Save American Medicine and Save Your Own Life

American Thinker ^ | July 31, 2012 | Zane F Pollard MD

[neverdem]

I have long been quietly watching this health care debate in our country from the sidelines. Once again, I feel compelled to get in the mix and explain the viewpoint of a physician working on the inside and dealing with the frustrations of governmental medicine.

Approximately 48% of all children in the state of Georgia under the age of 16 are on Medicaid. As a pediatric ophthalmologist practicing in Atlanta, I see quite a number of Medicaid patients each day.

In the past two years, I saw two Medicaid patients under the age of one, both of whom presented with Horner's Syndrome of the left eye. This syndrome is characterized by a droopy eyelid with a small pupil as compared to the uninvolved eye. People come to the ophthalmologist thinking something is wrong specifically with the eye. Actually, this syndrome is often associated with Neuroblastoma, a malignant tumor which involves the paravertebral sympathetic nervous system chain.

As a pediatric ophthalmologist, I know that this tumor can occur in the chest or the neck. So I ordered a CAT scan of the chest and the neck. Both times, I was told that the Medicaid protocol permits only a CAT scan of the chest. It took me over an hour and a half to get permission for the CAT scan of both the chest and the neck.

The CAT scan of the chest was normal in both children, but the CAT scan of the neck revealed a tumor which, in both cases, turned out to be a malignant Neuroblastoma. Both children are doing well because the cancer was treatable, having been diagnosed at an early stage. It is very scary to think what would have happened if I had accepted the Medicaid protocol to obtain a CAT scan only of the chest...

[Paladin2]

“The bite of a coral snake may soon become increasingly more dangerous, ironically because of the relatively few bites each year. Production of coral snake antivenom in the United States has ceased because it is not profitable.”

[goodnesswins]

Just sent to my email list....hoping to wake some up...

[Kevmo]

I think the AMA is to blame. They keep medicine expensive, controlling a very small number of people who are allowed to become doctors.

There are something like 5X more people who want to be doctors than who are allowed into medical degree programs. What’s needed is 3X or 4X the number of medical colleges.

It’s simple supply & demand — they control the supply and the demand keeps getting bigger.

[Soul of the South]

More often than not when I visit the family practice I’ve used for decades I am treated by phyisician’s assistant. Nurse practitioners are also becoming much more common as providers of routine medical care. HHS Secretary Sebellius just announced a program to increase the number of nurse practitioners. The day is coming when the urban elites will see physicians and the country class will rarely see a doctor.

[exDemMom]

In the past three years, the situation has not gotten better for the patients covered by government health insurance. I shudder to think what will come with more government control and more people under the Medicaid health program.

I thought it was the goal for everyone to have the same level of care as those on Medicaid.

When I was a child, my family was on Medi-Cal (CA version of Medicaid). I recall that it was often hard to find a doctor, since so many did not want the hassle of dealing with the government program.

[1010RD]

State licensing is the biggest problem. Reciprocity between states doesn’t or rarely exists. Doctors with years of experience from elsewhere cannot just set up shop in another state. That restraint of trade is one issue.

The biggest problem is the use of insurance as payment in general as opposed to catastrophic situations. A liberal was just telling me that her deductible is now so high she cannot go to the doctor for a flu or a cold anymore.

The AMA is a racket pushing the liberal agenda. They’ve got a hand in the mess for certain, but moreso as a propaganda arm than an actual gate keeper.

[1010RD]

Here's the crux of the problem:

Each of us, as a patient, trusts his physician to do the best humanly possible for him. We trust our doctors to change their minds to give what they feel is the best treatment at the time of delivery. How can anyone go to a doctor and trust him or her to do the best for us if the doctor knows that by changing the plan, he or she might be penalized?

Socialism isn't about trusting people. It's exactly the opposite. That's why it is so dangerous.