During last night’s debate, Mitt Romney tried to give a "shout out" to the Cleveland Clinic and completely missed the mark. Romney was probably hoping to score some points with Ohio voters, since he’s trailing in that key swing state.
President Barack Obama mentioned the Clinic first, saying “…at Cleveland Clinic, one of the best health care systems in the world, they actually provide great care cheaper than average.”
In his response, Romney says, “Your example of the Cleveland Clinic is my case in point, along with several others I could describe. This is the private market. These are small -- these are enterprises competing with each other, learning how to do better and better jobs.”
We’ll get to the big picture in a moment, but let’s stop right here briefly. Romney calls the Cleveland Clinic “small,” and then he seems to catch himself. For the record, the Cleveland Clinic gets more than four million patient visits per year. It’s got 2,800 physicians and scientists on staff. It’s not “small.”
Romney refers to the Cleveland Clinic as an enterprise “competing” with other enterprises in a private health market. To Mitt Romney, health care is a business. He thinks the Cleveland Clinic competes with other health care providers.
Romney goes on: “Mayo Clinic is doing it superbly well, Cleveland Clinic, others. But the right answer is not to have the federal government take over health care and start mandating to the providers across America, telling a patient and a doctor what kind of treatment they can have. That’s the wrong way to go. The private market and individual responsibility always work best.”
Here’s why this is an embarrassing blunder: The best, most talented doctors at the Cleveland Clinic, the ones Mitt Romney thinks are so great, totally and completely disagree with this view of health care.
To them, your health is not a business. Health care providers don’t want to compete for your dollar. They want to help you stay well or get well.
Dr. Steven Nissen, the chair of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, told Cleveland.com, "Driven by these perverse economic incentives, we are doing a lot of procedures to people that they don't need. When medicine became a business, we lost our moral compass." (emphasis mine)
One of the keys to the Cleveland Clinic’s success is that it pays providers a fixed salary so they don’t feel like they have to compete or add treatments to bump up their paychecks. Does Romney agree with that?
The Affordable Care Act creates networks to bring together healthcare providers. It’s similar to the Cleveland Clinic’s process of integrating care. Does Romney agree with that?
Maybe Romney didn’t know that the Cleveland Clinic plays a key role in a scathing new documentary debuting tonight called “Escape Fire”. In it, Dr. Andrew Weil and others explain why the health care system we all grew up with can’t continue to work and may actually be bad for our health, and even deadly. Here’s the trailer:
Mitt Romney praised the Cleveland Clinic, but doesn’t support its money-saving philosophies. It’s an empty compliment. It’s just name-dropping. And he should be embarrassed about petting an institution he’d take apart if he understood it better.
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Only a left-wing moonbat could spin Romney's brilliant performance in the negative. I bet Chris Matthews felt urine running down his leg watching his messiah get played. PMSNBC is not a legit news outlet; I've seen more objective journalism on the 700 Club.
LOL
thanks you forgot \s
If you really believe that the Cleveland Clinic is not deeply committed to the business of medicine, perhaps you can explain their need to expand into Florida and affiliate with community hospitals in eastern Pennsylvania.
Like I've said before, robme wants the TITLE not the job. He will leave the policy to his right wing idealogues and 1 % who are attempting to buy/curry favor. Adelson,koch bros and rove all are the puppet masters, dangling the empty suit. Vote OBAMA/BIDEN and vote out the rethugs, cantor, west, bachman,brown. Rebuild the congress and senate. Let's show them you can not commit treason/sedition and expect to get away with it. These guys have plotted to undermine a duly elected President from day one.
Romneys plan is clear. He is on record supporting the Right, and now the center. If he gets elected, this will allow him to take a Hard Right and support his base. He will show only the tape of him blowin smoke in that direction. You cant call someone a liar if they take every and all positions. Its all on record both ways. His base understands this now!
ha ha ha ha,mitt the yellow coward who ran to france to put on a tutu ha hahahahaha that a leader of all you republicans,you to texas scarborough.
If a doctor is working for the bottom line ie the more people they see, the more expensive procedures they prescribe, the more expense they can run up for the patient, then, you know what, I don't care if they do go broke or leave the Medical Profession. Me, I want a doctor that works for ME, finds out what my ailments are, provides the best medicine, doesn't send me to 5 different other doctors so I can pay each of them and each of them can send me for a catscan (which I have to pay for) when one catscan that each could look at would be sufficient. Medical health is not supposed to be about the bottom line, it is supposed to be what is best for the patient. That is what ObamaCare is all about, providing the patient with the best care and not send the patient into bankruptcy if they happen to have a major illness. I always hated it when the doctor wanted to prescribe a certain procedure and had to get permission from the Insurance Company before they could prescribe the treatment. Again, ObamaCare to the rescue, patient and doctors are the deciders of what treatment is best, not some clerk in an insurance company. I could go on and on, from personal experience but I think you get the idea. Check out that Cleveland Clinic that Pres. Obama brought up in the debate, and while you are at it go to FactCheck and find out what ObamaCare REALLY provides to the people of this country. I would almost bet that 3/4 of the people don't know what benefits are CURRENTLY being enjoyed under ObamaCare. Check it out.
The RNC pulled Romney aside and said "Now is the time to tell them anything they want to hear..Doesn't matter if its the truth or not...Getting elected is the most important thing and then once elected we will be able to disable the democratic party one member at a time". lying is a good thing for the GOP it feeds read meat to the base and lets all the rest think that they are going to get some goodies(massive tax breaks)...Yeah I can see the real truth..Trouble is the blind right only sees $$$ signs and Jesus on the cross..And Romney is not even a real christian..what hypocrites they all are...And all because Obama is black...The GOP will sell their souls to evil to become the ruling class they already have...and all the little white christian middle class idiots and corporate moguls and KLU KLUX KLANs and ayran race mongers and southern trailer trash are their warriors ...Yes fool yourself into thinking the GOP are for your well being and then remember back over 4 years ago when you found yourself on unemployment .........your house repossessed......your IRA gone and remember who was in charge...It wasn't Obama..it was 8 years of fleecing america..I remember..I was unemployed..and now I am working full time...