“It’s the insurance, stupid.”

The health-insurance system is the cause of, the basis for our health-care related problems. Just ask the hospital administrators, the physicians, and the nurses — not to mention the patients.
And then ask the people who made Medicare into an insurance-based system rather than a true single-payer system.

As if we needed confirmation of Dennis Kucinich’s fears about a national health insurance system operated by for-profit insurance companies . . . .

John Casper @
79

With apologies to the many fine physicians who frequent FDL, I could not let a fine insurance bashing thread go by without mentioning the American Medical Association’s bought and paid for Liaison Committee on Medical Education

The LCME artificially restricts the number of seats that any US Medical School can graduate. The resulting shortage of MD’s in primary care, cosmetic surgery, and every other specialty also has a role in driving up the cost of health care. It also drives down the willingness of physicians to hold their peers accountable. This wholly unnecessary shortage of physicians also causes them to be chronically overworked and no doubt contributes to medical mal practice, which they complain about, as though it was someone else’s fault.

John, if this were accurate I would be very distressed.

The Liaison Committee on Medical Education is jointly accountable to the American Medical Association and the Association of American Colleges (AAMC).

Due to the politics of the times (70’s) the AAMC governance is comprised of:

Medical specialty societies (forgot acronym) -

Teaching hospital CEO’s (COTH) –

Medical school deans (forgot acronym). -

Students (OSR)

Each of the these four constituency groups is formally represented in AAMC governance and attends the annual/quarterly governance meetings of the AMMC.

From 1983-1987 (8?) I participated in the AAMC’s OSR. In the first year I represented was OSR from Hahnemnan University (now merged with Drexel). For three years I served on the OSR Board an attended the quarterly and annual meetings with the med school deans, teaching hospital heads, and specialty society chairs. When DC and the Washington Hilton were snowed in, we sat in the pubs together and drank.

That was during the Reagan years, and the AAMC governance was trying to figure out how to protect resources and restart growth in medical education.

At the time, the AAMC lobbied for more medical eduction funding, and we lobbied right along with the LCME. The LCME director came to our meetings….the same meetings where senior med school educators plotted to get more medical schools funded and built, and seemed to support the goal.

IF the AMA were directing the LCME not to support expansion of the number of medical schools, they appear to have failed to inform the LCME.

OF course, things may have changed a lot since 1987. Can you share any direct information from the LCME supporting the assertion that the AMA has directed the LCME to oppose medical school expansion?

I’m perfectly willing to believe the AMA would act (or has acted) to restrain competition in the past, but I just don’t have data toconfirm this account.

Cheers!

Mary McCurnin @ 57

Remember when one person could go to work and support an entire family?

Remember when you didn’t have to decide between food and medicine.

Remember when there was light at the end of the tunnel.

We are all commodities and/or serfs to the corporate world.

Just wait for ‘08.

One of the most infuriating op-eds I ever read was back in the late 80s, I think, by the head of that National Association of Manufacturers. His thesis, essentially, was that it was okay that wages were stagnant, because now that most families had two parents working, household incomes were up.

Just evil.

Back in the 1950s, Harvard Business School students argued the merits of moving the U.S. auto mfg. industry overseas to cut labor costs.

It was another of those “Slam Dunk” deals.

Off-topic, but, then ManOnDogRicky is always relevant….

Get ready, Sundance Festival, Santorum is going into production….

These may turn out to be the comedy hits of the year.

It would be SO worth bringing back Mystery Science Theater 3000, just to have Crow and Tom Servo’s comments on lil’ Ricky’s master(ahem)work!

about those e mails . . .
Henry is waaay ahead of ‘em

they are going to use this fig leaf to drag their feet . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_13233

too bad, it seems there was a bi partisan sponsored bill that passed the House overwhelmingly that repeals this – it is now in the Senate

Speaking of “bad faith”, this is CLASSIC. Why in 2001 less than 8 weeks after 9/11 did George Bush need this Executive Order?

And why did they force out the National Archivist in a manner that was completely out of character with previous transitions of Archivists? (hello, politicized archives…)

With apologies to the many fine physicians who frequent FDL, I could not let a fine insurance bashing thread go by without mentioning the American Medical Association’s bought and paid for Liaison Committee on Medical Education

The LCME artificially restricts the number of seats that any US Medical School can graduate. The resulting shortage of MD’s in primary care, cosmetic surgery, and every other specialty also has a role in driving up the cost of health care. It also drives down the willingness of physicians to hold their peers accountable. This wholly unnecessary shortage of physicians also causes them to be chronically overworked and no doubt contributes to medical mal practice, which they complain about, as though it was someone else’s fault.

Shrug. Bash away. There are a lot of good reasons why many physicians aren’t part of the AMA.

http://www.firedoglake.com/200…..man-mowar/