were invited.

:shrug:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/05/obama-hold-doctors-summit-effort-promote-health-care-overhaul-agenda/

"...But the doctors in the Rose Garden were all supporters of health care reform -- and the invitation-only guest list drew heavily from Doctors for America, a grassroots organization that backs a government-run insurance option.

Roughly 98 percent of the group's 15,000 members support a public insurance option, Doctors for America spokeswoman Megan Smith told FOXNews.com. She said roughly 40 of the 150 doctors who attended the meeting were from the organization...

But the decision to invite doctors who support an optional public health plan has angered organizations like "Mad As Hell Doctors," a group of physicians advocating a single-payer system.

"I didn't get an invitation to the garden party," said Dr. Paul Hochfeld, an Oregon emergency medicine physician and a member of the group who wrote a letter to Obama asking to be included in the summit.

"It just appears that President of the United States, at this point, is choosing to meet with only those who support his agenda," added Dr. Margaret Flowers, a Maryland pediatrician and congressional fellow for Physicians for a National Health Program, which had also sent a letter to the president requesting to participate in Monday's meeting..."

[stlsaxman]

26. good- it's about time...

[slipslidingaway]

27. Baucus announces new group - Doctors for America....

http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/0509/Doctors_for_America_launches.html?showall

May 04, 2009
Categories: White House

'Doctors for America' launches

"This may not wind up being decisive in the health care fight, but the organizing gap between the two sides continues to widen.

Sen. Max Baucus and the Center for American Progress Action Fund are announcing a new group on a conference call later this morning: Doctors for America, which is a reincarnation of Doctors for Obama, an arm of the Obama campaign that boasted more than 10,000 members.

The question of patients' relationships with their doctors is always a flashpoint in debating changes to the health care system, so doctors are often particularly credible messengers.

Today they'll "release new reports detailing the depth and breadth of America's health care crisis and announce a new effort to amplify physicians' voices in support of health care reform," according to the advisory."

[flyarm]

28. wow was agent mike there???????????? Did agent mike use the secret code ring? eom