Health forum sends message to Obama
12/31/08 | 10 comments

Health forum sends message to Obama


Maine care providers agree current system is ‘broken’
By Mal Leary
Capitol News Service

AUGUSTA, Maine — About 75 doctors, nurses and other health care providers along with a few patients met at the Augusta Civic Center Tuesday to provide their views on the American health care system for President-elect Barack Obama.

During the free-wheeling discussion many concluded that the health system can’t be fixed, because there is no real health system to fix.

“I don’t think you can find a doctor in this room that thinks anything but that the system is terribly, terribly broken, if there was a system at all,” said Gordon Smith, executive vice president of the Maine Medical Association.

The Maine Medical Association, the Maine Osteopathic Association and the Downeast Association of Physician Assistants held the meeting on behalf of the Obama-Biden Transition Project. That effort is holding hundreds of such forums across the country to provide the basis for health care reform legislation in 2009.

“The incoming administration is reaching out to hear from people all across the country,” Smith said.

Gary Dickinson of South Gardiner said he does not have health insurance and cannot afford it. He said the cost of coverage is beyond the reach of most Mainers and he believes most Americans.

“I strongly feel the biggest single problem with American medicine is the for-profit motive,” he said.

Dickinson singled out the high salaries and bonuses paid by many health insurers, including the parent company of Maine Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, as an example of excessive profits.

Dr. Stephen Nemeroff of Poland agreed that for-profit insurers are the biggest problem with today’s health system, if a real system exists. He said patients have told him they would not agree to have some needed tests because the insurance company had told them they would not cover the cost.

“They have helped destroy the traditional patient-physician relationship,” he said. “That needs to change.”

No representative of the insurance industry attended the two-hour meeting.

Joan Sturmthal of Hallowell put the blame for the lack of a real health care system squarely on health insurers. She said health is too important to be a profit motive.

“We have to get the [expletive] insurance companies out of the mix,” she said.

Dr. David Thanhauser of Belfast said there are fundamental policy decisions that need to be changed by the new administration. He said doctors need to be making preventative health care decisions, not insurers.

“We’re just putting money into technology, and we are not putting it into the care of the human patient,” he said.

Others complained that there is little transparency in bills from any health care providers with hospitals particularly criticized for sending out several bills for one hospitalization. Several at the forum complained they had received bills over several months from many different providers from a single hospital visit with no explanation of the services provided and how they were different from the bill sent by the hospital.

Rep. Lisa Miller, D-Somerville, said lawmakers have tried to improve transparency in all aspects of health care, but have been defeated by the health industry lobby.

“We have tried to do work with pharmaceuticals, and that was labeled anti-business,” she said. “It is very difficult to get the kind of transparency that we want. We need consumers to rise up and say they want that transparency.”

Joel Kase, the president-elect of the Maine Osteopathic Association who moderated the session, surprised many with his announcement that the University of New England is ending its family residency program because it no longer can meet all the “hoops and hurdles” of bureaucratic federal rules that he hopes will end with a new administration.

“The school has decided it can no longer deal with the possible exposure from the program,” he said.

Kase said the loss of the program will have a long-term impact on providing family care doctors all across the state.

The session was recorded on video, and the video is being sent to the Obama transition group. Videos from other such forums from across the country are also being sent to the team. The president-elect has said health care reform will be a priority in his first year in office.

Not registered? Click here
E-mail this
Print this
Guidelines for posting on bangordailynews.com

Bangordailynews.com is pleased to offer a forum for readers to react to our stories, discuss them and provide additional information. We are reluctant to delete comments, but do reserve that right for those who abuse our forum. For more on using this site, please see our terms of service.

The primary rule here is pretty simple: Treat others with the same respect you'd want for yourself. What does that mean specifically? Here are some guidelines (see more):

Comments
10 comments on this item
On 12/31/08 at 6:00 AM, parkstreet_demon wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=donoy6QvRvk

this puke makes me sicker than all hell.

Report abuse
On 12/31/08 at 7:40 AM, mainefem wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Anyone w/internet access may submit:

http://change.gov/page/s/healthcare

Report abuse
On 12/31/08 at 7:54 AM, Marrin wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

As a former worker in the health care system, 25+ years, I agree totally that until the insurance companies are forces to stop making decisions on patients behalf.......the entire "American Health Care system" will never be fixed. It is broken and I feel that as it stands presently, it is beyond repair without an overhaul from start to finish. I hope with all my heart that the Obama-Biden team will look at this and somehow be able to propose a system that is fair for all. Medical services and prescription medicine should not be only for the wealthy in our society. End the for profit mentality!!

Report abuse
On 12/31/08 at 8:13 AM, freedomfighter wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

“I strongly feel the biggest single problem with American medicine is the for-profit motive,” he said.

Joan Sturmthal of Hallowell put the blame for the lack of a real health care system squarely on health insurers. She said health is too important to be a profit motive.

“We have to get the [expletive] insurance companies out of the mix,” she said

Everybody knows the answer to the problem but the insurance pharmaceutical lobbyists in Washington are just too powerful. American business can't compete with the rest of the world because they are saddled with health care costs that other countries don't have. Insurance companies can make enough money insuring vehicles and buildings etc. They don't need to profit by collecting premiums and denying care to sick people.

Report abuse
On 12/31/08 at 8:26 AM, JoelCran4d wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Today's healthcare market is NOT - I repeat, NOT - an open market system. Since the inception of health insurance in the early to middle 20th century healthcare costs have escalated. Coupled with litigation and the need for malpractice insurance among other things, the costs have gone even higher.

If Americans were able to pay 100% out of pocket for healthcare, what would happen? If there was NO insurance, what would happen? I suppose the cost of a hospital room would drop from the thousands of dollars way down to a more affordable cost. This year our insurance paid $150.00 for a baby bottle that we later found online for $10 (ten bucks)!

The reason America has excelled over the past 230 to 400 years (depending where you're counting from) has been the so-called "for profit" motive, only it's not about PROFIT. It's about personal and collective success, growth and advancement. That includes profit, sure, but is not limited to it. America has THE BEST healthcare system on the planet due in part to everyone having the opportunity to offer up something new and great to solve problems and introduce it to the market. Take away the ability for someone to make a decent living and the innovation slows. (The last I heard, Maine alone had more MRI machines than all of Canada!)

Are drugs too expensive? Probably so, and there does need to be some reform there. Take away the profit motive and try to replace it with 'the good of society' and the innovation stops. How many of YOU are willing to go to work each day and replace your pay raises and bonuses with the knowledge that you're "making the world a better place" because of your efforts? That doesn't pay my bills. Where I work, we do great things, earn customer business, generate more revenues, and create a system where more people can be hired and others can earn more money (aka "profit").

Government needs to stop 100% of all this corporate welfare -- ALL OF IT. They need to regulate the lawyers and start moving control from the health insurance companies back to the consumer. Before you think about giving government control over your healthcare, remember this: Everything costs something, and 'universal' healthcare means transferring the existing costs of healthcare from one entity to another (and compounding it). It solves nothing.

Report abuse
On 12/31/08 at 8:54 AM, coldwater wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Joel - Canada had 176 MRI instruments in 2005. How many does Maine have?And yes, the US may have the best healthcare system on the planet, but it's reserved for those who can afford it. On average, health services to individuals are sub-par compared to most other industrial nations.

Report abuse
On 12/31/08 at 9:17 AM, mainiacnh wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

HA!! How about having DOCTORS GO NON-PROFIT??? My husband has worked for health insurance companies for years and we just get by. My Dr lives in a million dollar house and her kids go to private schools and drive their own new cars.

Health insurance is expensive because medical bills are expensive. Without insurance, NO ONE would be able to afford health care.

The AMA is way more powerful than the insurance lobby.

Obama will never dare to take on the AMA because his wife was a hospital administrator, making over $300,000 a year. My husband works 6 years to see that much. So much for change.

Report abuse
On 12/31/08 at 9:31 AM, elijoseph wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

Let's get off the "universal coverage" bandwagon and hop onto "universal health care". The "coverage" industry is part of the very sick financial system and does contribute anything to the well being on Maine residents. The financial and administrative costs of health care industry suck over 50% of our health care dollars providing huge salaries to corporate executives (including some in Maine) without helping any patients.

Report abuse
On 12/31/08 at 10:55 AM, David889327 wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

"No representative of the insurance industry attended the two-hour meeting."

Were insurers invited and chose not to attend, or were they not invited?

Aren't they part of the "system" as we know it, for better or worse? You can feel the glee as we rush towards government managed healthcare.

Report abuse
On 12/31/08 at 8:29 PM, commoncents wrote:         Repeated separate thumbs down will cause comment to be hidden

When I went to Mid Coast hospital for a ten minute outpatient procedure, a cardio-version; I spent over an hour filling out at least 20 different forms...most, perhaps all as a result of C.Y.A. reactions to lawsuits, government and third party billing regulations. ...and you want the government to take over a single payer system...you'll die before you get all the paperwork done.

The government is not your friend when it comes to sensible health care. Providers simply comply with the red tape and the consequences of the constant bombardment of trial lawyer initiated lawsuits and scrutiny.

Report abuse
You must be logged in to post a comment. click here to log in.

Powered by: Creative Circle Advertising Solutions, Inc.