Uninsured- Highest Pct Is In Texas, Lowest In Mass.

[Wedgebuster]

http://www.gallup.com/poll/122387/Unins ... -Mass.aspx

[Col Hogan]

Yep, Massachusetts has the highest number of insured....or the lowest number of uninsured...people in the nation...because the state instituted mandatory health care coverage a few years ago...

Some people (outside of Massachusetts) want the country to become like Massachusetts...but wait...

Today, 97 percent of Massachusetts residents have health insurance, the highest in the country. But less publicized are the unintended consequences that the influx of half a million newly insured patients has had on an unprepared primary care system.

The Massachusetts Medical Society reported that the average wait time for a new patient looking for a primary care doctor ranged from 36 to 50 days, with almost half of internal medicine physicians closing their doors entirely to new patients. And when you consider that Massachusetts already has the highest concentration of doctors nationwide, wait times will likely be worse in other, less physician-abundant parts of the country, should universal coverage be enacted federally.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/08/20/ph ... .shortage/

Unintended consequences...

Massachusetts is finding out just how difficult it is to fiscally maintain universal coverage. In part due to soaring health costs, the state Legislature has proposed reducing health benefits for 30,000 legal immigrants and cutting funding to inner-city hospitals like Boston Medical Center, which, according to the Boston Globe, may "force it to slash programs and jeopardize care for thousands of poverty-stricken families."

Gee....who could have seen that happening...

But, you say...we have to do it now...

So, are we prepared for the chaos?????

The success of universal health coverage depends on an adequate supply of primary care providers. But the Association of American Medical Colleges is forecasting a shortage of 46,000 primary care physicians by 2025, a deficit that not only will balloon under any universal coverage measure, but cannot be made up as doctors, nurse practitioners and physician assistants all gravitate towards more lucrative specialty practice.

So, let's rush headlong into this thing without thinking it through....or analysing existing systems...

[dbackjon]

Yes, let's wait, and let people die.

A portion of the blame has to go to Med Schools/Insurance Companies that undervalue Primary Care, and the emphasis placed on Speciality Doctors.

[Col Hogan]

Yes, let's wait, and let people die.

A portion of the blame has to go to Med Schools/Insurance Companies that undervalue Primary Care, and the emphasis placed on Speciality Doctors.

So, you think doing nationwide what has happened to the medical system in Massachusetts is going to save lives???

[Col Hogan]

Just passing a law...and then waving the wand over everyone and saying "YOU ARE NOW COVERED" will not save a single life...I know you are smart enough to realize that...

In fact, as the doctor in my first post points out, without first fixing other problems, the wait will become longer...substantially longer...

How does that save lives???

[ALPHAGRIZ1]

Yes, let's wait, and let people die.

A portion of the blame has to go to Med Schools/Insurance Companies that undervalue Primary Care, and the emphasis placed on Speciality Doctors.

First of all people die everyday.


In Massachusetts they just die more often while waiting to see a doctor.

[BigApp]

I'll bet there's a correlation b/w this list and the amount of illegal Mexicans in those states too.

Tejas has a bunch of 'em, Massachusetts has none.

[ALPHAGRIZ1]

You big racist you................

PLEASE quit making statements like this, your going to bludgeon the left with facts and they dont take that very well.

[Cleets Part 2]

When I lived in Boston I got a doctor by making one phone call..
and I had surgery on my neck and waited a whole day to get the appointment

[HI54UNI]

When I lived in Boston I got a doctor by making one phone call..
and I had surgery on my neck and waited a whole day to get the appointment

Your point?

[Ivytalk]

When I lived in Boston I got a doctor by making one phone call..
and I had surgery on my neck and waited a whole day to get the appointment

Yeah, but, according to your former siggy, that was back in 1944.

[native]

You big racist you................

PLEASE quit making statements like this, your going to bludgeon the left with facts and they dont take that very well.

Don't be a pu$$y, shipmate. The dedicated socialists on these pages are not going to stop their idiocy because you ask nicely.