By Dr. Carol Paris
South Maryland Newspapers
Friday, July 30, 2010
Today, July 30, marks the 45th birthday of the Medicare program. Since the passage of this landmark legislation in 1965, Medicare has substantially lowered poverty among the elderly in our country, reducing the dilemma of having to choose between buying needed health care or buying groceries. While the cost of health care keeps rising, the cost is rising more slowly for those on Medicare than for those with private health insurance.
Overall, our nation’s health care costs are rising 2.5 percent faster than our gross domestic product and are a leading cause of our financial deficit. The recent legislation, misleadingly titled the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, lacks proven cost controls and was predicted in April by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to cause U.S. health care costs to rise faster than if there had been no reform at all.
Yes, millions more Americans will leave the ranks of the uninsured, but only to join the ranks of the underinsured. In other words, they will be mandated to purchase health insurance products that are barely affordable and far from comprehensive. This, of course, protects the profits of the private health insurance industry.
Has anyone reading this letter had their health insurance premium go up this year? Their co-pays? Their deductibles?
Make no mistake, the private health insurance industry wrote the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, they spent millions lobbying Congress to get it passed according to their specifications, and now they even have an insider hired by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to write the regulations.
A recent physician survey by MedChi, the Maryland State Medical Society, revealed that nearly 77 percent of respondents considered moving their practice to another state, closing their practice, retiring early or converting to a fee-for-service only, in order to eliminate the costly and infuriating hassle of dealing with multiple insurance company protocols that get in the way of providing necessary medical care for their patients.
Patients aren’t satisfied. Providers aren’t satisfied. Insurance companies are very satisfied. And politicians’ campaign coffers are growing with their cut of the insurance companies’ profits.
When we, as a nation, decide to improve and strengthen our Medicare program and expand it to everyone living in the United States, we will achieve universal coverage, we will reduce the national debt, and we will improve the health and well-being of patients and providers alike. Happy birthday, Medicare.
If you would like to help accomplish this goal, please go to www.healthcare-now.org and join. We need your time, your donations and your votes.
The writer is a member of the Maryland Chapter of Physicians for a National Health Program.
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