Doctors are truly dissatisfied. HMOs and insurance companies have put them into a form of enslavement. They tell them how to practice; how long their patient should remain in the hospital; and what prescription drugs, medical tests, prevention measures, and treatments are allowed. Sadly, in many instances (practicing medicine without a license), they determine whether patients live or die.
The paperwork bureaucracy of 1500 insurance carriers and other payers also costs doctors billions of dollars and untold hours of unnecessary work. The excessive cost of prescriptions and medical equipment contributes to this malaise. As a result, our economy is dying, too. US corporations are at a 15% disadvantage in world market competition.
The demand is growing for a single-payer, national healthcare system. It would cost less, provide an excellent income for doctors and nurses, liberate healthcare coverage from the employer, and provide more healthcare for everybody. It would provide a much-improved Medicare for All system insuring coverage and freedom of choice for everybody. Payment would be simple and way less expensive for doctors, patients, businesses, hospitals, and the whole society.
Doctors would be emancipated and would be on the decision-making panels in every region, along with hospitals and healthcare advocates.
This is the most conservative and the most compassionate option. It would also put the United States into the respected list of advanced nations who provide great healthcare for all of their people for a lot less money.
We can do it, and I believe we should do it now.
That's my opinion. I am Marilyn Clement, National Coordinator of Healthcare-NOW!.
See Medicare for All summary here: http://www.healthcare-now.org/
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