2014
I occasionally listen to Limbaugh on the radio, basically for the entertainment factor of both Limbaugh and his callers.
Some of the time I have no idea what he is talking about, but when he talks about health care and Obamacare, I do know.
Today he was going on and on about Obama criticizing doctors and their incomes complaining that the administration was launching an attack on their incomes. Indeed, you will be hearing more information about Medicare millionaires.
Limbaugh’s illustration was playing the tape of an Obama speech in 2009. In that speech Obama asked why we provide a minimal payment to a primary care physician to manage all aspects of a diabetic patient to keep that person from complications and higher health care costs while at the same time we spend $30,000, $40,000, or $50,000 for amputation of a limb as a result of diabetes.
That is a valid question and illustrative of our faulty health care system. [according to the Healthcare Bluebook, the fair price for a leg amputation – what providers accept from insurers – is $14,163 of which $12,376 is the hospital charge. There is some variation by location]
Limbaugh turned that all around saying Obama was criticizing doctors for cutting off limbs to become wealthy implying that doctors received those high payments.
I don’t know if Limbaugh is that ignorant or he simply tries to mislead his under informed audience. The point is you need information and facts, not rhetoric on the left or right.
For the record, the highest average annual income from patient related activities is $405,000 and that is for orthopedic physicians. Family physicians earned on average $175,000 in 2012.
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 