By Nicholas Anton, M.D.
Letters, The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.), Jan. 4, 2011
The Ryan-Wyden proposal to fix Medicare, which your editorial supported as a “bipartisan” solution (“A bipartisan take on fixing Medicare,” Saturday), is far from the “good” that is the “enemy of the perfect.”
Competition in the health insurance market already exists for those less than 65 years old, and it has done nothing to lower costs. Private for-profit insurance companies do have “systemic inefficiencies” (15 percent to 20 percent overhead) “that contribute mightily to rising costs.” Those same insurance companies fought aggressively to keep the public option (read Medicare for those under 65) out of the Affordable Care Act knowing they couldn’t compete with it.
Fraud and abuse, high prices, payments for unnecessary and ineffective treatments and medical malpractice all contribute to rising costs. Only a single-payer system for all has the clout to address these issues while lowering costs and improving quality.
Senate Bill 810, currently working its way through the legislative process, would provide such a system for all Californians.
Dr. Nicholas Anton resides in Santa Rosa.
http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20120104/OPINION/120109829