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TechnoratiDoctors Risking Arrest for Healthcare for All, Challenge System That Makes Them Complicit
At least three doctors will be risking arrest in civil disobedience actions during Mobilization for Healthcare for All's third wave of actions this week, which are being held to demand an end to insurance abuse and to demand real health care reform for all.
Ken Weinberg, who will be risking arrest at the Wellpoint Offices in New York City, says it dawned on him that this is a moral issue, he needs to be out there, and he is risking arrest because he doesn't know what else to do. "I've met with my senators and congressman and nothing works," says Weinberg. "I think what really pushed me over was the new study that came out from Harvard that showed that 45,000 people die each year because they don't have health insurance and that to me is criminal."
Weinberg adds, "Our elected representatives are so in the pockets of the insurance companies that they're not doing anything. They're not responsive to the American people. So, this is a wake up call to them as well. "
Matt Hendrickson, who will be risking arrest at the Cigna Offices in Glendale near downtown Los Angeles, says he's "inspired by the people that have already gotten arrested in the last three weeks."
"They're just as angry as I am by how the private insurance industry is ruining our healthcare system," says Hendrickson.
Additionally, Hendrickson cites the fact that 50 percent of his patients either have no insurance or they are underinsured, being a self-employed doctor whose premiums are going up 15% a year, and previous human rights movements (civil rights, anti-war, self-determination, etc) as reasons for being willing to risk arrest.
Margaret Flowers, who will be risking arrest at Carefirst Blue Cross/Blue Shield in Baltimore, Maryland on Thursday, explains that as the Senate Finance Committee hearing started hearings on health care single-payer advocates were excluded. This really showed Flowers that America's democratic process was not in tact and functioning.
She explains at the first meeting "there were 41 people that testified. They had AHIP, Pharma, and Big Business " but nobody was there "that really represented the health providers and the patient's point of view." And, there definitely was no person advocating for a national health care program. So, at the second Finance Committee hearing on May 5th, she and other single payer advocates showed up at the hearing to ask why their voices weren't being included in the debate.
Since the spring, there has been an effort to discount and outright ignore the single-payer action movement that has been carrying out several campaigns to push back against anti-health care reform agendas and improve any reform that may funnel or divert money into the hands of insurance companies for profits instead of patient care.
Despite snubs from Democrats and Obama, the single-payer action movement has momentum and is why the public option is being considered. "The reason why the public option was introduced, according to congress people that have spoken to the single-payer movement, was because of the single-payer movement," says Hendrickson. "There was such an upswell [by progressives] for single-payer that [leaders] opted for some compromise that would not have been given if there wasn't so much support for single-payer."
So, why are progressives settling for incremental change? Why are they settling for a public option that has proven to be a failure in states like Tennessee, Oregon, and Massachusetts?
With the public option now being outfitted with an opt-out provision, with leaders doing everything they can to make sure the option will fail to compete with insurance companies, and with Sen. Joe Lieberman publicly declaring that he has no problem with obstructing a vote on health care on behalf of for-profit insurers, isn't it time to up the ante?
And isn't it time for more doctors and nurses to come out of the woodwork for real healthcare reform?
"We swore an oath when we finished our medical school and part of that was to practice our professional dignity and honor and to keep the health of our patients first and foremost," says Flowers. "So, how can we continue to be silent in the face of a private insurance market-based model of healthcare which is literally killing our patients?"
"We're all complicit in this. We're forced to be complicit," says Weinberg. "What we want is patient care. We want the best possible patient care for people and we are constantly having to play games to skirt around what the insurance companies are forcing us to do."
Or, as Hendrickson so eloquently puts it:
"It is a personal decision and everybody knows when it's the right time to make that sacrifice. Doctors do have an enormous moral authority in our society. And when you see physicians that advocate for a status quo approach that the American Medical Association has basically pushed, it really hurts our image as physicians.
We as physicians have a noble duty to care for our patients. And to be given an opportunity to make a relatively small sacrifice ---spend a few hours, maybe a night in jail--- in exchange for bringing this issue of the private insurance industry and how much harm they're doing to medicine [to the forefront]--- I think it's a phenomenal opportunity.
And, Hendrickson hopes the physicians getting arrested tomorrow and others planning to be arrested in the next wave in November will give "more confidence, more motivation, more inspiration to follow suit because so many of us know how badly the insurance industry is harming our ability to practice medicine."
Flowers is a pediatrician and mother who quit her practice a few years ago to educate legislators, colleagues, and others on real healthcare reform.
Weinberg is an emergency care physician who has been practicing for twenty-five years and who has been advocating for single-payer for fifteen years.
Hendrickson is a self-employed doctor.
Each of these doctors will be participating in actions, which will occur Wednesday, October 28th or Thursday, October 29th.
MobilizeforHealthcare.org will post updates on the actions as they are received.
To join or support the campaign that is motivating doctors to risk arrest, visit Mobilization for Health Care for All and sign up today.
25 Comments so far
Show AllHealthcare is a Human Rights Issue.
deleted
"It's All too Much", as the Beatles sing-- and sometimes not in a groovy, psychedelic way.
Reading about these doctors, and Ranjit Kumar's thoughtful and eloquent comments about his admirable father, and contrasting it with the tawdry machinations of putrescent pustules like Joe Lieberman and his depraved colleagues... too much!
All but a few of our Elected Misrepresentatives should be mounted on a set of slides and studied by pathologists, with the goal of developing an antidote.
My layman's expectation is that even state-of-the-art electron microscopy would fail to disclose any evidence of hearts or souls-- just curiously sparse and flattened brain cells, and twitching, grasping muscle fibers, embedded in congealed fat.
· Yr Obd't Servant
Real patriots get arrested!
Sunshine patriots get the media!
I respect the physicians that are pushing for single payer. HOWEVER, NativeSon was correct yesterday in pointing out that MANY physicians are complicit in the push *against* healthcare reform. I work with physicians, have worked with them for the past decade, and although many of them are nice, well-intentioned people, pillars of their community, etc., A LOT of them really don't care about reforming healthcare. In fact, A LOT of them seem to care more about maintaining their standard of living than patient care (although they would never admit it like that in front of anyone). A LOT of physicians benefit from profit-driven medicine. For instance, many of them consult with Big Pharma and/or sit on the boards of Big Pharma. Some of them create small start-up companies when they have a marketable idea, hoping to get their start-up bought up by Big Pharma for a nice sum. Almost every physician I know has contact with a drug rep from Big Pharma and looks forward to maintaining positive relationships with these reps - in fact, these companies often sponsor visiting lecturers and nice meals at swanky restaurants for these physicians.
Many physicians, especially the influentials ones (because power and money go hand-in-hand, even in medicine, academic or not) do NOT have any problem with maintaining the status quo. They see no need to worry about drug costs for their own patients, either.
As NativeSon suggested yesterday, it is well past time for physicians who genuinely want healthcare reform to start taking their message to OTHER PHYSICIANS.
If physicians do not practice "root cause medicine", also known as functional medicine, natural medicine, nutritional medicine they are definitely part of the problem. I, too, have worked in mainstream medicine and have seen exactly what you see. It is the same with nurses and just about every other health care professional.
Single payer will fix almost nothing. A complete paradigm shift in the practice of medicine is required. The health insurance industry has responded badly to the situation and instead of encouraging alternatives and challenging the FDA they've played the game. For that they should die but without a change in the practice of medicine nothing will really change.
I agree with you. We also need more preventive medicine (which, I think may be another term for what you mention), and, going hand-in-hand with preventive medicine is the need for environmental clean-up. How much disease in this country, now-a-days, is lifestyle related? How much does pollution contribute to disease risk? How much disease is also related to socio-economic status?
Sometimes I go to talks where physicians discuss minority health issues (these particular talks are never Big Pharma-sponsored, BTW). Although this particular set of physicians *does* care about these issues, not once have I ever witnessed one presenter actually bring up the role of environmental pollution or lack of safety which contribute to poor health conditions in urban, minority neighborhoods. For instance: say you live in an unsafe neighborhood - what's the likelihood that you're going to go for a jog in the morning to reduce your risk of obesity, type 2 diabetes, or CVD? What if you work 3 jobs and don't have time for a regular exercise routine? Is anyone telling you what to eat in order to further reduce your risk of those diseases? What if there's massive air pollution in the neighborhood, too? Maybe that contributes to asthma and lung cancer?
Wonder Woman: They don't ask any questions that can't be answered with a patent medicine. For a real eye-opener on how some doctors think related to environmental concerns, you can read the bio of a doc who tried to take them on, John Cannell, M.D. He runs the website vitamindcouncil.org
When I read about docs like those in this article, I wonder how many really understand natural medicine, which includes prevention with a capital P but also addresses medical problems by first seeking the cause, then correcting that, usually with diet and nutrition but also other alternative treatments. In Dr. Cannell's case, with activism--altho I don't know how truly "alternative" he is. It also includes treatments such as IV vitamin C and IV magnesium for specific problems. If you want to learn more see www.nutritionandhealing.com to sign up for a one year subscription which includes 9 years of on-line archives that will floor you in their honesty and simplicity. Written by a physician with over 35 years of experience in family medicine with this type of healing. (I'm just a subscriber, not a promoter--You can get similar, less in depth info for free by signing up for e-alerts at hsibaltimore.com)
In fact, let me just add this: I have been, as a result of my work (in collaboration with several physicians), to more than a few of these nice meals at swanky restaurants as well as to other, similar venues, hoping to hear some of these lecturers in person. Usually, at these things, if they are not presenting their own research findings, the lecturers are presenting results from drug studies. Lo and behold - if their presentation is covering a drug study, guess which company makes the drug? Could it be the Big Pharma company that's *sponsoring* the talk? And, guess what the results of these studies being presented to physicians indicate about the drug under investigation?
In all this debate, and although I know that health insurance companies are in large part to blame for the lack of healthcare reform, I rarely ever come across an article about the role of physicians in this mess. Is this because no one outside of the health industry dares to challenge the "good reputation" of physicians?
And, don't tell me that malpractice insurance and the cost of med school are valid reasons for paychecks over $300,000. I know too many multi-millionaire doctors to know that malpractice insurance doesn't take up the vast majority of their incomes.
Single payer or a public option insurance program is not about the Doctors. The Doctors will continue as before, their payments will come from a government insurance plan and not a private plan.
Now for drugs, things could change, although I haven't heard anyone talk about it. If the government plan insures people's health care, the government may want to strike deals with the drugs companies for volume purchases that would reduce drug prices. The GOP past a law forbidding Medicare from doing this volume buying, I don't think anyone is talking about changing that.
The money, for the Doctors, is the drug deals, not health insurance.
"The doctors will continue as before" That is part of the problem.
This article mentions some of the "among other things" I was referring to earlier:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/25/health/policy/25doctors.html
Basically, physicians have a lot of incentive to drive up the cost of medical care, themselves.
There are *good* physicians out there. I know some of those, too. But, overwhelmingly, the driving force in medicine is money, these days. I know so many medical students (who I've both worked with and mentored) who are entering the profession because of the pay they hope to have in the future. In fact, that's also why so many parents push their kids to go to medical schools, too - the salary (besides the social standing, etc.). And, physician pay in the States is what lures so many doctors from overseas to practice here - they get far better pay in the States.
Another place we could reduce cost: medical school tuition. That is attrociously high in most places and is only *slightly* justifiable because of the high pay of physicians (after residency and/or fellowship, of course). But, med schools make a lot of money off of their customers by charging such high tuition.
It's funny, because we complain of a shortage of doctors in the States, and yet we know that the AMA has, in the past, restricted the number of doctors here. Then, they allow doctors from overseas to fill in where necessary. Mind you, I have no problem with giving doctors from around the world a chance to "make it" here in the States. What I have an issue with is the hypocrisy of it all, where demand for medical care is unmet (and manipulated so that it remains so) and prices for that service are then set that reflect that demand.
To make Single Payer viable and affordable for the government to cover, we'd have to reduce *all* costs associated with medical care. That includes the cost of actually seeing the doctor, among a few other things. Therefore, lowering costs *is* about physician pay, just as it is about drug costs.
If you're a physician not into money, you'll end up like my father unfortunately. Well said and glad to hear someone with experience tell it straight.
It sounds like your father was a good man.
"So, why are progressives settling for incremental change? Why are they settling for a public option"
Because the other choice is no publicly operated plan at all.
Single Payer, in the form of hr676 was a fatally flawed bill. It should not have been the ONLY acceptable form of reform, because it was doomed as soon as it hit the table, as I said the minute I read it. Wiping out one million whitecollar jobs in the midst of the worst period of unemployment since the thirties is sheer stupidity and political suicide.
Had SinglePayer advocates been able to see that and to work with legislators to find a way to fix that central problem, there could have been a much better outcome, but the SinglePayer supporters glommed on to one badly written bill and got all fanatic about it.
Blocking the Senate Office Building lobby, occupying Congressional offices and disrupting hearings made enemies, not friends. Insisting that there was only one true way and enforcing that meme on anyone that questioned it relegated the SP folks to insignificance and obscurity, hanging out mostly in Left Ghettos. Polling data show that a large majority of the people of the US want a public plan, over 70%. But when you say that that will be the only system, that is, no 4P insurance available, the number drops below 30%. People want a choice, Public Option gives them that choice, while Single Payer does not.
We have tried for DECADES to get a public healthcare plan in place. It's clear to anyone that has been in this fight for more than just this year, that the frontal attack on the Insurance Companies is bound to fail.
This time around, the approach that was taken (and that seems likely to finally make it over the top) is to get a toe in the door and, via the market, compete the 4Ps out of the market. They are deprived of their screamingpoint that this is a "Socialist" takeover...They are also deprived of the grounds for suing the Government under the Takings clause. By beating them in the market, we beat them at their own table.
This fight is to open the door. We won't get everything we want in the first gulp. There will be revisions to whatever program gets installed and eventually, that should get US to Single Payer.
But if we don't get the foot in the door, we don't get anything at all. We wait another ten or fifteen years and try again (well, y'all can wait, I'll be dead by then).
In the real world, there is no un-alloyed perfect. Everything is incremental to some degree and making that a sin is self-defeating (something the Left is well practiced at, that self-defeating thing). The key is to make the right compromises, to latch on to little victories and make them big. You don't win wars all at once, you win them battle by battle. If you refuse to fight the battles, to take the gains you can get, you have no chance to win the war.
CV writes:
"Public Option gives them that choice, while Single Payer does not."
This statement demonstrates ignorance, or something worse.
Single payer does not eliminate choice, it VASTLY EXPANDS choice.
Under single payer you can choose any health care provider. ANY. Walk or get taken into a hospital, call up a doctor's office, deal directly with the provider, no hoops to jump through, and the provider knows if they provide the service they will get paid..
Under health "insurance", whatever plan you "choose" you are vastly restricted by the plan you are in.
And most of us have very limited "choice" of plan, either because it is chosen for us by our employer, or because there are only two or three "insurers" operating where we live.
If "people want a choice" but believe they are against single payer, then they are victims of corporate propaganda.
Such as the corporate propaganda in the post i am replying to...
And eliminating jobs that depend on a vast parasitic leech that is sucking the blood out of the economy is a good thing. People who have worked in the health insurance industry can get first option for jobs in the new single payer administration, admittedly far fewer jobs since it will be vastly more efficient and will not be a giant blood-sucking leech. And the government can certainly provide transition support for former leech-industry workers as they join the productive economy.
And with single payer, the entire economy becomes less distorted by the absurd requirement that corporations are responsible for the health insurance provided to their workers, with corporations that shirk this responsibility (such as Walmart) gaining tremendous advantage over those that do not. A more rational and far less costly single payer system that is far less "taxing" on the economy will free up billions of dollars to businesses that will invest and create jobs in the productive economy instead of in the blood sucking leech economy.
Only the vast corporate propaganda machine enables ignorance of these basic realities to be so far from the awareness of most people. Thanks for doing your part CV.
"Wiping out one million whitecollar jobs in the midst of the worst period of unemployment since the thirties is sheer stupidity and political suicide."
I don't know where you get that figure, but if politicians' careers depended on saving jobs, then millions of jobs wouldn't have been sent offshore without tax sanctions already.
As many jobs as would be eliminated by single payer, that many jobs would be created for the administration of single payer, maybe more, since more people would actually opt into health care and health maintenance if it were available to them.
Thanks for the explanation, Senator Baucus.
· Yr Obd't Servant
These people are heroes. The tradition of direct action in this country has practically died due to peoples fears of being disappeared, as enemy combatants, under the so called patriot act, and these doctors are risking everything for all the people.
My father, now ready to retire once and for all, used to be a great private practice doctor who won a lot of respect and sympathy from most patients. Most of them are sad to see him go having remembered him as one who put patient care before profits. He has encountered patients who rely on insurance companies with very questionable reputation to pay only to find those insurance companies holding the payments to the doctor hostage. Single payer would see to it that government paid the doctors in a timely manner rather than leave it to Big Insurance to play hostage with payments.
Unfortunately the advancing Senate "health care reform" bill will make an expensive, fragmented system that is more expensive, more fragmented and elivers less health care. The best we can hope for at this point is that it all gets voted down.
Doctors and patients have the most to lose with this bill. My mother did the right thing nagging my father to stop this practice because nothing is paying off anymore. Those insurance companies with questionable at best reputation stand to gain the most from this bill. That means that more patients will be stuck with those companies which means less payments and more debts to the doctor ! I pray to Lord Krishna that this bill fails.