Is Obamacare Destructive To Blacks And The Poor?

Article by Dr. Ada Fisher
- NC Republican National Committee Woman

The praise being heaped on the House of Representatives passage of the proposed trillion dollar Health Care fiasco isn’t going to help those it intended and will leave over 15 million uncovered. The Republican response was late and inadequate and the current bill as well as the national unwillingness to tackle the real problems will leave those few remaining with jobs over taxed, compromise businesses in forcing them to provide services that people should purchase in the free market, drive many black and solo practitioner doctors out of small towns and possibly out of business, increase the numbers asking for service with no impact on training providers to give that service, and the list goes on.

Jon Stossel did a wonderful piece on socialized health care which may have led to his departure from ABC with a little pressure from those pushing for the same. The essence of his findings is the lines grow longer, the wait increases, the services diminish in availability and quality and the socialized medicine practitioners are fed up in Canada and elsewhere. Do you want to join Michael Moore in Cuba for your care? Massachusetts put in place a system which covers everyone and increasingly finds that they can’t afford the cost so don’t frown if a request for a bail-out becomes imminent.

The French have an intriguing system of over 200 insurance companies which pay on time, lets folks chose their practitioner and seems to modulate cost to a small degree. Insurance companies are held accountable but so are patients who continue risky behaviors.

But you know the most disturbing part of the House bill is the more than $400 billion dollars due to be cut from Medicare and Medicaid which covers those in nursing homes, the handicapped and a lot of poor folks. By the way, every American can get health care under the Hill Burton Act; however knowing how to access it seems to have alluded many.

The new House bill will give more than emergency coverage to those illegally here pushing citizens further to the back of the line. Elective procedures which aren’t life threatening except maybe to a fetus, will be covered while we watch the swine flu delivery debacle demonstrate the government often doesn't adequately deal with health care delivery. Our politicians want us to believe the same nonsense that the electric companies told us advising if we conserve, our cost will go down. The reality is if you do conserve, profits will decrease and an upward rate change will be requested.

Last week Walgreens' refused my Meloxicam and my Protonix has been on hold for a year because the insurance companies don’t want to pay for them. Meanwhile my joints ache and my reflux backs up. The first rule of insurance reform has to be that insurance companies and the government can’t deny coverage for legitimate prescriptions given by a licensed practitioner. But the new House bill will let the insurance companies and government continue practicing medicine without a license.

Next time you get sick, call the government, not your doctor and let’s see what you get.

Dr, Fisher is a physician noted for her practical solutions for delivering cost effective medical care. She can be reached at DrFisher@GETADOCTORINTHEHOUSE.com