Dr. Flowers responds to President Obama's request to "let me know" about health insurance reform
Ali Thebert
Open Letter to President Obama on Health Care Reform
By Margaret Flowers, M.D.
Op-Ed News
January 28, 2010
President Barack Obama|
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear President Obama,
I was overjoyed to hear you say in your State of the Union address last
night:
"But if anyone from either party has a better approach that will bring
down premiums, bring down the deficit, cover the uninsured, strengthen
Medicare for seniors, and stop insurance company abuses, let me know."
My colleagues, fellow health advocates and I have been trying to meet
with you for over a year now because we have an approach which will meet
all of your goals and more.
I am a pediatrician who, like many of my primary care colleagues, left
practice because it is nearly impossible to deliver high quality health
care in this environment. I have been volunteering for Physicians for a
National Health Program ever since. For over a year now, I have been
working with the Leadership Conference for Guaranteed Health Care/
National Single Payer Alliance. This alliance represents over 20 million
people nationwide from doctors to nurses to labor, faith and community
groups who advocate on behalf of the majority of Americans, including
doctors, who favor a national Medicare-for-All health system.
I felt very optimistic when Congress took up health care reform last
January because I remember when you spoke to the Illinois AFL-CIO in
June, 2003 and said:
"I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care
program." (applause) "I see no reason why the United States of America,
the wealthiest country in the history of the world, spending 14 percent
of its Gross National Product on health care cannot provide basic health
insurance to everybody. And that's what Jim is talking about when he
says everybody in, nobody out. A single-payer health care plan, a
universal health care plan. And that's what I'd like to see. But as all
of you know, we may not get there immediately. Because first we have to
take back the White House, we have to take back the Senate, and we have
to take back the House."
And that is why I was so surprised when the voices of those who support
a national single-payer plan/Medicare for All were excluded in place of
the voices of the very health insurance and pharmaceutical industries
which profit off the current health care situation.
There was an opportunity this past year to create universal and
financially sustainable health care reform rather than expensive health
insurance reform. As you well know, the United States spends the most
per capita on health care in the world yet leaves millions of people out
and receives poor return on those health care dollars in terms of health
outcomes and efficiency. This poor value for our health care dollar is
due to the waste of having so many insurance companies. At least a third
of our health care dollars go towards activities that have nothing to do
with health care such as marketing, administration and high executive
salaries and bonuses. This represents over $400 billion per year which
could be used to pay for health care for all of those Americans who are
suffering and dying from preventable causes.
The good news is that it doesn't have to be this way. You said that you
wanted to "keep what works" and that would be Medicare. Medicare is an
American legacy of which we can feel proud. It has guaranteed health
security to all who have it. Medicare has lifted senior citizens out of
poverty. Health disparities, which are rising in this nation, begin to
disappear as soon as patients reach 65 years of age. And patients and
doctors prefer Medicare to private insurance. Why, our Medicare has even
been used as a model by other nations which have developed and
implemented universal health systems.
Mr. President, we wanted to meet with you because we have the solution
to health care reform. The United States has enough money already and we
have the resources, including esteemed experts in public health, health
policy and health financing. Our very own Dr. William Hsiao at Harvard
has designed health systems in five other countries.
I am asking you to meet with me because the solution is simple. Remove
all of the industries who profit off of the American health care
catastrophe from the table. Replace them with those who are
knowledgeable in designing health systems and who are without ties to
the for-profit medical industries. And then allow them to design an
improved Medicare-for-All national health system. We can implement it
within a year of designing such a system.
What are the benefits of doing this?
* It will save tens of thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of
American lives each year, not to mention the prevention of unnecessary
suffering.
* It will relieve families of medical debt, which is the number one
cause of bankruptcy and foreclosure despite the fact that most of those
who experienced bankruptcy had health insurance.
* It will relieve businesses of the growing burden of skyrocketing
health insurance premiums so that they can invest in innovation, hiring,
increased wages and other benefits and so they can compete in the global
market. For example, it is estimated to provide a major stimulus for the
U.S. economy by creating 2.6 million new jobs, and infusing $317 billion
in new business and public revenues, with another $100 billion in wages.
* It will control health care costs in a rational way through global
budgeting and negotiation for fair prices for pharmaceuticals and services.
* It will allow patients the freedom to choose wherever they want to go
for health care and will allow patients and their caregivers to
determine which care is best without denials by insurance administrators.
* It will restore the physician-patient relationship and bring
satisfaction back to the practice of medicine so that more doctors will
stay in or return to practice.
* It will allow our people in our nation to be healthy and productive
and able to support themselves and their families.
* It will create a legacy for your administration that may someday
elevate you to the same hero status as Tommy Douglas has in Canada.
Mr. President, there are more benefits, but I believe you get the point.
I look forward to meeting with you and am so pleased that you are open
to our ideas. The Medicare-for-All campaign is growing rapidly and is
ready to support you as we move forward on health care reform that will
provide America with one of the best health systems in the world. And
that is something of which all Americans can be proud.
With great anticipation and deep respect,
Margaret Flowers, M.D.
Maryland chapter, Physicians for a National Health Program
http://www.opednews.com/articles/There-is-Still-Time-For-Re-by-Margaret-Flowers--100127-703.html