Greedy doctors going on strike?
If I never heard the name Ayn Rand again it would be too damn soon. You may have heard of her, conservatives have taken her philosophy and made it their own.
These are "free marketeers" who build their economic belief system on a work of fiction. Well now there’s a group, (heck for all I know it may just be the guy that put the page up) that is calling for doctors to go on strike in order to “preserve, protect, and promote freedom in healthcare”.
You see, according to Dr. Gregory Garamoni the problem in healthcare is that Washington politicians are poised to inject a lethal dose of statism into the heart of our healthcare system”. Not the fact that millions of Americans have no choice in health care because they have to see who ever is working at the free clinic that day.
He clearly despises the president, calling him the “Quack-in-Chief” and more and doesn’t have much good to say about the Congress or the media.
Dr. Garamoni has written a Declaration of Independence for Doctors and is calling for other physicians to e-mail him in order to sign it (hmm). Of course, that declaration doesn’t seem to say anything about health, it's a lot more concerned about the right to negotiate fees. (When was the last time you went to the doctor and negotiated the cost of your visit?)
They’re also trying to prepare doctors to go on strike “if the President signs into law any legislation that establishes another government healthcare plan” in the hope that the mere threat of such a strike would rile up the seniors and "help seniors focus their attention on this life-or-death issue”. Great, let me make sure I've got this straight, you want to get doctors to threaten to strike so you can scare old people into calling their legislators and cowing them into screwing over their grandchildren.
Why am I telling you about this? A couple of reasons.
First, it is just a matter of time before Dr. Garamoni or another one just like him is on the radio and Fox News as a legitimate representative of the “opposition”. If you are in favor of a public option in health care you need to know what we are up against. Combine this kind of philosophy with the $66.5 million dollars that PhRMA, has spent in the first three months of 2009 and the 1,300 lobbyists on payroll and that can buy a lot of television time.
How do you compete against a war chest like that?
- By telling the truth and telling your stories.
- By talking not just to your House Members or Senators but to your grandparents and your co-workers and your friends.
- By helping people who have never been really sick understand that paying for cancer treatment (COPD, MS, or MD or any of the hundreds of others) is not the same as paying for a broken leg.
- By writing letters to the editor and showing up at forums.
- By coming out of the medical closet and sharing what you went through and by holding your elected officials accountable.
5 comments:
The only thing I can say is that the last time doctors went on strike, the death rate dropped dramatically!
*snort* They might have thought of going on strike when the insurance industry started manipulating what they and patients could do.
Thanks for your concrete actions. I wrote an email to my family last week enumerating the various diseases we are living with, our doughnut hole dilemmas, all of our bitching and complaining and then I gave them this number 1-800-YES-I-CAN. It is for the ACS Cancer Action Network. When you call an operator answers and will chat with you for a moment about some good speaking points and then will connect you to your senator and rep's office. How easy is that? You don't even have to know who your senator is for crying outloud!
Kairol
http://everythingchangesbook.com/
Hi
You might be interested in reading some of Walter Last's work at
http://newilluminati.blog-city.com/the_holistic_solution_to_overcoming_cancer.htm
and another interesting piece of information at
http://newilluminati.blog-city.com/dont_run_from_the_cure_for_cancer.htm
I have been fighting the most horrendous battle with my insurance company since last October. In mid-October, I called to get approval to see an out-of-network provider. The specialty in question is not practiced in my city by anyone within the network. I explained repeatedly that this was for an out-of-network provider. I was told I had permission to see the provider, and would be reimbursed for my costs.
Well, fast forward to when I actually filed the claims. I was turned down because the provider because it was out of network. Yeah, I know. That's why I called for approval. Turns out, I was given the wrong kind of approval. I had to fight for ages before they finally gave me the right kind of approval. Then, I had to resubmit the claims. I'd already waited over six months for money at this time, but was told that it would take another month to reprocess my claims.
I look up the info on the company's website, and was thrilled to see that they had supposedly mailed a check. However, they claimed they had mailed it over a week prior. I called to find out where it was. I eventually found out that they had mailed it to the provider, despite being told by both me and the provider that I had already paid out-of-pocket for these services. Well, they would research it, they told me. It would be another 30 days. So, here I am, still with no money. The insurance company now owes me almost $2000, and there is no end in sight.
Whenever someone tells me that a state-run single payer system is "inefficient," I have to wonder if they've ever had to deal with an insurance company. This experience has not only been "inefficient," but I believe the company is deliberately doing this to try to avoid paying for as long as they can. Meanwhile, I have to take out payday loans to pay my rent and keep a roof over the heads of my kids. What I wouldn't give to live in Canada, France or the U.K. right about now.
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