The President’s Doctor of 22 Years Disses Obamacare
By Ani on June 23, 2009 at 1:00 PM in Barack Obama, Health Care, Obama Administration, Obama's Budget, President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Universal Health Care
Dr. David Scheiner, President Obama’s internist of 22 years, has a mixed practice of adults from local housing projects on up to some very famous patients. He issued the 276-word statement last year vouching for Obama’s “excellent health.” While he still supports the President, David Whelan’s Forbes article Obama’s Doctor Knocks ObamaCare allows that:
[Scheiner] worries about whether the health care legislation currently making its way through Congress will actually do any good, particularly for doctors like himself who practice general medicine. “I’m not sure [Obama] really understands what we face in primary care.”
…Looking at Obama’s team of health advisors, Scheiner doesn’t see anyone who’s actually in the trenches. “I have a suspicion they pick people from the top echelon of medicine, people who write about it but haven’t been struggling in it,” he says.
Scheiner is critical of Obama’s pick for Health and Human Services secretary–Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, who used to work as the chief lobbyist for her state’s trial lawyers association.
Odd that President Obama would choose to throw Howard Dean under the bus and not give him the HHS appointment. It also seems SoS Clinton is not being consulted here. With her earlier efforts and deep dedication to this issue and her latest proposals, I’m sure she has much insight to offer.
“He doesn’t see all the pain, it’s so tragic out here,” [Scheiner] says. “Obama’s wonderful, but on this one I’m not sure if he’s getting the right input.”
But this is typically the issue. “Experts” are assigned to fix the problem without a clear understanding of what it is. Scheiner recommends
…”Medicare for all,” a single-payer system where the government would cover everyone and pay for it by cutting out waste in the system. “A neurosurgeon gets paid $20,000 for cutting into the neck of my patient. Have him get paid $1 million a year instead of $2 million or $3 million. He won’t starve.”
Scheiner thinks that Obama’s “public plan” reform doesn’t go far enough. He supports the idea of that option for people who don’t like or can’t afford their HMO. But he worries that it will be watered down or not happen at all. “It’s nonsense that the private insurance companies need to be protected,” he says. “Why? Because they’ve done such a good job?”
He thinks that Americans have been scared into believing that they will lose the coverage they already have if a public plan is created. And he worries that nobody cares about the 50 million uninsured. “I have people who have lost their jobs and come to me and I give them drug samples,” he says.
Scheiner says he thinks that Obama probably sees the virtues of a single-payer system but has decided it would be politically impossible to create one.
Well, that’s where the dig your heels in and fight part comes in. As much as I want health care reform, once again I get the sense that we are rushing into something without having thought through the options properly. The President as already worried about re-election and wants to get his “agenda” passed as quickly as possible, but during this frightening economic time, it would seem that building a better floor under us would build confidence not only in our economy but in the President’s leadership abilities and might make his “impossible fight” a little more possible down the road.
Reid Cherlin, an assistant White House press secretary who covers health issues, wrote in an e-mailed statement, “The President has been clear that while a single-payer system may work in some countries, it makes the most sense for us to build on what works in the system we have and to fix what’s broken.
“He would certainly agree that there’s too much waste in the system–where families, businesses and governments pay too much for too little,” he added, “and that’s why he’s committed not just to expanding coverage but to reforming the health system to provide high-quality care at a lower cost to more Americans.”
“I once briefly talked to him about malpractice, and he took the lawyers’ position,” [Scheiner] says.
Obama reiterated his opposition to caps on medical malpractice before the AMA this week.
Scheiner, like most others in his profession, thinks that it should be harder to sue doctors and that awards should be capped. He says that he and other doctors must order too many tests and imaging studies just to avoid being sued.
The article further states that Scheiner, a graduate of Princeton who got his start at Columbia University’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, had “watched his income decline over the years to what he calculated to be $22 an hour ($2,100 every two weeks after withholding for taxes, health insurance and malpractice insurance.)”
Scheiner thinks that any health reform should involve paying primary-care doctors better so they don’t have to rush through appointments to make ends meet. He says that the medical students he encounters are no longer even taught how to do a patient history and physical exam. Patients get imaging studies and lab work instead of actual work-ups. “It’s like in Star Trek where Bones had the thing he would wave up and down. They don’t even talk to patients,” he says.
In an interview with Reuters today, Senator John McCain commented:
Efforts to overhaul America’s costly healthcare system need to begin anew after the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office said a draft bill would cost $1 trillion and insure only 16 million of the 46 million uninsured people, McCain said.
“They just took a body blow,” he said of Obama’s Democrats. “Whether they recover from it or not, we will probably know in the next few days.”
McCain had some stark advice to Democrats writing the legislation: “I think that they should start over.”
Further a PEW research study published on June 18th had this to say:
As health care reform legislation moves forward in Washington, the political environment is somewhat different than the last time a major overhaul of the health care system was attempted sixteen years ago. In early 1993 the sense of a health care crisis was far more widespread than it is today – a 55% majority in 1993 said they felt the health care system needed to be “completely rebuilt” compared with 41% today. Health care costs were also a broader problem in 1993 – 63% of Americans said paying for the cost of a major illness was a “major problem” for them, compared with 48% currently.
The issue of limiting overall health care spending is also more prominent in 2009 than it was in 1993. Somewhat fewer today say the country spends “too little” on health care, and a larger share believe that limiting the overall growth in health care costs is a higher priority than expanding coverage. But overall, public support for guaranteed access to medical care for all Americans remains widespread.
I find this rather odd, with health care costs spiraling out of control and so many Americans without coverage. Here is an overview of the study’s findings: I encourage you to read the entire article here.
On health care spending:
Relatively few Americans believe the country as a whole is spending the right amount on health care at this point, but there is no consensus on what the problem is. Just as many Americans say we are spending too much on health care (38%) as too little (40%).Most Back Overhaul; Fewer Than in 1993 See Crisis
Most Americans believe that the nation’s health care system is in need of substantial changes. Four-in-ten (41%) say the health care system needs to be completely rebuilt, while 30% think it needs fundamental changes. About one-in-four (24%) believe that the health care system works pretty well and needs only minor changes.Health Reform Priorities
Most Americans favor ensuring health coverage to all Americans, and most also say it is very important to limit the overall annual increase in health care costs. Neither of these objectives, however, receives as overwhelming support as they did in early 1993. When Americans are asked to prioritize between these two goals, most continue to say that expanding health insurance to all is the more important goal. But the share who rate costs as the more important concern is nearly double what it was in 1993.The public’s overall support for expanding health insurance to cover all Americans remains widespread, though more sharply partisan than in 1993.
And Fewer See Cost of Care as Major Problem than was thecase in 1993.
Any health care reform is going to be a huge fight. Both sides are already digging in their heels and I sincerely hope anyone with a reasonable proposal to bring to the table will be heard. It would be disastrous for this administration to push through health care reform in much the same way they did the Stimulus package earlier this year.
I appreciate Dr Scheiner’s comments as I understand how painful it is when those who are actually going to be on the receiving end of the government’s overhaul are not getting enough consultation on the matter. He’s offering a physician’s point of view. I’d certainly like to hear from others “on the ground.”
Where do you fall in the debate on this one? Your insights would be greatly appreciated.
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Thank you Ani. Great post.
This is something we should be vigorously debating as a country. Especially in a time of shrinking money supply to do things. I think the american people are very aware of that.
I think the pew poll was interesting. I wonder if people aren’t just leery of winding up another medicare part “D.” Kind of be careful what you wish for. You might just get something only marginally better, and at way too high of a price. So in the end, you almost wish they hadn’t done anything, because then there would still be a chance at reform. I don’t think marginal reforms in the Obama plan are going to do what needed to put a strong base under the american people.
My personal alarm went off yesterday when I heard the drug industry is getting involved in the plan thanks to That One. Putting the fox in charge of the hen house is not going to fix health care. What it will do is allow drug companies to see to it that their pockets aren’t empty while further complicating patient care for doctors. My husband is a radiologist. He would really like to see the system improved for everyone. But since part of his residency required him to work at the local VA hospital, he doesn’t hold any hope the govt. will get it right.
For those who would argue that Canada has a good system in place, let me make a point. My husband and I both worked at The Cleveland Clinic. Cleveland is just across Lake Erie from Canada, so we saw alot of Canadians coming to CCF for treatment. I asked one why she would make the long trip and seek medical care in another country. She said she was on a wait list back home. Her condition was very serious, yet to get immediate cardiac care she had to come to Cleveland, OH, from Toronto. Her insurance wouldn’t cover the needed care off-program, so she had to pay for it herself. There were many such patients at the Clinic.
Is that really what we want from a health care system?
Medicare is already teetering on the brink of bankruptcy … Medicare for all would be economically untenable. My question is … what’s the rush? Should we not slow down and make sure we get it right?
Completely agree. Also I’m in agreement with the post above that is leary of drug companies getting involved. We already see the foxes guarding the henhouse with the banking industry. We do need any more of that with healthcare.
I disagree. If you look at the amount of money spent per capita - Americans currently spend more money on health care than in any other country. Clearly could be saved by cutting out the middle man. Yes taxes would have to be raised (in some way or another) to pay for it, but then people wouldn’t have to pay for health insurance… and very importantly businesses wouldn’t have to pay for health insurance. The overall result would be a net positive.
0bama’s number one fan, Ted Kennedy, 77 years old, wants to accomplish his legislative goal of universal healthcare. To please Teddy is 0bama’s second reason, after readying himself for the next election.
Kennedy is the person who January ‘08, when he was endorsing 0bama, said it was “…time again for a new generation of leadership”. We boomers will unquestionably have a say about more generation shifting, like we did with the NOW election of Terry O’Neill.
The doctor better watch his back….obama plays hardball…..the doctor could end up like donald young..hhmmmmm
I heard this yesterday and I wondered if the doctor might know some things about citizenship and those blue lips and drug use, etc. Smack him down docotr. Smack him down!
Did you miss the part about the doctor liking and supporting Obama? The doctor is simply saying he wants more than just a “public option” - he wants full fledged universal single payer health care. I agree with him. But I also understand the political reason that Obama is doing what he’s doing. And … I think it’s possible that what Obama is doing will lead to single payer - or something very close to it - eventually.
Great post Ani.
With so many stakeholders involved and the agendas they have, it will be very difficult to “make all the people happy”.
The part that escapes me is why the Government does not, at a minimum, cover basic preventive medical care. It has been proven that one of the greatest cost savings can be achieved by providing “preventitive” care. This is also the least expensive area. Just by moving indigent care and visits to the ER in lieu of a Doctor we would save billions. In most of the ER and doctor bills I have seen of the hospital or the Doctor eats the cost the the insurance carrier won’t pay. For a doctor to be making 22 dollars an hour is sad to hear.
Potia makes a point that needs to be considered. The cost of advanced medical care might be segragated in someway as to let private health care entities compete in this area.
tofrom the ERand Portia
(string for brains)errr
I agree Teak -
Basic universal healthcare that focuses on preventative practices, then let insurance come in for more coverage - for those who want and/or need and can afford it.
I’m in favor of “medicare for all”/”single payer” but I do understand how difficult that would be to pass politically. I think the “public option” compromise (and it is a compromise already that cannot be compromised any further) could end up getting us what we need in the long run. I couldn’t care less about the private health insurance industry. If it dies, so what?! What I care about are the American people getting quality health care. We need to put our priorities in the right place.
Same here. I care for them, the same amount that they care for their subscribers… absolutely not one bit.
I agree, screw them. Insurers are a large part of the problem. Tort reform is the rest of what we need. We need a loser pays all costs tort system where attorneys have to post a bond for potential legal fee losses upon filing their cases. Filings would fall by 90% overnight. A lot of personal injury attorneys would wind up getting jobs selling used cars. It suits them.
Except, in the U.S., we use tort suits to compel business to internalize their externalities. For example, Ford manufactured the Pinto knowing its faulty fuel tank design would result in deaths but decided after a cost/benefit analysis it would be cheaper to pay settlements on those cases brought than to fix the design. When a jury saw those documents, they awarded damages of $125,000,000.
http://www.wfu.edu/~palmitar/Law&Valuation/Papers/1999/Leggett-pinto.html
I agree with the comments above, What’s the rush? Usually when a politician has to rush something through, it’s because it would not make it on it’s own merits. Kind of like why Obama had to rush to be the POTUS-heh.
I am a big supporter of single payer health care. That is the only way to ensure that everyone is covered and that is how to contain costs, by having no uninsured. Also, keep in mind that Obama’s plan is not a Health Care plan. It is a Health insurance plan.We want every citizen to be able to access Health Care, but just having Health Insurance does not guarantee that. Had we had Hillary, who can listen to the debate and decide in an intelligent way that best serves the country, I’d be all for this. With the huckster in office, who is all about himself and lining his own pockets and also the pockets of his “friends”, I prefer we don’t make any changes to our healthcare system this term. It is an important issue that is worth alot of consideration and so we can wait for the right person to get this job done. This is not the right time, and this phoney just ain’t the right guy for the job. Nor are any of the others who claim to be our representatives (when they are not).
I am somewhat alarmed that Obama wants this completed by August. That is a definite red flag. He’d rather push something through for the sake of getting it done, rather than make sure it is a good plan.
It’s because it doesn’t affect him nor those closest to him. They will always have enough money to get the best medical care possible anywhere in the world if they are told no or put on a wait list. The well off will always be ok because they can afford to pay privately seperate from insurance, the very poor will probably (but even that can be debated) get better health coverage then they have now, but what about the middle class? If anyone is going to get screwed by a rushed through half baked plan, it will be the middle class.
Here are some possible proposals that chap my rear end:
The Congress proposal exempts THEM from the plan. I’m glad to see they won’t have to worry about possible rationing or waiting lists since they will continue to enjoy their already superior health care.
If employees have to pay taxes on their employer provided health benefits, union members could be exempt for a number of years to allow time for the unions to “catch up”. It’s still up in the air whether non-union employees would have a grace period too or if they could be taxed as soon as the new plan is implemented.
http://yidwithlid.blogspot.com/2009/06/unions-exempt-from-obama-care-taxes-why.html
Yes, the union exception seems to be more payback for the unions helping him get elected and it seems rather illegal to me.
He bastardizes and uses every hope and dream that people have to his own end. Nothing good will probably come from anything he touches. But, we do need comprehensive health care reform nonetheless.
Maybe the doctor is senile? When women disagree with him as a result of feeling “periodically down,” and now older men who disagree with him are suffering from dementia.
And maybe, maybe, this doctor can leak Obama’s medical records…
I don’t think there’s any question that health care needs reform. The cost cripples many businesses, not to mention patients. We all know that premiums and deductibles have gone up and coverage has contracted. And if you have a catastrophic illness or injury, most folks are looking at bankruptcy [and that was before the economic meltdown].
I’m for cutting out the insurance companies. They’ve been greedy and a disaster for everyone’s healthcare. And capping lawsuits. People certainly should be able to demand justice for real malpractice, but the lawyers have become fat and happy on the gargantuan settlements. There’s reasonable and then there’s insane. Doctors are human, not gods–they can make mistakes. And the pharmaceutical companies? They need a Come to Jesus moment.
But I do believe that decent health care is a right for US citizens, not a priviledge. And this feeds right into our immigration policies [or lack there of]. We need to get a handle on many issues to have any hope of truly reforming a broken system.
I’m not convinced Obama was ever as dedicated to the true reform he promised. Or the fight it would entail. Just more lipservice.
The polls make sense to me because if the Government hands us a lukewarm plan that’s no better than what have [or worse] then people figure they’ll go with what they know–lousy but still working for some of us.
I would limit or cap what the lawyers could charge or win.
Limit the percentage take to 25% and make the loser of egregious lawsuits pay all attorney and court costs. Right now, a lawyer can file a suit for a little over $100 and the opposing side has to pay thousands in a retainer just to have an attorney look at it for them. There is no reason not to file frivolous suits, in fact the high cost of legal fees makes filing them lucrative because just the filing of them prompts a settlement offer to make the suit go away in many cases because of the cost involved in being “right”.
Most states have enacted laws that require prospective Plaintiffs in a medical malpractice suit to obtain authorization from an independent medical panel, before their suit can proceed.
A good and thought provoking article. Personally, I don’t think Obumble will do a whole lot on this issue.
He’ll likely appoint another Czar to do his thinking for him as he’ll need to be available to hand hold all the pharmaceutical and insurance companies offering up their bribes.
His health care package will depend on who best lines his pockets and how best he and his ass clowns can dupe the American people into buying how concerned he is about our well being just like he was concerned about the economic spending when he spent the $250,000 to go see a play in NY.
The best the American public can hope for is that this circus leaves town quickly.
The Obama Medicine Show is about to begin. Pull up a log or sit on a stump and watch the action. See how much Hadacol he can sell the masses. Of course hadacol worked because it had a numbing effect–12-15 % alcohol depending where it was made.But nevertheless it was on a level with Mogan David wine, spiked with added alcohol , the choice of winos. Obama is just another Chicago medicine show man, IE Con Artist, working for Obama himself. There is no health care (Medicare/medicaid) reform in Obama’s tool chest of deception, just more medals for the hero himself. Of course those medals will be displayed in full view of all the illegals who are pushing for amnesty and dieing to vote in 2012 for the god of the Aztecs.See also Atzlan.
Want to compare health care systems in 5 capitalist democracies around the world? Watch Frontline, “Sick Around the World.”
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sickaroundtheworld/
thanks again ani for sharin your knowledge with us! you’re the bestest!
Obamas doctor ? You mean that dr. that just said in the article that he has been treating barry for 22 years. And after 22 years, that same dr. only submitted a one page document on his health for the record ? typical barry bullshit. Everthing about Obama is fraudulent including his phony doctor in this article. purple lips flapping in the wind everyday. We should demand that he submit a chest exray for our perusal…..just saying
I hadn’t considered how we ‘know’ Dr. Scheiner has been BO’s physician for 20 years.
Well if he has truly known President Obama for 20 years then he’s one of the few. Well, let me rephrase that. He’s one of the few who hasn’t (yet) been thrown under a bus when it became convenient for Obama to do so. I figure if the doctor keeps spouting off negatives about Obamas medical plan, then he too will be feeling the tires go round and round.
At least P-BO is consistent at throwing people under the bus who don’t reflect well on him or who become political liabilities.
Not sure anyone is rushing into anything. The Democrats and their experts have been thinking about ways to reform healthcare for years.
McCain is full of shit. He has nothing to add here.
The trillion dollar number is not entirely correct, as it does not take into consideration the potential for costs be significantly lowered with a public option, which would have big bargain power to take costs down.
How do you know that Howard Dean himself may not have wanted the HHS position and how do you know that Hillary is not being consulted on healthcare?
Healthcare is a big rip-off in this country.
Howard Dean DID want the position very much — that was made public. And if Hillary is being consulted then why are none of her policy proposals (that she put forth in the primary and that were lauded by Krugman and others) not being used at all. This is something that has been near and dear to her heart for nearly 20 years. She has learned from her mistakes and certainly has a lot to offer. Teddy wanted her out of the way — he wants this for his baby. Do you see her name on anything regarding this?
Funny. The last time I went to a doctor she charged me $650 for an office visit. I have a friend whose dentist is charging her $43,000 to fix her teeth. Yes, that figure is correct. No, I’m not leaving out a decimal point. $43,000. The last time I went to the dentist he charged me over over $2000 to have two teeth pulled - a procedure that took him all of five minutes. So pardon me if I don’t cry a river for these doctors.