Obama's amputation allegation

I, too, am shocked at the blatant, manipulative lies coming from our President. No surgeon ever made anything close to $3,000-5,000 for a leg amputation, let alone $30,000-50,000. Medicare (and Medicaid and other insurers aren't far different) pays $740-1,140 for an amputation. Amputations are done only after all other attempts at saving the limb have been exhausted. There are just some, in fact many, surgical conditions-appendicitis, gallbladder disease, colon cancer, pancreatic cancer, breast cancer, etc., that we just can't yet prevent, even with the most attentive preventive care. To accuse ENT surgeons of doing tonsillectomies to make more money than they would by treating children with antibiotics borders on slander and accusation of malpractice. This overlooks the fact that the person who treats tonsillitis with antibiotics is usually the pediatrician, who only refers a child for surgery after it is clear that the tonsillitis will be a recurring problem, with risks such as heart valve disease, if further infections are not prevented by tonsillectomy. If the pediatrician were to get any part of the money for the surgery, this would be considered "fee-splitting", which is illegal and immoral.
In all the discussion of passing the health care bill and funding it, in part, by cutting Medicare expenditures, I have seen no one ask how this would be possible, when a huge number of people-the "Baby Boomers"- is getting ready to enter the Medicare system. How can costs be cut from their current level when such a large number of people is going to hit the system? Or will the eligibility age be raised so high that most of this group willhave, in the government's eyes, "fortuitously" died, before becoming eligible for Medicare and requiring money be put into the system for their care. The only other option would be to place the financial burden on the providers in the system-physicians, PA's, hospitals, etc., who already bear a huge burden of the cost of care by limitations on co-pays (which, of course, private insurers mimic). While physicians' overhead, including, but not limited to malpractice insurance premiums (but also including office staff salaries, health insurance, utilities, taxes, rent, and so on) continue to increase. Malpractice insurance premiums, in particular, have risen at astronomical rates. Between 1984, when I started general surgery private practice and 2004, when I retired, my insurance rose from $6,000/year to $43,000/year, even though I had never been sued. That is an increase of over 600%. Other specialities have seen even hgher inceases, leaving many communities without obstetrical or anesthesia or neurosurgical coverage. All of us, physicians and non-physicians, are potential patients, and may need these services. No health care reform can succeed without tort reform legislation tied to it.
The current proposed health care reform legislation must not succeed-it intrudes too much between the physician and patient, with a whole new (expensive) bureacracy which will surely "contain" costs by denying or delaying care to millions.

I am NOT rich by any stretch