Thursday, November 18, 2010

Issue #2

However old this information may be, These are the facts. Many people agree that Medicare needs to be reformed so that it is successful in the years to come. The way that Medicare is set up is that the doctors get paid for the amount of work they do, not the quality of the work. A "pay for performance" system was approved by legislature in 2006 to allow Medicare to pay doctors a bonus of 1.5% for information on quality and type of work they do. The goal of this is to reward better doctors for their efforts in their work. Some argue that federal officials do not know what type of standards to set for the quality and bonuses. Among these opposers is Representative Pete Stark of California.

I think that it is a great idea to let doctors get benefits for the quality of work they do and not the quantity of work. If they misdiagnose a person, the person needs to come back after already paying for the wrong diagnoses only to get a new diagnosis and another medical bill. This could just keep on happening as the doctor gets richer and the patient gets poorer and sicker without the correct treatment or medication. The doctors need to take their jobs seriously and this will just further encourage them to do this. The government may not know the exact level that the quality of work should be at but it can be close and people could vote to establish a level. The quality of doctor visits needs to be increased. The bills are also a little over priced but perhaps if they gain bonuses for better work than the prices that the patients have to pay can decrease.
The American Medical Association also thinks that this bonus for doctors idea is a good idea.






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Links to other important issues:

Issue #1
Issue #3

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