Scott Gottlieb: Obama and the Practice of Medicine - WSJ.com

Scott Gottlieb: Obama and the Practice of Medicine - WSJ.com: "On the defensive because of an increasingly skeptical public, President Barack Obama has recently spoken extemporaneously about his health plan. In doing so, he has revealed his lack of understanding about aspects of medical practice and the reasons for rising health-care costs.

One theme the president has focused on is doctors' motives. During a prime-time press conference on July 22, the president referred to a doctor who muses that she makes 'a lot more money if I take this kid's tonsils out'—even if the child might not need surgery. Responding to a woman whose spry 100-year-old mother was given a needed pacemaker despite her age, the president said a few weeks earlier (at an ABC News town-hall event at the White House) that doctors should let patients know that sometimes 'you're better off not having the surgery, but taking the painkiller.'

Mr. Obama's clinical scenarios represent an excessive—if not erroneous—take on how doctors are influenced by financial incentives. This jaundiced view on medical decision-making may explain why programs the White House is proposing to lower health-care costs rely on the direct regulation of medical decisions. If Mr. Obama is serious about lowering costs, he'll need to reform the economic structures in medicine—especially programs like Medicare."