Assuming that our principal purpose here is to understand more about what is going on politically, your response, Steve, is very valuable. It is essentially what the doctors on the CNN show were saying, and they were both salaried physicians.

The doctor-panelists did say that there were some "legal impediments" to moving from a fee-for-service physician business model to a salaried model. I'm assuming that would have to do with "forcing" physicians who were "sole proprietors" or had only 1-2 partners in a practice to become salaried. That wouldn't be a small problem, but I suspect it could be resolved with a payment schedule that would essentially force physicians into a salaried form of business organization.

But it's good to hear confirmation of something we've all suspected from a doctor who knows first-hand what the potential savings might be.

One question: would the "salaried doctor" model be what is meant by "paying for quality, not quantity"? I've heard people discuss needed reforms and use a term like that and I have no idea what they mean.