A Physician Rants in Favor of Health Care Reform

Ed Uthman, MD, has been a practicing physician for 32 years and has worked in the health care field for 41 years, starting at age 16 as a nursing assistant in a 30-bed hospital. He is currently in private practice in Houston but previously worked in academic medicine. He is past-president of the Houston Society of Clinical Pathologists and has served as Deputy State Commissioner for Inspection and Accreditation of the College of American Pathologists. He holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Rhodes College and an MD degree from the University of Tennessee, Memphis. He is the author of the book, _Understanding Anemia_ (University Press of Mississippi, 1998).

ADDENDUM

By way of follow-up, the case of the 30-something woman I mentioned in the video turns out to be even worse than I suspected at the time. Further workup shows this tumor to be a sarcomatoid carcinoma of the gallbladder, which has invaded into her liver. Even if she got chemo and radiation now, any relief would be temporary; eventually the tumor would get her.

HOWEVER, I spoke with her primary care physician yesterday, and he told me he saw her two years ago and made a diagnosis of gallstones. She was a candidate to have her gallbladder removed at the time, but the public hospital who is contracted to care for our county's poor had no beds, so she was not accepted. She continued to suffer with her pains until last week, when she came to my hospital with the cancer. Had her gallbladder been removed in 2007, it is likely that it would have been before the cancer developed in the gallbladder,and she would be completely healthy today.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• healthcare
• health care
• reform
• doctor
• physician
• politics
• medicine
• rationing
• end of life
• insurance

[GBS990]

If you are not paying the bill, you are not listened to. Oh, like the German government was efficient. You really think anyone would talk about death panels while selling this tripe? It's called free enterprise, and one can get insurance for pre-existing conditions, really, check it out. If it's free, it's going to be rationed. If you pay for it, surprise, you get to go first! Stop being an Obama shill.

[euthman]

@GBS990 My point is that care is already rationed. Single payer would allow care to be rationed rationally, replacing the chaotic grab bag we have with the status quo.

[animateclay]

This doctor is actually pointing out why the overhead costs in government compliance drive up costs when you think about it. The government also makes it illegal for him to charge less than the government tells him he can charge under medicare rules - keeping costs high. Government also dis-allows insurance companies to compete across state lines - keeping costs high. What I think is it's better to go to the root causes and solve those problems and not just the symptoms.

[euthman]

I agree that regulation in any area of commerce will increase the price of the product due to expense generated by compliance. OTOH, how many people would be comfortable with a completely unregulated health care industry, where there would be no require for physicians to be licensed, or go to medical school for that matter? From a personal standpoint, I find some of the regulations necessary and reasonable, others burdensome and counterproductive. It's a mixed bag.

[animateclay]

I think that's definitely true. There are regulations for consumer protections which are good. Have you seen Qliance of Seattle? They remove government and insurance as payment options and charge very low monthly fees - like a gym membership to patients. They still are required to be licensed, but without the over-head costs, patients get better care and doctors pocket more of the profits for growth. I think a little business sense can go a long way in repairing the problems.

[euthman]

I looked over the Qliance Web site, and I think it would be a reasonable option for a young, healthy family who needs medical care rarely (such as a kid with earache or sore throat). Anyone with a chronic illness would be left high-and-dry, however, because the membership fee does not cover lab, imaging, or specialist services, nor does Qliance provide an attending physician if you require admission to a hospital. Still, I guess it's better than nothing.

[HarveyRex23]

I heard President Obama may consider dropping the "public option" in the health care reform bill. If that's the case, that's going to make it very difficult for me to vote for him again in 2012. I can't believe the President is going to play all this bipartisan crap with the Republicans.

[crazycoolone]

Thank you for posting this 9 months ago.

I think you may have been one of the doctors that showed up in Washington DC to rally for the health care bill.

Now it's law & YOU made a difference, doctor!!!

THANK YOU for your Passion for your patients.

[bksrocks]

Glad to hear someone with some actual knowledge

[jevettamd]

Just saw your video from Huffington Post. Thanks for telling the truth. I too am a physician and have seen this scenario myself. Thank goodness Obama, and Pelosi are in charge and just go the Health Care Reform bill passed. I hope it rectifies the problems you addressed and we see on a daily basis. Jeve

[hadenufnow]

THE current bill is not the answer ,,,does not address proper Tort Reform, "undocumented" access for expensive non-life threatening HC , & does not provide MOST IMPORTANTLY an OPT OUT Provision for those that believe it is still too bloated with waste & inefficiencies resulting in inflated premiums not in keeping with services provided.

....A mandate stuffed inside a trojan horse bill for HC is a skunk in the road...too stupid to debate...

REPEAL the BIll nobody ever wanted

[Jamesmandana]

Thanks for posting this! Very insightful and refreshing. There's so much misinformation out there it makes me sick... good thing I just got health insurance! I had to apply three times and jump through hoops to finally get it. Apparently, a prescription that I get once every year or two for flying on airplanes = a pre-existing condition. All that trouble for a low price of $117 a month. Like you said, they're opportunists and my life is just a business to these insurance companies.

[Zuul030]

John Mayer = Win