I’ve always held physicians in high regard (despite a few unpleasant experiences.) They spend years of their lives and enormous sums of money to earn the title of Doctor. They save lives, and the good ones improve our quality of living.
Lately it seems physicians are not supposed to hold any prestige in American society. They are only here to serve the greater good and if they have declining profits, so be it. Americans need cheaper health care and physicians should supply it. Union plumbers are more prestigious in America today than doctors. (Not that I have anything against plumbers, but I’ll save the union monopolies for another day.)
Dr. Mark Sklar wrote an open letter to President Obama which was published in the Wall Street Journal. It seems he feels the need to defend himself for practicing medicine in the United States of America. (Emphasis mine)
Another major issue is reimbursement. You may find this hard to believe, but when I first started practicing medicine in 1990 I received more payment for an office visit than I am currently receiving. This has occurred despite the increasing cost of practicing medicine, which is the result of rising malpractice premiums, rents, staff salaries, professional membership fees, license fees, and costs needed to comply with various new regulations. What other profession has experienced a reduction in reimbursement over the last 20 years?
I feel strongly that if doctors are reimbursed more for office visits, they will spend more time with patients. This will lead to fewer referrals by primary-care physicians and result in lower health-care expenditures. Currently, harried primary-care physicians don’t have the time to delve into medical problems with a hint of complexity. So patients who could be dealt with if more time was available are referred to specialists or expensive radiology studies.
I have heard that physicians may be mandated to participate in a government-run health plan. I sincerely hope that this is not true. First of all, it sounds unconstitutional. As free individuals and citizens of this country, physicians should not be forced to participate in any plan. We have paid for our professional training and worked hard to distinguish ourselves. We owe no debt to the government. If you want physicians to participate in your plan, give them the right incentives and they will flock toward your program.
The constitutional question: not many people are talking about that. Is government run health care constitutional? I guess the courts will have to decide that. Perhaps a wise Latina woman will help sway the decision.
Dr. Sklar goes on to describe the virtues of small medical practices. As a customer of a small medical practice I agree whole heartedly. Prior to finding our small town family physician my husband and I were patients at a large primary care office while our children went to a large pediatrics office. Let’s just say we’re all much healthier now. And when we do need to seek medical care we don’t wait one to two hours for our scheduled appointments.
Dr. Sklar has a simple prescription for health care reform.
I believe that in order to reduce costs, we must give the public incentives for preventing chronic disease, increase the reimbursement for office visits, and implement medical malpractice tort reform. With these changes, I am certain that we can provide more adequate insurance coverage for all.
And I might add that as a society we really should give good physicians the respect they deserve. They’ve earned it. And didn’t we outlaw slavery in the United States of America?
