Some 'letters to the editor' on the healthcare issue in the Times. I especially liked the one about 'I have been taking pay cuts so the docs can do their share', as it is what I have been saying here.
Letters
The Fight Over Health Care in America
Published: June 16, 2009
To the Editor:
Lewis Scott
Re “Obama Advances His Case; Health Bill’s Cost Challenged” (front page, June 16):
In his speech to the American Medical Association on Monday, President Obama declined to address unrestrained and out-of-control malpractice awards, which are a root cause of the high cost of medical care. Because of unrestricted potential liability, many physicians, caught in the squeeze between rising malpractice insurance premiums and declining reimbursements, will eventually be forced out of practice.
All Americans may soon have medical insurance under Mr. Obama’s plan, but there will be fewer physicians left to provide service. Without access to care, of what use is universal coverage?
Eric Flisser
New York, June 16, 2009
The writer is a medical doctor.
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To the Editor:
Re “Doctors and the Cost of Care” (editorial, June 14):
Will an entreaty from Barack Obama at an American Medical Association meeting really deter those physicians who are intentionally performing unnecessary tests and treatment? Surely a better approach is to take the profit out of such conduct, and to punish the offenders.
Medicare and other insurers should hone their ability to detect claims for unnecessary services, and withhold payment on such claims. Each of the physician-licensing jurisdictions — the 50 states — should institute disciplinary proceedings when appropriate.
Denying claims for unnecessary medical services, and suspending or revoking the licenses of those rendering unnecessary services, will do a lot more to induce physicians to “rein themselves in” than a “pretty please” from the president.
Michael Gary Hilf
Forest Hills, Queens, June 14, 2009
The writer, a lawyer, is chairman of the Committee on Professional Discipline, New York County Lawyers’ Association.
•
To the Editor:
We agree that our nation’s health care system, which rewards physicians for the volume of services and not quality of care, fails to promote best practices for physicians. And while we also agree that to reform the health care system physicians must be brought into the process, we are disappointed by your implication that the American Medical Association speaks for the majority of physicians. It does not.
Less than 20 percent of practicing American physicians are members of the A.M.A., and most members are not engaged in the organization’s political activities. At the same time, there are numerous other physician organizations and specialty societies, including our own, Doctors for America, that support health care reform that will provide access to affordable health care, eliminate unnecessary testing and reward quality care. There are thousands of physicians who do not need to be persuaded by the president — because we already agree with him.
Rahul Rajkumar
Nikhil Wagle
Boston, June 14, 2009
•
To the Editor:
In the United States we sell medical services the way we sell automobile repairs. Your mechanic makes a living from the valve job, not from the discussion about whether or not it will make your car run better. And the insurance payment your doctor will get from a helpful discussion about how you can stay healthy probably doesn’t cover office expenses.
Right now, your doctor will make more money from looking at your EKG strip than from talking with you. We need to rethink our insurance reimbursement paradigm and start paying doctors for the time they spend with patients.
Until physicians can count on being fairly compensated for listening, questioning and reacting to signs presented in a physical examination or a discussion of healthy lifestyle choices, they’re going to keep ordering expensive — but profitable — tests and procedures, contributing to a high-cost medical system.
Laura Weil
Director, Health Advocacy Program
Sarah Lawrence College
Bronxville, N.Y., June 14, 2009
•
To the Editor:
Certainly there are greedy doctors out there who are cheating the system unnecessarily, but for so many other doctors the drive is to simply break even. Most physicians start off their careers after years of barely more than indentured servitude, working for sub-minimum wage during their residencies, only to emerge with hundreds of thousands of dollars of debt.
By the time this debt is paid, the doctor is already in his or her 40s, paying high overhead costs and looking ahead to save for retirement. Perhaps instead of just blaming doctors, finding a way to help ease this enormous financial burden would curtail the drive many young doctors feel to earn as much as possible just to keep their heads above water.
Nai Mei Yao
Morristown, N.J., June 14, 2009
The writer is a medical doctor.
•
To the Editor:
Re “Follow the Money” (Week in Review, June 14): As the American Medical Association meets this week in Chicago, members are talking about the risks of health care reform to their profession and their way of life. They fear that if a government plan proposed by President Obama joins the marketplace of private plans insuring working people, the plan will pay doctors at the same rate of Medicare — 80 percent of what private plans pay, according to Robert Laszewski, a health policy consultant.
Well, I have received a pay cut each of the past six years as the costs of my employer-provided health plan have increased. Rising premiums, deductibles and co-payments are part of my pay cut.
So, I respectfully ask doctors as they consider their well-being to remember the millions of their patients who have been losing ground for years.
Judith Cebula
Indianapolis, June 15, 2009
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To the Editor:
A modest proposal to all our representatives in Congress: (1) Withdraw from your present “socialized” medical coverage and apply for a private insurance plan of your choice, or (2) Allow the rest of us Americans to have the same benefits you enjoy — taxpayer-financed public health care.
Vic Ulmer
Saratoga, Calif., June 15, 2009
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