Opinion

Physicians should be more realistic on national health insurance -- they have already experienced Medicare

LETTER — Posted May 19, 2008

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Regarding "More physicians backing national coverage -- study" (Article, April 21): The majority of physicians are in favor of some form of national health insurance and yet, in an article on the same page, physicians are marching on Washington, D.C., to press lawmakers to stop Medicare pay cuts? It is fitting these two articles are adjacent to one another because the irony is incredible.

Obviously, our current medical system is a broken, fragmented mess where massive insurance company profits trump patient care and physicians are becoming increasingly disenchanted and miserable in their jobs and have less and less autonomy. Tell me how more government involvement will improve this situation for you or your patients.

I have not heard one good solution to our current national health care crisis, but those who believe national health insurance is a good thing are sadly mistaken. We already have a form of national health insurance on a small scale -- it's called Medicare.

And by the looks of those physicians marching in Washington, it's not working so well right now.

Joseph Badolato, DO, Ridgefield, Wash.

Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2008/05/19/edlt0519.htm.

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