That's what candidate Obama declared
last fall. But President Obama, even as he accuses others of
spreading myths and "scare tactics" about health care legislation
has himself been loose with the facts. During Tuesday's town hall
meeting in New Hampshire, Obama lied by
denying he has expressed support for a single-payer health care
system.
During the same town hall meeting, Obama
said:
All I'm saying is let's take the example of something like
diabetes, one of --- a disease that's skyrocketing, partly
because of obesity, partly because it's not treated as
effectively as it could be. Right now if we paid a family -- if
a family care physician works with his or her patient to help
them lose weight, modify diet, monitors whether they're taking
their medications in a timely fashion, they might get
reimbursed a pittance. But if that same diabetic ends up
getting their foot amputated, that's $30,000, $40,000, $50,000
-- immediately the surgeon is reimbursed. Well, why not make
sure that we're also reimbursing the care that prevents the
amputation, right? That will save us money.
Last night, the American College of Surgeons fired back:
Yesterday during a town hall meeting, President Obama got his
facts completely wrong. He stated that a surgeon gets paid
$50,000 for a leg amputation when, in fact, Medicare pays a
surgeon between $740 and $1,140 for a leg amputation. This
payment also includes the evaluation of the patient on the day
of the operation plus patient follow-up care that is provided
for 90 days after the operation. Private insurers pay some
variation of the Medicare reimbursement for this service.
The full statement here.
