I don,t know what voteing record Dr. manny was looking at but daschle is just as big a crook as Resco is right along with osama obama

Dr Manny,

How can you, with all your experience and exposure to conservative points of view, ever support a person who wants to encourage (or even allow) liberal punitive medical claims? The ambulance chasers have to bear much of the blame for today’s high costs of care – and you, of all people, should notice all the paper work nurses are doing and unnecessary procedures that are being ordered in order to cover the butts of hospitals and doctors subject to suit. Malpractice insurance is so expensive most small towns have to pay the premiums to get a doc to settle there. But again, how could you not know that? gene, longmont, CO

You are showing a serious lack of judgement.
Daschle was the instigator of the Democrat’s lies and distortion campain. The voters kicked him out.
Now Obama is paying off that debt by making him head of Health and Services, a position for which he has no real qualifications.
And you give him a B+????
F would be appropriate.

Didn’t he leave Washington in shame a few years ago? Why would we want him back?

Just another progressive here to save us from ourselves.

I guess when Dr. Manny is working for the government run health care system he will have a different opinion of the Socialist Dashle.

Dr. Manny maybe you need to check out the health care system in England to get an idea of what we can expect.

I am one of the South Dakota voters that kicked him out. We have a habit of doing that with turncoats in this state. My problem with your analysis is your comment “However, he voted no on limiting self-employment health deductions.” This just goes to show that you really don’t know what’s happening in the real world. Anyone who works for someone else gets their portion of their health insurance premium deducted from their gross pay BEFORE taxes are figured. Why should I have to pay taxes on the full premium? The smartest thing every American can do is to drop their health insurance and then mark their ballots for everyone who is NOT an incumbent.

Daschle, more evidence that Obama is setting himself up for failure !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Daschle, what a joke. Dr. why do you support these theives, you must not of had
any money invested in our failed, corrupt Government.

Dr. Manny,

His voting record tells us naught about his credentials. A person can cast a yes or no vote on any issue without the slightest knowledge on the subject. He has always been a politician that has operated on smoke and mirrors, and I expect nothing else now.

Dr. Manny, I just do not know how we can afford healthcare for everyone. We already have Medicaid, how is this different from National healthcare? I buy my own healthcare, I pay $650 per month, sure I hate paying this, but do I have a choice. It is my responsibilty to find the money each month. I am on a fixed income.
If we were to close the borders and stop paying for all their healthcare, maybe we could afford to care for the American people. Let Mexico take care of there own people.
I worked in healthcare for 30 years and our Emergency rooms were full of illegals. It was a terriable strain on our organization, but our mission was never to turn anyone away, but then we had to survive on a very tight budget to offset this expense. Does not seem fair to me.
Thank you, Marjorie

The ex-senator from South Dakota, who was thrown out of office by those who know him the best, is one of the poorest cabinet picks I have ever seen. The man, who is very bright and very conniving, understands the health care system about as much as any other lawyer……………..just another thing to suck the life out of! No, he will prove to be a very divisive Secretary and will use this office just like he did his Senate office, to his benefit and to the benefit of his friends, leaving the rest of us holding the proverbial bag………….which will be empty by the time we get it back!

I hope everyone else is getting sick of hearing “change” and “transparency” and “reform”, they have been so overused they no longer have any meaning. As far as appointing Daschle to anything; a rose by any other name… We will see Hillarycare again in the form of government-mandated universal healthcare, paid for by taxpayers, and provided to illegals or anyone else who just doesn’t want to pay for their own care.

Sorry Dr. Manny, but picking Dschle is a big fat F. He was driven from the Senate in large part because he is a tremendous A double 5. He is partisan and horrid at compromise plus a huge fan of not just big, but enormous government. He is an F.

Obama, the agent of “Change”? His whole administration is going to be nothing but the same on political hacks who have been the champions of bad decision after bad decision.

Get ready America, we’re about to face some very dark times.

Daschle is one of the most partisen pols in the senate ever. He should get an F-.

Dr. Manny,
I would appreciate your thoughts on the affect that FDA Preemption (exemption from product liability for FDA approved drugs and devices) and FDA Management Fraud as brought to light by the pending Congressional investigation will have on the public’s long term health and well being.
I find it amazing that little to nothing has been reported about either of these issue by the major media. Also any thoughts as to why this is so?
Thanks

For FDA Preemption see – http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/10/preemption-the-business-case-of-the-century/

For FDA Management fraud see – http://www.pharmalot.com/2008/11/congress-probes-corrupted-fda-device-approvals/

Why sue HMOs?? Because they put pressure on doctor’s and hospitals to keep costs down so the medical profession doesn’t like them. Explain to me why my first bill from the hospital for an overnight stay/emergency appendectomy was $25,000. But when they negotiated with the insurance, it was dropped to $4,000. Explain why a friend of mine in a motorcycle accident was able to negotiate reduced amounts if she could pay cash and then collect from her insurance, instead of having to wait until the insurance paid.

Upset because the HMO won’t cover that treatment?? Blame the medical profession for over testing and over charging, not the HMO. My optometrist referred me to an ophthalmologist for glaucoma treatments. He does pressure checks every three months, and does other tests on a regular basis. He also sends the results of these tests to the optometrist. My last visit, they wanted to do a pressure test. I asked why and they told me to not worry, the insurance covers it. I refused it. Then they wanted to do a field of view test. Same reason, so I refused it also.

I got news for everyone who uses the excuse ‘your insurance will pay for it’…it’s the insurance premiums that you and your employer pay that cover it. Excessive tests raise insurance costs for all of us.

So the next time you decide to do something ‘because the insurance pays for it’, remember that you are really paying for it. And so am I.

Dr. Manny,

Daschle is going to push socialized medicine down our throats. I agree with others that the biggest problem we have is all the illegals using our emergency rooms for their healthcare. Go to any hospital in an urban area and they are filled with illegals, mostly from Mexico. I’m tired of paying for healthcare for people who don’t belong here in the first place. The hospitals have to cover their bills, so those of us who do have insurance and do pay our bills, are subsidizing the healthcare for illegals. I’m sure under the Daschle plan, all of us will continue to pay and pay and pay for this “universal” government healthcare. It’s just another slick method to redistribute the wealth……even to illegals.

Go to any of the border hospitals along the U.S. Canadian borders. They are filled with Canadians wanting decent healthcare…….not the crapp socialized medicine they have up North.

The good doctor needs to stick to medicine and stay away from politics. Mr. Daschle and his plan will be a disaster for healthcare. The cost of healthcare will go up, not down, when they start mandating more and more benefits. How could it be otherwise? By forcing private insurers to cover everything under the sun, they wil simply make healthcare more expensive and drive the private companies out of business. Which, in the end, is exactly what they want to do. We’ll have more people covered, but it will be paid for by higher government spending. and taxes Once the private companies have been driven out, the government will save money by rationing care, just as they do in single payer healthcare systems. And we’ll have Obama and Daschle to blame.

As a reply to the John F blaming physicians on driving the cost of healthcare. I’m sure that when you asked about your eye tests..that you did NOT talk to the doctor..and that the only reason we are ordering many of the tests we order is purely out of fear of litigation. You can always discuss this with your doctor and if you don’t want so much testing then don’t get it….just don’t sue us later blaming us that we missed a problem….as an MD, i don’t see a whole lot of solutions. our system is going broke treating everyone in the emergency department and having to support the mexican health care system.

Dr. Manny,
I’m really disappointed to realize that you are a big lib. Sorry to hear that. I will not smile anymore when I see your face on FNC. Socialized medicine. Great. Go back to Cuba.

Dr. Manny….thank you for that insight on former Senator Daschle. I have not been a fan of universal health care, for the most part, but it appears it’s on the doorstep. So rather than rant about the pitfalls, I decided I’d better get some insight into how this can work.

I didn’t see any connection between what I knew of Tom Daschle and his appointment as head of DHHS. But, your blog has made the connections and I thank you for your commentary and opinion of how appropriate Daschle is for the job.

Makes me feel better and I guess I’ll tune into your blog more often to keep up on this.

Dottie J.

Dr Manny,

Once I read that your parents came from Cuba and I wonder if you want the American people to have the same “wonderful “socialized medicine that Cubans have.

Dr Manny,

So it seems that you want socialized medicine in the USA like your parents had in Cuba.

Dr. Manny:

With all due respect, You are being Intellectually Dishonest, regarding Tom Daschle…or maybe “Minnesota Nice”…He’s as much a Socialist/Communist as Dear Leader Maobama.

Can you not see that he will RUIN your profession, at ALL of our expense, and his gain???

Are you Thinking, or Repeating…ing…ing…ing???

James J. Laughlin
734.653.4375

Daschle in charge of healthcare? What’s next, Bill Ayers as Secretary of Defense? We are not England, France, Cuba, or Canada. The USA has a much larger, fatter, more demanding population, not to mention the 12 million illegals for whom we must provide care. The cost of universal healthcare, on top of all of the other planned spending by Obama and the trillions in bailout money being thrown around is going to topple this country. Talk about the enemy within- it’s our own government. And the uninformed masses who voted these people into office. http://timetorevoltamerica.blogspot.com

It’s pretty tough, though, isn’t it when the government creates new agencies (tax dollars) to justify it increased taxation on the people it underserves. How about a novel concept, like, let’s prove to the people we can do better with the same or less. It’s tough to burden the tax base with more services that only truly benefit medicaid and medicare. Same healthcare “system” as Congress? Yeah right! How about just make Congressional members pay for their healthcare like everyone else! Then maybe it would seem a more pressing issue.

Daschle? What a joke. How many times does this guy have to be discredited? Dan’s idea is right on target. Instead of GIVING everyone in the US health coverage similar to the politicians, (which is well above typical levels and paid for by us anyway) why not have the politicians write checks from their own accounts like the rest of us? They might get a little better idea of what their constituents live with.