STATUS REPORT – NEW HEALTH CARE PLAN

I would not wish this story on anyone, including my ex-wife. It needs to be told because it portends the future for all of us.

This is the story, in a nutshell. It began with something that looked like insect bites, except that the bites expanded into splotches of red, itchy, dry skin. She went to the doctor, who ordered blood tests and scheduled another appointment; she was diagnosed with allergies, given Benadryl and sent home. The splotches continued to grow, itch and now burn. She was beginning to have difficulty sleeping at night. She went back to the doctor, who ordered more tests and had her come back, when she was referred to a dermatologist.

On the first visit, the dermatologist ordered blood tests and had her come back, whereupon the derm told her she had eczema and put her on medications; the meds caused nausea and did nothing for the burning, itching red splotches that were now all over her body. There were several visits to the derm, changing and adjusting medications.

Finally, almost three months down the road from the initial onset, she was in so much pain and lack of sleep that she tried to see a different dermatologist who was “too busy to see her for two months.” So, she went to a different general practitioner who ordered blood tests and had her come back. Upon return, the practitioner referred her to the new dermatologist and she had an appointment the very next day. The new dermatologist took one look at her and said, “Lady, you have the worst and most advanced case of psoriasis I have ever seen.”

So, what is to be learned from this story?

Doctors who accept Medicare patients get paid less money per patient visit, so they limit the time they spend with each such patient and have them make repeated, and usually unnecessary, office visits so they can bill more. They also order lab work, often from firms they own or have a cooperative interest in with other doctors.

With the declining Medicare payments to doctors, good doctors are refusing to accept Medicare patients, opting for more lucrative health insurance payments or cash. Some doctors will accept some Medicare patients, but only as a small portion of their patient load. Astute patients seek good doctors and gravitate to those who are no longer treating Medicare patients so they can more easily get an appointment.

In turn, less qualified providers lose patients who have the health insurance or cash, so they end up being the providers who predominantly see and treat Medicare or Medicaid patients. You and I as taxpayers, however, are getting soaked the same amount for that patient’s care regardless of whether they see a good doctor or a bad doctor. Finally, the patient pays the ultimate penalty of treatments being delayed while the doctors go through the multiple visit routine, and they are often mistreated or misdiagnosed.

This is what our new Health Care plan has brought upon us so far, and we’re just getting started:

• Worse care

• No change in malpractice

• Increased costs

There needs to be continued investigative reporting on the progress of the new healthcare plan as it progresses to be implemented. So far, it’s doing everything its opponents said it would.

That’s MY AMERICAN OPINION, respectfully submitted.