By Ada M. Fisher, MD

The Health Reform bills being debated before Congress is largely about who pays the bill and mistakenly equates access with insurance. Even those with good insurance know if you call for an appointment you may have to wait weeks to be seen so why do folks think adding more to the waiting list is somehow going to insure access?

The debate really isn’t about nationalized health care for in many respects we have some forms of it with Medicaid, Medicare and Veterans Affairs Health Care. What Congress is proposing no matter what folks are being told is socialized medicine in a larger sense. Those nations which have some form of it such as Russia, Canada or Cuba still have a separate accommodation for those with money. When their systems don’t work, ask large distinguished teaching hospitals in the USA about the number of foreigners who come for specialized care including organ transplants while citizens, who paid the taxes which largely fund these facilities, are pushed to the back of the line.

Health care shouldn’t be paid for by burdening those who played by the rules and became economically successful as we are demanding of the rich. Why would anyone want to make money or become successful in this country if they are going to have to pay for everything for everyone else when in simply being mediocre they could get it for free?

I’d like to see the legislators who are lawyers require of their legal colleagues the delivery of free services as we now are requiring from the health professions. While at it, please allow legal assistants to practice law without the case load or malpractice liability physicians face. And finally ask that lawyers stand by and willingly allow their profession to become nationalized with a universal payer and fixed fees of say $50 per hour regardless of the time put into a case. That is what is being asked of health professionals who often owe hundreds of thousands of dollars for student loans and malpractice cost which aren’t being relieved or reimburse by a nationalized system though we are asking them to bear responsibility as our last gatekeepers of quality care.

Americans needs to get real and wake up!?! Increasing the nationalization of health care threatens the elimination of personal and medical privacy as well as disruptions to quality care. This health care reform legislation is a boon for the insurance industries, a guarantee of payments to pharmaceutical companies, an economic killer to physicians in private practice who are wont to complain publicly for fear of being considered money grubbers and devoid of any patient responsibility for compliance in both cost co-pays based on a sliding scale as well as following recommendations to continue receiving treatments.

Michael Moore, asked the wrong questions in his expose of medicine while in Cuba for he didn’t ask what innovations to improve the lives of its citizens it had made, what programs for the disabled and their compensation was available, what research into genetic diseases and conditions which are rare they are doing, and all of those other things we do better than any other nation. If you don’t believe me, examine the roster of the Nobel prizes in science and medicine. This nation has been going for the gold in these fields and unfortunately lagging behind in most others as our children become entranced with style over substance in their choices for career options.

The HMOs—Health Maintenance Organizations have experience which shows that trying to control cost has not always worked as planned. The Romney Massachusetts Health Care Coverage for all citizens met the first criteria of coverage but now threatens to bankrupt that state with its strangling cost. While the big elephants in the room worker’s compensation, mental illness, elderly assisted living, retiree care, Medicare and Medicaid health payments and other burgeoning needs which will overwhelm the system aren’t even being addressed. Doctors, Nurses and other Health Providers must have the say in their relationship with their patients not third party payers, the government or hospital plan administrators. The Public Health System should be shored up as the entry level to care since each of this nation’s 3,145 counties have one and this simple move will not only allow access while putting the focus on preventative care.

Before attempts at muzzling its facts were undertaken, even the Congressional Budget Office noted the Health Reform Act will insure neither access nor affordability, just long lines with delays and diluted offerings. America Wake Up! Don’t let Congress further socialize medicine thereby giving us its proposed poor substitutes which negatively impact your choices.

[DrAdaMFisher.org has some innovative changes listed which will better serve all Americans. Go to it and insist that.]

DR. ADA M. FISHER IS A PHYSICIAN, LICENSED TEACHER FOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE, PREVIOUSLY ELECTED SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER, AND THE NC REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEEWMAN. CONTACT HER AT P. O. BOX 777; SALISBURY, NC 28145; TELEPHONE (704)223-2321; DRFISHER@DRADAMFISHER.ORG