Health care changes sought
Majority of doctors want federal government to pay costs of medical treatment
By CATHLEEN F. CROWLEY, Staff writer
Albany Times Union
First published: Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Tired of seeing families go broke under the pressure of medical bills and fed up with insurance companies interfering in medical care, doctors say it’s time for a nationwide health insurance system.
A majority of doctors now think the federal government should pay for health care, according to a study in Tuesday’s Annals of Internal Medicine. Doctors and student doctors at Albany Medical College held a news conference on Tuesday to draw attention to the study and show support for a single-payer system.
Dr. Paul Sorum, an Albany Medical College professor of
medicine and pediatrics, speaks Tuesday, April 1, about a
study showing 59 percent of doctors favor a single-payer
national health care system. (Paul Buckowski / Times Union)
The number of doctors supporting a single-payer system today jumped significantly from the last time physicians were surveyed in 2002, according to the study. “They see how our fragmented and for-profit health care system no longer serves the interest of patients, medical professional or employers,” said Jessin Blossom, a third-year medical student and student leader of Physicians for a National Health Program.
The number of uninsured in the United States is 47 million and many others are under-insured, according to recent Census data. More than half of all personal bankruptcies are caused in some part by medical expenses, according to a 2005 Harvard study.
Under a single-payer system, the government pays for all health care and everyone is covered.
The Annals of Internal Medicine study, conducted by two doctors at the Indiana University School of Medicine, found that 59 percent of doctors supported a single-payer system, up from 40 percent in 2002. In the latest survey, 32 percent opposed it and 9 percent were neutral.
The study is based on survey responses from 2,193 doctors. The biggest supporters of a single-payer system are doctors in psychiatry, emergency medicine and pediatrics. The doctors who least supported it are radiologists, anesthesiologists and specialty surgeons.
“We are seeing families who have no health care for their children and no health care for themselves and going through the anguish of poor medical care,” said Dr. Jennifer Pearce, co-director of the Center for Childhood Cancer and Blood Disorders at Albany Med. “It’s not American. It’s not moral. And it’s not healthy.”
Pearce said she couldn’t think of a doctor at Albany Med who doesn’t support a single-payer system. The dozen doctors who attended Tuesday’s news conference said they believe a single-payer system will be cheaper, easier and provide better health care.
“About 30 percent of our time in medicine is spent in the forms, appeals and the paperwork involved with the thousands of different insurance plans,” Pearce said. “A lot of our time, effort and intelligence is wasted.”
Paul Sorum, a primary care doctor and chairman of the Capital District Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program, believes the government would be less intrusive than private insurers.
“There would be far less interference in the day-to-day decision making under a single-payer system rather that the private insurers who are increasingly reaching in to the examination room to decide what kind of care is best for you,” Sorum said.
The government would have rules, too, he said.
“But the rules would be simple, uniform, transparent,” he said. “They would be public and well-known.”
Cathleen F. Crowley can be reached at 454-5348, or by e-mail at ccrowley@timesunion.com.