June 18th Show Recap

Lisa’s guests were Drs. David Zaret (by phone) and Warren Steinberg (in studio). But first, she reminds listeners about the radio marathon starting Friday June 19, and going through the weekend. The goal is to raise $25,000. for children with neurological problems to be able to attend the Muscular Dystrophy Camp in Spring Valley NY. Listen this Saturday June 20th as her show is devoted to it.

Did you hear about North Korea threatening to shoot a rocket toward Hawaii, President Obama’s home state on July 4th? This is really preposterous- think they are sending us a message?

And the ABC network (exclusively) plans to broadcast President Obama from the White House Blue Room. The media should be on the outside looking in, not inside the White House looking out (at the world situation). When a Republican got elected even FOX did not go in to broadcast. And the audience is hand picked by the (ABC) media.

Lisa then changes the subject to discuss the American Medical Association's response to Obama's health care proposals. The AMA neither endorsed nor opposed what Obama is proposing (in his speech to them on Monday the 15th), concerning the medical insurance situation in this country. Many families lack sufficient health insurance. Especially for the people in their 40’s and 50’s, if someone gets a catastrophic disease like cancer, and they have a break in employment with no health insurance, they could go into bankruptcy. It is not an uncommon occurrence.

Dr. David Zaret an orthopedic physician commented on Obama’s remark that being a doctor is a calling; he believes people go into medicine to be of service to others but also they need to make a living. Right now there is a tremendous waste in overhead to the private practitioner, and there is redundancy in certification with the many different insurance companies.

Dr. Warren Steinberg said insurance companies started to tell you how to be a doctor with the rise of HMO’s. The insurance company decided what tests can be done, what they will pay for, or what will be done and paid for.

Dr. Zaret complained that sometimes you have to get extra approvals and are on the phone with insurance companies for hours.

Dr. S: You can have $60,000. just in administrative costs related to extra staffing dealing with insurance. In the mid 90’s HMO insurance started imposing their (will) on what a patient will receive. When HMO’s first started in this state they were pretty good for people, but now they are different.

Lisa brings in a caller who stated that insurance companies are trying to avoid doing what they are supposed to do. The caller makes a little too much money to qualify for Medicaid and suffers from a neurological problem for which he can’t get any help. On the other hand, he can no longer afford insurance coverage.

Dr. Z mentioned that even doctors are unable to live on what they make as residents when they first get out of medical school. They have loans during training and this puts them in the hole. To start a practice the upfront costs like employees, are tremendous. Obama thinks Medicare reimbursement is too high. Our system is going to crash if he doesn’t address the upfront costs of doctors.

Dr. S: He did address medical (school) costs and they would be subsidized.

Dr. Z: The insurance costs and the fact that one can’t even deduct costs on tax forms…

Dr. S: Feels doctor’s have an obligation to society, and it costs society also. Dr. S feels that it is a waste to educate doctors who do not practice medicine.

Dr. Z: Some people go into medicine and don’t go into practice. It is a waste of time to go for all that training and be saddled with loans, working perhaps only part time, it will only pay back their loans (they won’t be making any money to live on).

Lisa believes that the need is to get the best and brightest into medical school. Lisa says that if the government caps a doctor';s income, the least it can do is pay for their education. Medical school should be free (for the best and brightest).

Dr. Z: If a physician drops out of the insurance plans it will be better for doctors but worse for patients.

Dr. S: Supports universal health insurance, and feels that Medicare gets the job done with more efficiency. It farms out administrative duties to non-profit providers and it’s half the cost of HMO’s. HMO’s are profit centers with stock holders. Medicare is not saddled with those costs. Medicare could be more cost effective.

Dr. Z: Complained that he did not get paid last month because of a computer glitch in Medicare which help onto close to 2 million dollars that were owed his firm.

Dr. S: Some systems are cooperative, like Kaiser. Some doctors order an enormous amount of procedures to be performed. Kaiser performs fewer tests and yet does a better job of preventive care.

Dr. Z: Defensive medicine is required now because of all the litigation, and could be better for the patient.

Dr. S: Thinks a factor that doctors are doing tests with expensive equipment is easier to (rule out) find out the problem, but doesn’t use a team approach. Lisa believes newer doctors rely on equipment and not on a team approach.

Overall, the show was marvelous. Lisa loved the different points coming from Dr. Zaret and Dr. Steinberg, their opinions, and informative ideas.