Contributor/Author: George R. Watson, D.O., http://www.aapsonline.org/
Retired Dr. Bill Roy proved again why he is a former Congressman from Kansas in a recent op-ed “GOP Solutions for Health Care Are Fairy Tales”.
The correct statement is, “Both Democrat and Republican solutions for health care are fairy tales.” They are fairy tales, and they are all un-Constitutional.
As would-be reformers generally do, Roy tells an emotional story. His example is an 11-year-old girl in Tarzana, California, with a bill for $4,852 for an emergency room visit for a stomach ache.
Roy laments, “This young lady’s dad had lost his job at a movie studio. Desperate for some coverage, he chose to buy about all the health insurance he could afford, a $5,000 deductible policy.”
Then Roy reports, “But the doctor ordered all kinds of diagnostic blood work at all kinds of unrevealed prices.”
Roy says, “There’s plenty to learn about this experience.” He says, “We’re overcharged, over-diagnosed, and over-treated.” He adds, “The free market absolutely doesn’t work in medical care.” And he concludes, “Finally, we cannot run a system built on private, for-profit health insurers with billionaire CEOs.”
And then Roy asks, “How long are movement conservatives going to insist on rationing health care by costs, while thousands die?”
Let’s start with Roy’s absurd statement, “The free market absolutely doesn’t work in medical care.” The fact is, the free market has not had a chance to work in medical care, because of the crooked, nit-wit schemes of politicians that think the way Roy does. If the parents had taken the little girl to a private physician (one who contracts directly with the patient and has no insurance or government contracts), the bill could have been $45 for lab work, $400 for an abdominal CT scan, and $75 for the office visit—payable by cash, check, or credit, the same way people pay for their cell phones, car payments, and car insurance payments.
Dr. Roy is correct in stating that in medicine we do have “all kinds of unrevealed prices.” That’s because of hospitals contracting with insurance companies and government—as a result of previous legislation. For example, the McCarran-Ferguson Act of 1946 exempts the business of insurance from anti-trust legislation. Lyndon Johnson’s fairy-tale Great Society legislation of 1965 poured trillions of dollars into “fighting poverty,” as through Medicaid, which also results in hospitals shifting costs to private patients like this little girl. Then there was Nixon’s HMO Act of 1974, requiring employers to offer plans that feature secret agreements with “providers.”
A simple solution would be to require insurance companies to list what they will pay for certain procedures. Then the hospitals and doctors can charge fair prices. If Roy thinks patients can’t make decisions for themselves, he probably thinks they can’t read the menu in a restaurant, or they can’t decide which of the latest cell phones they want or need.
Roy’s lament, “this young lady’s dad had lost his job (and insurance)” is another consequence of congressional malpractice, the fraudulently named Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). If the liars had written the law to do what the name implies, the girl’s father could still have had his insurance from employment, because he would have owned it, just like he owns his car and homeowner’s insurance.
Roy’s question, “How long are movement conservatives going to insist on rationing health care by costs, while thousands die?” betrays the fact that he has not read the fraudulently named Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), under which an appointed board would ration health care by costs (Quality Adjusted Remaining Years–QuARY). This Act has no patient protection, and everyone knows it is not affordable. The Congressional Budget Office now estimates that it will cost $1.76 trillion, and Sen. Jeff Sessions says he has found $17 trillion in long-term costs.
The real questions are, “Who should determine the prices—the free market, or government bureaucrats and their cronies?” and “Who should decide what care a patient should have—the patient and her family, or the PPACA rationing board?”
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http://www.aapsonline.org/
AAPS was founded in 1943 to fight against a government takeover of medicine.
About the author/contributor:
Dr Watson, Former President of the Association of American Physicians, practiced traditional-insurance-based osteopathic family medicine for 23 years. In 2003, he canceled all insurance contracts and OPTED OUT of Medicare. He continues to work 100% for the patients–not the insurance companies. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the AAPS since 2006. Dr. Watson is an outspoken advocate for the practice of private medicine, the patient-doctor direct model. He has been interviewed by Fox News Channel and multiple networks. Dr. Watson has spoken at numerous Tea Parties and has recently testified in State of Kansas Senate hearings on amendments to the state constitution to reaffirm the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and an amendment to affirm Health Care Freedom for all Kansans. Additional information on Dr. Watson: Before medical school, George Watson, D.O., was an Air Force officer winning the Husik Trophy in Navigator Training and Air Medal with oak leaf clusters for combat missions in Vietnam in the F-4 Phantom. During medical school, at Kansas City University of Medicine and Biosciences, he completed the Air Force Flight Surgeons Course with honors, later serving in the 184th Fighter Group in F-16′s.
Quote from Dr. Watson: Dr. Leo Alexander wrote, “Science under dictatorship becomes subordinated to the guiding philosophy of the dictatorship.” No statement better describes Government Run Healthcare, and every doctor who will defend his/her patients should read “Medical Science Under Dictatorship” to understand just how close we are to dictatorship. Then each doctor can OPT OUT of Medicare and fight as a free man, or wait and struggle against his/her chains of captivity.
Additional links:
The Doctor’s Story: How Obamacare is hurting the patient-physician relationship: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5R5f5JhgfcM
AAPS lawsuit covered on national TV: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQcFk4ygC_A
Patient’s Bill Of Rights: http://www.aapsonline.org/index.php/patient_bill_of_rights/
Two Years of ObamaCare False Promises, Worse Harm to Come: http://www.aapsonline.org/index.php/site/article/two_years_of_obamacare_false_promises_worse_harm_to_come/