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twitterLETTER TO THE EDITOR:
A physician’s case for health care reform
Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2009 | 2:04 a.m.
Millions are uninsured or underinsured. Millions more are children with medical conditions that likely will prevent them from obtaining medical insurance as they come of age. The current situation is morally indefensible. Stemming from the president’s agenda, our elected officials in Congress are attempting to craft a law to address this despicable situation.
Some doctors oppose changes in the current system or oppose the way some of the changes are being proposed; this is their right. I am a pediatric cardiologist and care for children who, by definition, have “preexisting conditions,” as they were born with problems.
The bills in Congress reasonably address the problems facing the uninsured, underinsured and those with preexisting conditions. No piece of legislation is ever perfect, but the proposals before Congress will help millions now and millions to come, just as Social Security and Medicare have since their inception.
As a physician and as a citizen I support the efforts under way in Congress and look forward to President Barack Obama’s signature enacting the legislation into law in, I hope, the very near future.
Discussion: 30 comments so far…
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"Some doctors oppose changes in the current system or oppose the way some of the changes are being proposed..." but not Doctor Feel Good.
hey doc...
bravo...
too bad too many of your compadres are only concerned about chasing the almighty dollar...
too bad the medical board is completely pathetic and has no interest in protecting the public by revoking the licenses of those scum bag doctors who place profit above patients' well being...
you sir...
are a man i can respect...
Comment removed by staff.
Doc, are you going to cut your 'costs'? Are you prepared to work harder for less? That is the question in all of this. Will health care workers work for less or should everyone else work harder for less and pay the doctors?
The people want all the care without question, they just want someone else to pay for it. The health care workers all want more and want some evil insurance company to pay them more and charge the public less. It's all about money. Taking someone's and giving it to someone else. Health care is simply the current battlefield. Tomorrow it's energy. The next day will be something else, but it's all about taking money from one and giving to another dependent upon a political wind.
awe...
what's the matter my republican friends...
did i hurt your feelings...
hmmm...
awe...
you know what is funny...
it is absolutely hysterical that you republican clowns have such thin skin...
amazing...
especially since you act like such tough guys when it comes to those less fortunate than you...
boy you clowns act tough then...
but when somebody punches back...
you cry like little girls...
you go running to the sun police...
hee hee hee...
anyway...
my post was so brilliant...
let me see if i can state in such a way as to satisfy the sun police...
the good doctor has provided an example of how pathetic the insurnace companies are...
and you republican clowns are defending these greedy pig insurance companies and their very real death panels...
so essentially you are arguing for that poor little innocent child who had the misfortune to be born with a heart condition to die...
got that...
sleep tight!!!
The only thing morally indefensible is the huge amount of taxes the government goods will wring out of middle class taxpayers to fund this bloated monstrocity. Medicare and Social Security are by themselves on the verge of bankrupting the government and no one seems to care. They were both brought into existance through lies, deceit and deception. I heard an interview recently with Harry Reid where he let it slip that this piece of garbage will cost $2 trillion and it will probably be three times that because Reid and his ilk always lie through their teeth to get these dumb ideas enacted foisted into law. Remember what the regional justice center was supposed to cost?
No one has ever given me a good answer to the question of why I have an obligation to pay someone's doctor bill.
Before birdie canonizes Dr Evans(and the fact that birdie admires you, should raise a great big red flag, Dr. Evans), let's look at just who Dr Evans is. He is a pediatric cardiologist who graduated from medical school 33 years ago, or in other words, he is just about ready to retire. As a pediatric cardiologist, ALL of his patients are insured, most through their parents' insurance policies, through which Dr. Evans is able to bill for the maximum reimbursement, and if they don't have private insurance, they are immediately qualified for govt insurance either through medicaid or SCHIP. So Dr. Evans has made his millions already, and I don't begrudge him for making a good living, but I guarantee you that he would NOT be in favor of switching from a private system, such as we have now, to a socialized nedical system, which is the intent of this legislation, if he were a young physician just starting his practice.
Contrary to Dr. Evans' claims, the bills in Congress do NOT reasonably address the problems facing the uninsured, the underinsured, nor those with pre-existing medical conditions. The bills in Congress will cause both health insurance and medical care to increase in price; taxes to rise; and quality of medical care to diminish.
Isn't it great to have a choice? I am glad I don't have to go to Dr. Evans for medical advice or treatment.
The doctor states: "The bills in Congress reasonably address the problems facing the uninsured, underinsured and those with preexisting conditions."
Really doctor? It appears that the bill that you are so giddy about leaves millions without medical coverage...
"No one has ever given me a good answer to the question of why I have an obligation to pay someone's doctor bill."
For the same reason we're going to pick up your medical bills when you go on Medicare: the world is a better place with you in it.
Anyway, to say that this is only about some moral imperative is to miss the point. This is about providing medical insurance to everyone at a lower cost than we're paying now.
Look at it this way: If you have medical insurance of any kind you are either receiving more in benefits than you're paying in premiums, or you're paying more than you're receiving. If you're in the former group somebody is paying for the cost of your health care, so they might reasonably ask your question, don't you think? Certainly your insurance company is going to ask that question; why should they continue to pick up the cost of your health care? Because your insurer feels as you do and they don't see any moral imperative in continuing to insure you, they'll drop you as soon as they can find an excuse. In that case you will then become a burden for the taxpayer.
If, however, you're in the latter group, you are not only paying for someone else's health care, you're also paying for the profit of the insurance company that underwrites your policy.
So why not eliminate the problems inherent with both outcomes? Why not extend Medicare to everyone? It's cheaper, people like it, it provides us with good outcomes, and it would cover everyone. What's not to like?
Doctors could still charge whatever they like, private insurers could continue to offer supplemental policies, and private insurers could still offer full policies for people who for some reason still have faith that private insurers will better meet their needs.
It doesn't matter to the right-wingers WHO comes out in favor of health care reform. Doctors, the AMA, the AARP, sick people, healthy people, working folk, struggling families, they ALL have a secret agenda or hidden ulterior motive. And by jiminey, the neo-cons will expose you!
If you are in favor of even modest reform to bring costs under control and make sure people that are not insured can get coverage, somehow you are a raving socialist lunatic.
However, if Rush Limbaugh came out today, on the air, and backed health care reform, and gave some b.s. explanation that could be deemed plausible to the masses of dittodum, the Senate could be finishing up a final version of the bill by this time next week. That's sad.
I think everything should be free for everyone. All you should have to do is close your eyes and wish for it. I've always wanted to own a newspaper. Perhaps Brian will give me his!
gmag,
You're actually half-right(that's a first!). If rush came out today and backed health care reform, the Senate would be finishing up the final bill by this time next week. But why is that sad?
But you're half-wrong because you included...
"and (Rush) gave some b.s. explanation..."
...Rush doesn't give BS explanations; he deals in the truth only, so if he supported health care reform, it would truly be health care reform. The bills in Congress now are NOT reform; they are guaranteed to raise both the cost of health insurance and the cost of medical care; they are guaranteed to raise both taxes and the defecit; and they are guaranteed to diminish the quality of medical care. So my question is....why would you be in favor of these bills?
ps. don't bother answering, I and the entire forum, know that you are a Democratic lapdog without the use of a functional brain.
And by jiminey, there gmag, I think you hit the nail right on the head when he wrote:
"If you are in favor of even modest reform to bring costs under control and make sure people that are not insured can get coverage, somehow you are a raving socialist lunatic."
But the problem is that there has not been any modest reform options. It's either a complete federal government takeover of our health care system or... or... NOTHING...
Get everyone covered under some type of health coverage, then look for areas of weakness and reform them...
Insurance companies deny 200 million claims out of 1.4 billion a year. Many contracts are being written that wouldn't cover 3 days in the hospital. My wife had a policy provided by her employer that had a 40k yearly cap. Some exclude hospital coverage and pregnancy coverage. People have no idea what their policies cover until it's too late. Of the millions of medical related bankruptcies the last 10 years almost all had insurance. Health costs are a major driver of poverty and business failure. Plus the civil courts are completely bogged down with medical related litigation of all types.
So zippert, do you think the federal government can do a better job of managing the entire health care system?
Why not try fixing what is wrong with our health care system not replacing it with some unknown commodity?
It's kinda like replacing your home with one that the government thinks is better for you, sight unseen...
Yes, Larry. The private market obviously hasn't done enough for the people. They charge whatever they want, raise your premiums, deny you coverage when you need it the most.
Why do you defend them? Power to the consumer.
"Doctor" Evans,
just another "not-in-my-backyard" type of answer.
graduated med school over 30 years ago eh?
so this legislation will have zero effect on you.
back then lawsuits were even a rarity. yes, you've made your millions, and if not already retired you soon will be, so now you want to jump on the political correctness bandwagon and help "those who are less fortunate".
if you want to do so, then how about donating most of your personal wealth to the less fortunate, rather than supporting a socialized system which is doomed to failure.
"...do you think the federal government can do a better job of managing the entire health care system?"
The government already does a better job of managing 30% of it. Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, and VA health care are all less expensive than private insurance on a per patient basis and all provide outcomes that are at least as good. The private sector covers 55% of all Americans: the profitable half. The rest are left to the taxpayers or don't get covered at all.
"But the problem is that there has (sic) not been any modest reform options. It's either a complete federal government takeover of our health care system or... or... NOTHING..."
But that's just not true. The bill that came out of the House was far from a government takeover. In fact, it didn't provide coverage for nearly enough people. That's why more liberal Democrats like Dennis Kucinich voted against it.
"Why not try fixing what is wrong with our health care system not replacing it with some unknown commodity?"
But government-run health care is not an unknown commodity. We have it with Medicare, and over 90% of the people on Medicare are happy with it. So my question is, why don't we take a system that almost nobody likes and costs more and replace it with a system that almost everybody likes and costs less?
JohnF posted...
"The government already does a better job of managing 30% of it. Medicare, Medicaid, SCHIP, and VA health care are all less expensive than private insurance on a per patient basis and all provide outcomes that are at least as good. The private sector covers 55% of all Americans: the profitable half. The rest are left to the taxpayers or don't get covered at all."
...It's not less expensive, the govt just pays less. There was a letter here recently and the letter writer said her neighbor was recently in the ICU and ran up a bill of >$50,000, of which Medicare paid something like $4,600 and she thought that was so great because her neighbor didn't have to pay anymore. Now, JohnF, who do you think pays that other $45,000? The private sector, that's who.
And then JohnF added...
"But government-run health care is not an unknown commodity. We have it with Medicare, and over 90% of the people on Medicare are happy with it."
...sure, see above example, if I had Medicare I'd be happy too. But how many doctors do you suppose are happy with Medicare? It's a real low figure, I'm sure this letter writer, Dr Evans, is happy with it because he doesn't have any patients on Medicare.
The problem is, there is no free lunch...someone has to pay for it. This Congress and these bills are not even addressing the right questions. The only way to lower the cost of medical care is to lower the price paid to the providers, and to decrease the number of health care services provided. Nobody, certainly not these bills in Congress, wants to address these difficult questions.
Medicare like we know it today will not be like the Medicare tomorrow or in a few years. It is impossible to remain the same with it's deficit spending over the years.
So, if the federal government has done such fine job of managing Medicare, why is there 500 billion of fraud in it? I bet if any of you smart guys were managing it, you would be on top of the fraud...
I'm just glad that Obama is our president because I don't have to worry about filling my gas tank or paying my mortgage any more! Thank you God!
Larry,
Good points, and remember, all that deficit spending occurred in Medicare all the while it was only paying approximately 10 cents on the dollar to the hospitals and doctors.
Isn't it comical to hear the Dems say that they will pay for this health care reform bill by cutting out the fraud in Medicare? If they really could cut out the fraud in Medicare and save the country $500 billion or so, then why not do it now? Why wait until a health care reform bill is passed?
Who said life was supposed to be fair? What? Do you bleeding heart liberals also want to rescue all of the starving kids around the world who die of hunger and disease every day? Isn't that morally reprehensible to allow an innocent child to die of starvation with a huge belly and covered in flies? Isn't it morally reprehensible that in our own country people who fought in wars are living on the streets, suffering from mental issues caused from said service, yet we as a people look the other way, and if they ever cross our minds, it's probably at a red light when we find ourselves praying "I hope that bum doesn't ask me for money".
Life isn't fair. Who's job is it to right these moral wrongs? The world? The government? The city? The family? It is true that the 1% ultra rich have so much money that they can never spend it all if they tried, even if they spent $1,000,000 a day, they couldn't possibly spend it all because compound interest alone makes them more than a million a day. Those people often set up trusts that distribute their wealth to charities. Often however, those charities are involved in population control instead of feeding and caring for the poor. They shoot them up with vaccines that make them sterile so that they can no longer breed like rabbits. But do they teach them how to fish? Give them an education and the tools to succeed? Not in the cards. The ultra rich only want to cull the population, they are indifferent to the suffering of the poor and needy.
Which brings us to our current dilemma. The ultra rich want to eliminate the middle class so that everyone is poor, everyone is needy, nobody can "come up" and become wealthy unless they are of the bloodline (insiders only need apply). They want to cull the population so that it is more manageable and lest apt to revolt and toss them from power. Such is one's fate if they are born in Russia or China these days. In the future, because of Obama and his Maoist friends, every child will awake to a world of mediocrity; lack of hope for a better life; lack of control over ones own destiny in lieu of being forced into doing what is good for the "community"; and a knowledge that we let them down and allowed this to happen on our watch. They will curse us and our generation for allowing this to happen, this I know for a certainty, this I promise you evil inhabitants of the earth. Let it be written, let it be done!
If JohnF realy thinks obamacare is going to be cheaper than what we have now I have a nice bridge near Hoover Dam that is almost finished I will sell him real cheap. The offical estimate (which is a damned lie by the way), is $1 Trillion and I heard Whorehouse Harry Read admit during an interview that the figure is $2 trillion, so going by the government's track record it will be somewhere in the $4 to $8 trillion dollar range (for ten years I believe). The government is broke now and I have no idea where the money will come from to feed this monster. Obama, he has no idea about anything.
If they try to raise taxes enough to cover this shortfall, there could easily be a taxpayer revolution, as many polls show people are quite irate now. If 100 million refuse to pay taxes what will the government do? Print more money?
Dr. Evans: GREAT LETTER
You are right on the mark. These naysayer Repubs already have their health care. Their
selfish greed is why they lost the Presidential
election. Health care reform will pass.
Thank you Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi.
Health care reform will pass, but not before a lot of changes to make it smell better to the American public.
Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi illuminate what is wrong with both political parties.
Independent voters will straighten things out during the next election.
Population control? Now that is a cause that I could support. I think some woman breed twice a year. Some of them are so ugly, makes you wonder who could do such a thing. wuf wuf.
It's hard not to think it's okay to "eliminate" people who we deem to be inferior to us and "worthless feeders". One can almost imagine how the elites came up with that "game plan" and rationale. You see these people in Africa, nothing to live for, just beeding like dogs, and you think, huh, if I could push a button and make them all go away, end the suffering, would I? What about our own ghetto's, the low life criminal types that feast off society and contribute nothing? Do they have a right to breath the same air as us superior beings? Would you throw them "In the trunk!" as well? Sure we would. Without feeling any remorse by the way. Well my friends, now you know, it's easy to feel contempt and lack of compassion for those you feel inferior to you! Imagine the elites, privy to the worlds ancient secrets, holders of the worlds wealth, how do you think they feel about us? Even our politicians feel that way about us, and they show it in their actions. They can give a rats arse if the white, Christian, hard working middle class families that are the backbone of this country all go broke because of the predictable lost industry and commerce that will result from much higher taxes, a devalued dollar, and more illegal immigrants. Hell, Pelosi, Reid, and Obama will soil their pants in excitement when these "entitled crackers" have to see what it's like to live paycheck to paycheck off of the crumbs the mighty federal government throws their way. They've already given 10% of the population a taste of what this will feel like moving forward (still more than the welfare people receive)
Yes, wealth distribution is behind health care reform and climate change legislation. I HAVE A NEW PROPHECY! THE SENATE WILL PASS A HEALTH CARE REFORM BILL, WITHOUT 'THE PUBLIC OPTION' WHICH PELOSI WILL SWEAR WILL PLACED IN THE FINAL BILL ONCE IN COMMITTEE, BUT SHE WILL LIE! ONCE IT GOES TO COMMITTE, MANY AWFUL MEASURES, INCLUDING PUBLIC INSURANCE, WILL BE PLACED BACK IN THE BILL! In 10 years, we will have a one payer health system similar to Canada's! If this does not transpire, I will cease to post here. Let it be written, let it be done!
Prophet...
I can't argue with you on your prediction. And I agree with your prophecy about wealth distribution.
Wealth distribution is in the forefront in Obama's mind. He said it several times during the campaign. The more people he can make dependent on public assistance, the more will support his socialist ideas...