I am beginning to think that President Obama hasn’t a clue about how the health care system works. The other day, he said that a foot amputation costs $30,000-$40,000-$50,000.” That seemed high to me, so I went to the New York State Medicaid site and looked up the surgical fee schedule. The cost of amputating a foot for the surgeon is only $425, about 100 times less than Obama contended.
Now, I have no doubt that private insurance companies pay more, but not 100 times more! (If anyone knows what a surgeon gets for a foot amputation in the private sphere, I would appreciate hearing from you at wjs@wesleyjsmith.com, or in a comment to this post. Thanks.)
I think some more research needs to be done on this, but the more our president speaks off the cuff in the Great Health Care Debate, the less he seems to know. More, at Secondhand Smoke , including the YouTube clip of the quote in question.
