Do doctors really support this health care bill?

After the endorsement of the House Democrats' health bill yesterday by the AMA, President Obama made the following comments:

"They would not be supporting it if they really believed that it would lead to government bureaucrats making decisions that are best left to doctors," he said of the AMA. "They would not be with us if they believed that reform would in any way damage the critical and sacred doctor-patient relationship."

I just found an interesting web site put together by a group of doctors here in Atlanta.  The web site is docs4patientcare.org and it has some good resources for more information about this whole health care "crisis" and what is being suggested as solutions.  I thought that their Proposed Alternatives for Effective Healthcare Reform were especially reasonable, so I thought I'd pass them along.


Docs4PatientCare Proposed Alternatives for Effective Healthcare Reform:



•There is no logical reason to hastily pass this legislation by a predetermined deadline. We have one chance to get this right.


•Bring "all" stakeholders together to help assure a meaningful and sustainable reform by considering many recommendations and proposals.


•Adopt a patient-centered approach to healthcare reform that empowers patients and promotes freedom of choice.


•Use the power of government to assist the uninsured obtain health coverage through modification of the tax code, such as tax credits and vouchers.


•Reduce high insurance premiums by opening up patient risk pools across the entire nation, thereby diffusing risk.



•Allow the individual/family to be the "owner" of the policy making their health care coverage portable and available if they lose their job or move to a new place of employment. This will eliminate exclusion from the new employer's plan for a “pre-existing” health issue and also eliminate a waiting period to qualify for enrollment.


•Encourage and expand Health Savings Accounts. Tax-Free savings vehicle for planned and/or unexpected medical expenses.


•Tort Reform. The costs to our healthcare system secondary to the practice of defensive medicine are over $100 billion annually, or $2,000 per family.


•Insurance Reform. Guarantee insurability due to pre-existing illness. Eliminate Insurance company antitrust exemption.


So what is wrong with a little common sense?

I'm also putting in a link to an article entitled Obamacare and Me, written by a physician who has practiced medicine here in Atlanta for many years.  In it he reflects on his experiences with Medicare and Medicaid and gives his thoughts on what the new healthcare plan would mean for Americans.  I think it's well written.  And I think most physicians would agree with these comments.


Later,
Carol