After reading Mr. Gerard's Nov. 7 News views in which he espoused the same old Republican talking points of tort reform and health savings accounts, I have a few questions for him.
How much does he think one of his legs is worth? How about an arm, eyesight or motor skills? How much is the life of one of his children worth? What if that child suffered for years, but the suffering was met with malign indifference, neglect and malfeasance by the doctor? What if said malfeasance resulted in the child's death? While monetary value cannot be placed on these things, shouldn't doctors bear some responsibility for the suffering and misery they create?
When Otis Bowen was governor of Indiana in the '70s, he enacted stringent malpractice caps and created medical review panels to review all malpractice claims. Otis Bowen was by profession, a doctor. His malpractice reform was intended to protect his fellow MDs, which it did quite successfully. Yet health insurance costs and medical costs continue to skyrocket in Indiana as they have everywhere else.
In 2003, Texas enacted severe limits on medical malpractice claims, yet the following year insurers asked for higher rates, as a percentage of national healthcare expenditures malpractice costs are at an all-time low of 0.55 percent.
Health savings accounts are workable only for a small percentage of the population. People working from paycheck to paycheck as many people are these days, do not have sufficient funds to pay the very large deductibles these policies require. In addition, these policies do nothing to address the issue of pre-existing conditions.
But not to worry, Mr. Gerard, the special interests will once again reign supreme. As CNN reported Nov. 9, lobbyists paid house members on average just under half a million each. Senators on the other hand are raking in three times that much. Rest assured our own Senator "Wellpoint", Evan Bayh, stands at the ready to defeat this bill, thus insuring his wife's $2 million seat on the board of directors of Wellpoint. The only way the house bill stands a chance is for President Obama and Harry Reid to man up and force this through budget reconciliation. Otherwise, the status quo will be maintained. The insurance companies will continue their gang rape of American citizens and businesses, people will continue to die and families will continue to be bankrupted by exorbitant medical costs.
I can agree with Mr. Gerard on the massive size and scope of the House bill. Two thousand pages is 1,999 too many. All that is needed is one page containing one sentence: Medicare for all.
