Is that really a word, Obamacare? I guess so. Anyway, this is the headline of an article in the Wall Street Journal, and it is interesting.  It is written by Scott Gottlieb, who used to work at the FDA, for Medicare and now is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a practicing internist. He’s also partner to a firm that invests in health-care companies, so keep all this in mind as you read his take on healthcare.

That said, I do agree with what he is saying, about a need to fix the reimbursement for physicians and other practitioners, particularly at the primary care level.

From WSJ:

At the heart of President Barack Obama’s health-care plan is an insurance program funded by taxpayers, administered by Washington, and open to everyone. Modeled on Medicare, this “public option” will soon become the single dominant health plan, which is its political purpose. It will restructure the practice of medicine in the process.

Chad Crowe

Republicans and Democrats agree that the government’s Medicare scheme for compensating doctors is deeply flawed. Yet Mr. Obama’s plan for a centrally managed government insurance program exacerbates Medicare’s problems by redistributing even more income away from lower-paid primary care providers and misaligning doctors’ financial incentives.

Right now, Medicare pays docs 20-30% less than private plans, and the new public option will control spending by using its purchasing clout and political leverage to dictate low prices to doctors. The intention is to help the uninsured, but may lead to something more–and the result, like now with Medicare and Medicaid, is for doctors to refuse patients covered by these policies.

There are other ways to lower costs, than cutting into reimbursement. For starters, we should make it less expensive to become a physician–most graduate about $150,00 in debt. And then there’s the cost of malpractice, running an office, paying staff, and so on. Let’s start at the very beginning…

And here are my two favorite Valentine’s:

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The two most spoiled faces ever to roam planet Earth!

Today is the little Nish’s birthday. Is that face the most gorgeous on earth or what?

Now is that the most beautiful face on earth or what? And today’s her birthday. And for dinner she’s getting organic chicken thigh…yum!

Stuff on my cat.com

Basically, these are photos of what people have piled on top of unsuspecting sleeping/drowsy kitties. I can’t imagine mine ever sitting still and allowing me to put a plate full of scrambled eggs on top of them, or all of the cash in my wallet, or anything for that matter. Either these are extraordinarily good natures and docile felines, or this website is a masterpiece of Photoshop.

But the kitties sure are cute!

Eponine has agreed to allow her picture to be posted. I am so sleepy after a long day at the Convention Center, learning everything there is to know about transplanted organs and then some. I am too tired to blog anything coherent, so I hope this cute little face will do for now.

When in doubt, post a cute face. I am super busy, plus my left hand is getting sore from so much typing. I hope to get some posts up today–I really have a lot more to say about the dilemma with our oh-so-holy pharmacists who are starting to crawl out of the woodwork and demand their right to deny care–but that will have to wait. Sigh, I’ve got to do some “paying work” so I can support my blog.