After 3 decades in practice witnessing government intrusion on the practice of medicine, including Stark attacks on physician ownership, unrelenting assaults on fees, and addition of needless regulations, I can not support any government expansion.

Physicians are the only essential component of health care, period! We need to wake up.

I resigned from the AMA today.

Physicians certainly do need to speak out against the government take over, but our focus must not / should not be focused on the preservation of our incomes or safety of our 'businesses', etc... Our focus must be focused on how WRONG IT IS for the government to be involved beyond MC (elder care) and MA (safety net for the poor / needy) .....and perhaps on some genuinely well crafted, even handed, free market focused insurance reform.

As physicians, we let "our house" become over run with "business" / "career" / and "reimbursement focus".....far too long.....and are now experiencing the results of our less than stellar self monitoring and correction. Yes, we've had tough uphill climbs against insurance companies / PPOs / HMOs / and the government....but we ourselves, should have pushed harder for reforms. As it turns out, we've spent most of our "reaction time" guarding our own specialties / businesses / and yes, bank accounts (reimbursements).

We now are paying the price for our lack of proactive leadership in health care reform. Yes, Physicians should have, indeed, been the leaders and have led the charge of reform, but we apparently couldn't get together as a group to get meaningful reform to the table.

I agree we must now, at the eleventh hour, decide to become involved in a much more aggressive manner, as a unified group (?),.....but....it may be too late.

Jeff Taber, MD

If Obama wants to prevent complications associated with diabeties, obesity, and other ailments, wouldn't it make sense to issue specified food vouchers/ Dietic foods/Care boxes to VA clinics,Food pantries and other institutions that address the needs of Low income Americans? Why are that Government Commodities ( often delivered to Non Profit Organizations) extremely high in Sodium and Carbs?
Want to lower the cost of healthcare AND create Millions of new permanent jobs?
1. Increase SNAP food credit for low income diabetics and those on doctor approved restricted diets
2. Offer tax breaks for healthclub memberships
3. Expand Meals on wheels to rural areas and offer sliding scale rates not only for seniors but for the disabled and/or the morbidly obese.
The food industry, transportation industry and healthclubs would see increased sales, and unemployment would decrease by at least 2 points nationwide- and healthcare costs would decrease significantly.

Bravo, Bravo, Congratulations for standing up for your rights! It's about time you protect you Profession and your rights. Government wants to CONTROL everyone's life and tell them what to do or not to do. Enough is Enough already. We know government is incapable of doing anything right, specially when it comes taking care of the sick. All of them are just bureaucrats who want to perpetuate their power of control. They will make all of use slaves of their system, if they have their wish. May God grants the victory you really deserved.

I'm disappointed that many of these blog postings seem to misunderstand the role of government in healthcare (and everything else). John Kennedy, in his innaugural address, said, "The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God." The State believes all things come from the State. Socialist governments have always sought first to destroy religion and traditional culture (well, maybe second after they seek to limit gun ownership), and our current administration is o exception. WE, the doctors of this society, allowed government into healthcare, where they did not belong, because they promised to give something to the "elderly", the "poor," the "needy," as mentioned in another posting above. We were bribed, and now we suffer. The AMA continues to be bribed, and their support offers the opportunity for more suffering for the people we wish to serve. Physicians, heed this call: NO government in healthcare. There IS a healthcare crisis, and its caused by the government. There IS a shortage of funds to pay for (existing) government healthcare programs, but the solution is not for the government to spend MORE...that doesn't even make sense!

No Government, not even ours, should have the ABILITY, the POWER to decide who receives medical treatment and who doesn't or who lives and who dies. This is fundamentally long. As for the poor....For decade upon decade the Congress has managed to find money to fund their pork barrel projects and to fund their amusements on their padded expense accounts, but they haven't addressed this issue of health care for the poor. THE POOR DESERVE MORE THAN TO BE CONSIGNED TO THE CONTROL OF THE GOVERNMENT!

I resigned from the AMA years ago, because I could see where this was going.
In 1965, we had the world's best medical system and it was relatively cheap. The federal government got involved in health care finances. Expenses mushroomed, mostly caused by federal interference and over-regulation. They want to cure this situation by having massive governmental control.
We didn't police ourselves as we should have; but, that is a very minor part of this problem. Medicine has behaved much better than the US Congress has over the years.
We must de-rail this terrible proposed law by just saying "NO!", no matter the short-term cost to ourselves. Or, submit to slavery under socialist masters.

I hope you dr's all stand strong aganst this horrible billl.