I have railed until I’m blue that we physicians could bring this nation to its’ knees in 6 hours. We won’t because the vast majority of us actually care about our patients and we’re not built that way. Having said that, I don’t think there is another way to re-establish our control of medical care. Industry, government and the bean counters have taken control; they will not give up without a fight. We always must choose the moral high ground; if we are honest and always keep our patients first, we can win the battle. We may not reap the benefits during our professional life, but more importantly, we can secure a better future in which our patients as well as we, can reap the benefits.

Peter Balsam, MD, Gastroenterology

The power of physician voices gets diluted when we divide the issues that negatively impact physicians’ practices and lives, e.g. EMR, burnout issues, etc. and general societal issues that have anything to do with Americans health, e.g. gun control, climate change, video game overuse, etc.
Most unions or organizations focus on the wellbeing of their members and not society as a whole. Physicians should organize for the issues that impact physicians, and leave the other issues out of it for now. Physicians have been disempowered, and need to strengthen their role as thought leaders and decision makers on medical issues. Only then will our opinions on societal issues matter more significantly.

James Tobin, MD, Anesthesiology: See HealthPlanUSA Review for July for the answer:

Reply: The Health Plan for the USA is the answer to the above problem:
The person insured has to experience a portion of all costs.

Whole Foods has begun to implement this type of high deductible health Plan: HDHP

BASIC COVERAGE

Key features of Whole Foods’ “consumer driven” health-care plan: CDHP

The Health Plan for the USA (HPUSA) has to neutralize the insurance/hospital/medical complex by not being party to any of its stakeholders.

HPUSA uses a deductible equal to the average basic healthcare cost for each decade of life which is the uninsurable portion. All additional coverage has a scalable copay to keep the patient in charge. This is the best instruction to resolve the afore mentioned problem.

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Medical Gluttony thrives in Government and Health Insurance Programs.

It Disappears with Appropriate Deductibles and Co-payments on Every Service.

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