A Step Toward A Single-Payer System

To the Editor:

The Health Reform Bill is the first stop for President Obama to establish a single-payer system down the road. “If you like your present insurance plan, you can keep it. If you like your doctor, you can keep him.” This is a smokescreen to reassure the public and gain support. This is a major objective for President Obama’s legacy. We have heard that this administration would be transparent. Yeah right! It is as transparent as seven layers of black paint on your windows.

If 45 million people are added to the health system, who is going to care for them? Presently there is a shortage of more than 100,000 primary care physicians and more than 250,000 registered nurses. Most physicians choose to enter specialized areas of medicine. Very few physicians are opting to enter primary care. It takes years for a physician to acquire knowledge and experience to become a proficient health care provider. If we don’t have enough doctors, are we going to recruit them from overseas.

Presently physicians are not constrained by government regulations. Would this be true with a new health bill. A federal board in Washington, D.C., would decide what the standard treatment for your health problem would be, ignoring your individual needs. This amounts to “one size fits all.” This board would determine what treatments would be allowed and what would be exempt.

On July 24, 2009, Sean Hannity presented a program titled “Universal Rx Nightmare.” One segment was an eye-opener. On June 24, 2007, the K-KI program was implemented in Hawaii. This program was designed to provide health care to 3,500 “gap” children, who lacked health coverage. Funding for the program was equally shared by the state and HSMA (a private health provider). Cost to the parents was $7 per visit. What happened was parents with private health plans dropped their children from the policy and went to the public program. The governor, Linda Lingle, canceled the program after seven months due to increased financial burdens to the state. Why pay for insurance when you can get the service practically for free?

If the general public believes that a reformed health program is going to improve health care delivery and decrease cost, they are delusional. How can you improve delivery of health care when more people are added to the program with a limited number of providers to treat them? More demands will be placed on the health system. Common sense tells me that this will lead to rationing of care. A committee in Washington will decide what standards of care are. Everyone is not going to get every treatment they may need.

Change is needed but it should be directed to the problem areas and not transforming the whole system for 85 percent of the American people to meet the needs of 15 percent.

Joan Slaughter

133 Currituck Road, Newtown                                   August 21, 2009