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A Point of Mass Confusion
I believe this whole health-care proposal has reached a point of mass confusion. I can't be the only person who is mystified by this circus. Every side of the issue--and it's many-sided--spouts its beliefs and convictions along with a bucket full of statistics to support its position.
The President's speech to the American Medical Association was that it reminded me of a courtship, or a seduction. I found his speech to be yet another political shell game to confuse the American public. Let's see, which walnut shell is hiding the real, tiny green pea? Just when you figure it out, the position will change and the chameleon nature of politics will say or do anything to get its agenda passed. For instance, "No, we aren't going to raise taxes on the middle class," is now, "Sorry, looks like we're going to have to get the money from you after all." There's also much talk about taxing the wealthy, "What the heck why shouldn't they share what they have with all the rest of us?" This does not sound like a sound capitalistic idea, at least not to me.
As a registered nurse of 30-plus years who is married to another RN, I'm confused as to the rush to get this particular legislation passed. In all my years of nursing I can only remember two incidents when a patient was turned away from an emergency room because of lack of insurance. Both of those incidents occurred when a county hospital was within a few miles. At other times, those without insurance were triaged just like everyone else and seen as soon as possible. My entire family works in the field of medicine and have all expressed concern about how this particular health giveaway is going to be funded. The answer is clearly "by us," as we carry a heavier burden of taxation on our backs.
Three particular aspects of the President's speech stood out in my mind:
1. His use of scare tactics and that old collective guilt that always seems to herald a trumpet call to all of us who are in the middle class. Let us all remember we live in America, the land of limitless opportunity to improve one's lot in life. I did it, my husband did it and my children all did it by going to college and also working part or full time while educating ourselves.
2. The President's total lack of understanding for what is really going on in doctor's offices throughout this country. I could share a list of good physicians who have left private practice because they could not afford the malpractice insurance. I also know, personally, of several good primary care physicians who no longer are in the business of delivering babies because of the insurance rates being totally prohibitive. If the President doesn't support capping malpractice awards and the amount lawyers can take from these companies on behalf of their clients, where is it to end?
3. His insistence on the fact that his public-option approach to providing insurance to all was not a Trojan horse for a single-payer system. He knows that too many of us value our free choice and don't want to take a chance on sliding into socialism. When visiting a friend in Finland a few years ago we were watching Russian television. Many of those Soviet citizens, shaken by Perestroyka, were hitting the streets to proclaim, "Who will take care of us now?" Even in Finland, their socialized medicine was not great. We took a brief tour of a Finnish hospital with its crowded wards and outdated equipment. Their income tax rates were 55% and those were for school teachers. When my friend's elderly mother became ill they had to call the doctor. I asked of her, "Does she have a good doctor?" My friend's reply, "I don't know the doctor in that district, I'm sure she's fine." Doctors are not faceless, interchangeable units. There are good ones and not so good ones. As a disabled person with many unusual problems, I always want to feel free to choose the best doctor I can find to treat me and my family.
By
Sue Falkner Wood
|
June 16, 2009; 11:24 AM ET
| Category:
Health Care Reform
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Posted by: tonieb | June 23, 2009 2:09 PM
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I'm sorry Sue, proof by ancedotes never works. Look at the bottom line public health statistics for Finland and compare them with ours. And they spend less than half what we spend per person.
As for malpractice, here are the facts:
1. The total of all malpractice insurance premiums amounts to 0.56% of health care costs.
2. The CBO has examined the idea of defensive medicine. They found no difference in practice between states with limits on tort settlements and those with no limits.
3. There is no correlation between the price of malpractice premiums and the amount given out in malpractice settlements.
4. The price of premiums does (anti) correlate with interests rates.
5. If you take all the money given out in malpractice settlements over $250,000 in NJ ( a state without caps) in a year and give it to physicians, each doctor would get $15.
The first four come from the book The Malpractice Myth by Peter Baker (U of Chicago Press) while I believe the last is from Uwe Reinhardt (sounds like him).
Thus the doctors are wrong on almost every count. Malpractice premiums are not a significant factor in health costs. Physicians order unnecessary tests and treatments even when there are draconian limits on lawsuits as in Texas. Caps would save us nothing. The price they pay for insurance has nothing to do with the large settlements given out, and the total amount of money involved in these settlements is trivial. What they believe is a fantasy.
Posted by: lensch | June 19, 2009 4:52 PM
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Sue:
I agree with you totally. Having worked in health care and been there when the malpractice insurances were going up and up and up, I have seen the after effects of it also.
Anyone who has health issues really needs to look deeply into all this to make sense of it. We have to see Doctors every month to every 3 months, to be monitored because of the diseases we have or the medicines we are on or both. If we get thrown from Dr to Dr, it is going to be like starting over every time you go. Not to mention the costs and waiting periods for getting in to see said Dr's.
Yes, sometimes Dr's order tests that may seem unnecessary, but mostly they are ruling out symptoms and diseases. If you have no idea how medicine works, you can get caught up in a lot of "research" done to get legislation as this passed. The good Dr's are hard to find and when you find one you don't want to loose them.
I wonder if Lensch who commented above, has ever seen a good Dr with a small private practice, who is not getting paid high premiums , go under because of the high overhead ? Sometimes communities loose their only Doctor because of this. Fantasy Land indeed !
Wonder if they have ever had a wreck or had a ticket and then seen the price of their auto insurance go up ? Every claim makes the premiums go higher just as it does for our personal insurances.
As of now, I am lucky, I can still work and my insurance is totally paid for by my employer. That could change at any time.
When I look at Medicare and Medicaid, and I hear my retired brother and sister talk about the treatments they would loose if there are the cuts that the President is talking about, treatments they need due to injuries and diabilities, it is unreal !
How are we going to take care of the ones we take care AWAY from ?