Doctors For America

Sickness care system in critical

All Americans -- liberal, conservative, black, white, rich and poor -- suffer under our dysfunctional "healthcare" system (more aptly, our sickness care system). As a Boulder resident and metro area physician, I see the impact this has on our neighbors and community every day. In Colorado, insurance premiums have risen 91 percent since 2000 and are slated to keep on rising, making health insurance increasingly unaffordable and thus healthcare increasingly inaccessible. Inaction is unconscionable. After decades of fighting for quality health care for all Americans, Congress is on the verge of passing historic legislation that will bring better quality healthcare to nearly all Americans and save us from bankruptcy. Somehow lost in the noisy, contentious healthcare debate is the fact that failure to reform will cost much more than the proposed reforms. Our current system is, by all economists` estimates, unsustainable.

The proposed reforms will rein in skyrocketing costs and insure that nearly all Americans have access to quality care. The bill passed in the Senate on Christmas Eve would reduce the number of uninsured Americans by 31 million. It would immediately ban denial of coverage for pre-existing conditions as well as the heinous policy of arbitrary and untimely coverage termination, usually at onset of illness. The bill would cap allowable out of pocket charges, ban arbitrary lifetime benefit caps and require coverage for preventive medicine. It will also save an estimated 650 billion dollars over the next 20 years. Finally, it will start us down the path towards incentivizing good medicine for all, rather than lucrative medicine for a handful of special interest groups.

The cost of health care is crippling Colorado families and businesses. Insurance premiums are rising such that we will soon be spending 40 to 50 percent of our income on health insurance-this is insupportable and unnecessary. Without affordable healthcare, our economy, our grannies (plus the rest of us) and our future are jeopardized. We should all urge our senators and representatives to keep fighting to make this good bill even better. We must continue to work towards meaningful reform to assure affordable, accessible and high quality healthcare for all Coloradans and all Americans.

A well conducted poll in the New England Medical Journal (Sept. 14, 2009) found that over 70 percent of physicians support healthcare reform (with a government supported insurance option!) Trust the folks who took an oath to do no harm. We would not support the reform bill if it were any of the sinister or offensive things that it has been called by the opposition. Healthcare reform is not a socialist or fascist plot; it is a fiscal, medical and moral imperative. We are nearly there. Let`s do it.


Dr. Lisha Barré is an Arvada County physician focusing in holistic medicine and muscular and skeletal pain management. Dr. Barré lives in Boulder.



Read more: Guest opinion: Sickness care system in critical condition - Boulder Daily Camera http://www.dailycamera.com/guest-opinions/ci_14390678#ixzz0fxJs6Zly