Another doctor's view of health care & govt.

[jrance@iacwds.com 716]

I checked this out on Snopes. Snopes say's "It is correctly attributed."

 

http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/pollard.asp

 

This letter is from Dr. Zane Pollard. He operates at Children's Health Care of Atlanta . Google him, he has a very impressive CV.

 

Friends:

I have been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching all of this national debate on healthcare. It is time for me to bring some clarity to the table and, as your friend, by explaining many of the problems from the aspect of a doctor.

 

First off the government has involved very few of us physicians in the healthcare debate. While the American Medical Association has come out in favor of the plan, it is vital to remember that the AMA only represents 17% of the American physician workforce.

 

I have taken care of Medicaid patients for 35 years while representing the only pediatric ophthalmology group left in Atlanta, Georgia that accepts Medicaid. Why is this. For example, in the past 6 months I have cared for three young children on Medicaid who had corneal ulcers. This is a potentially blinding situation because if the cornea perforates from the infection, almost surely blindness will occur. In all three cases theantibiotic needed for the eradication of the infection was not on the approved Medicaid list. Each time I was told to fax Medicaid for the approval forms which I did. Within 48 hours the form came back to me which was mailed in immediately via fax and I was told that I would have my answer in 10 days. Of course by then each child would have been blind in the eye. Each time the request came back denied. All three times I personally provided the antibiotic for each patient which was not on the Medicaid approved list. Get the point-rationing of care.

 

Over the past 35 years I have cared for over 1000 children born with congenital cataracts. In older children and in adults the vision is rehabilitated with an intraocular lens. In newborns we use contact lenses which are very expensive. It takes Medicaid over one year to approve acontact lens, post cataract surgery. By that time a successful anatomicaloperation is wasted, as the child will be close to blind from a lack of focusing for so long a period of time. Again extreme rationing. Solution - I have a foundation here in Atlanta supported 100% by private funds which supplies all of these contact lenses for my Medicaid and illegal immigrants children for free. Again waiting for the government would be disastrous.

 

Last week I had a lady bring her child to me. They are Americans but live in Sweden as the father has a job with a big corporation. The child had the onset of double vision 3 months ago and has been unable to function normally because of this. They are people of means but are waiting 8 months to see the ophthalmologist in Sweden . Then if the child needed surgery they would be put on a 6 month waiting list. She called me and I saw her that day. It turned out that the child had accommodative esotropia (crossing of the eyes, treated with glasses that correct forfarsightedness) and responded to glasses within 4 days , no surgery was needed. Again rationing of care.

 

Last month I operated on a 70 year old lady with double vision present for 3 years. She responded quite nicely to her surgery and now is symptom free. I also operated on a 69 year old judge with vertical double vision. His surgery went very well and now he is happy as a lark. I have been told - but of course there is no healthcare bill that has been passed yet - that these 2 people because of their age would have beendenied surgery and just told to wear a patch over one eye to alleviate the symptoms of double vision. Obviously cheaper than surgery.

 

I spent two years in the US Navy during the Viet Nam war and was well treated by the military. There was tremendous rationing of care and we were told specifically what things the military personnel and their dependents could have and which things they could not have. While in Viet Nam, my wife Nancy got sick and got essentially no care at the NavalHospital in Oakland , California . She went home and went to her family's private internist in Beverly Hills. While it was expensive, she received an immediate work up. Again rationing of care.

 

For those of you who are over 65, this bill in its present form might be lethal for you. People in England over 59 cannot receive stents for their coronary arteries. The government wants to mimic the British plan. For those of you younger, it will still mean restriction of the care thatyou and your children receive.

 

While 99% of physicians went into medicine because of the love ofmedicine and the challenge of helping our fellow man, economics are still important. My rent goes up 2% each year and the salaries of my employees go up 2% each year. Twenty years ago ophthalmologists were paid $1800 for a cataract surgery and today $500. This is a 73% decrease in our fees. I do not know of many jobs in America that have seen this lowering of fees.

 

But there is more to the story than just the lower fees. When I came to Atlanta there was a well known ophthalmologist who charged $2500 for cataract surgery as he felt he was the best. He had a terrific reputation and in fact I had my mother's bilateral cataracts operated on by him with a wonderful result. She is now 94 and has 20/20 vision in both eyes.

People would pay his $2500 fee. However the government came in and said that any doctor that does medicare work can not accept more than the going rate (now $500) or he or she would be severely fined. This put an end to his charging $2500. The government said it was illegal to accept more than the government allowed rate. What I am driving at isthat those of you well off will not be able to go to the head of the line under this new healthcare plan just because you have money as no physician will be willing to go against the law to treat you.

 

I am a pediatric ophthalmologist and trained for 10 years postcollege to become a pediatric ophthalmologist (add two years of my service in the Navy and that comes to 12 years). A neurosurgeon spends 14 years post college and if he or she has to do the military that would be16 years. I am not entitled to make what a neurosurgeon makes but the newplan calls for all physicians to make the same amount of payment. I assure you that medical students will not go into neurosurgery and we will have a tremendous shortage of neurosurgeons. Already the top neurosurgeon at my hospital who is in good health and only 52 years old has just quit because he can't stand working with the government anymore. Forty-nine percent of children under the age of 16 in the state of Georgia are on medicaid so he felt he just could not stand working with the bureaucracy anymore.

 

We are being lied to about the uninsured. They are getting care. I operate on at least 2 illegal immigrants each month who pay me nothing and the children's hospital at which I operate charges them nothing also. This is true not only on Atlanta, but of every community in America . [Assumption]

 

The bottom line is that I urge all of you to contact your congresswomen and congressmen and senators to defeat this bill. I promise you that you will not like rationing of your own health.

 

Furthermore, how can you trust a physician that works under these conditions knowing that he is controlled by the state. I certainly could not trust any doctor that would work under these draconian conditions.

 

One last thing, with this new healthcare plan there will be a tremendous shortage of physicians. It has been estimated thatapproximately 5% of the current physician work force will quit under thisnew system. Also it is estimated that another 5% shortage will occur because of decreased men and women wanting to go into medicine. At the present time the US government has mandated gender equity in admissions to medical schools . That means that for the past 15 years that somewhere between 49% and 51% of each entering class are females. This is true of private schools also because all private schools receive federal fundings.

The average career of a woman in medicine now is only 8-10 years and the average work week for a female in medicine is only 3-4 days. I have now trained 35 fellows in pediatric ophthalmology. Hands down the best was a female that I trained 4 years ago - she was head and heels above all others I have trained. She now practices only 3 days a week.

 

Zane Pollard , MD

[BronCobraJet 80]

Amazing, as I seem to recall reading WND that Snopes was operated by a billionaire liberal couple known for skewing the facts in their favor. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe they, too are starting to see the light. i have forwarded this to my circle, which includes a sister that is in the medical field.

[Gaddis 1,689]

Amazing, as I seem to recall reading WND that Snopes was operated by a billionaire liberal couple known for skewing the facts in their favor. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Maybe they, too are starting to see the light. i have forwarded this to my circle, which includes a sister that is in the medical field.

 

They probably only like having white liberals (BJ Billy) in office.

 

And Conservative types are supposedly the racists.

[uzitiger 193]

If this was a real reform then doctors would have been consulted instead of trial lawyers (DemocRAT contributors). This is a total control over our lives if they get this evil plan enacted. One way to save money is to make the countries which an illegal alien comes from pay for their health care. They get good free care in this country while working people get crapped on when they need treatment.

 

I saw what bad care was when I lived in California and was a member of FHP. The general practitioner sent me to an allergist and I had to wait weeks to see him when I really needed an Ear Nose Throat (ENT) specialist. I later changed to Cigna and when the problem started up again I called an ENT and got an appointment in three days. He treated me in his office and used a vacuum device to clear my sinuses and spray an anti inflamation drug and anti histamine. I walked out feeling better and didn't have the problem persist nor return.

 

I heard of the Canadian horror stories when I lived in Michigan on CKLW where the Canadians would go to places like Toledo, Ohio, Flint, Ann Arbor and the Detroit areas to get a specialist which they would have to wait months or years to get in their own country. This came out of their pocket after the Canadian government fleeced them in heavy taxes.

[Azrial 1,091]

The Liberals newest tactic is simply to call everyone that disagrees with them liars or at best claim that they do not understand what they have read.

 

They are doing a full court press to sell this very unpopular law to the American people even though the majority have said resoundingly they do not want it. When did the job of our politicians cease to be representing their constituency and begin to be hucksters and pitchmen for the socialist agenda of a Marxist President?

 

With approval ratings in the 40 percentile area we need to start talking seriously about impeachment. We need to let the Democrat loyalists know that we are going to clean house one way or the other, and if he stays, they go in less then 2 years.

[lvjeffro 30]

thanks for helping illegal immigrants who are here as criminals get free surgeries, I would get to go blind because I am a 38 year old white male who is legally in this country without health insurance because my elected officials ruined the economy so they could accumulate more wealth for themselves and I got to be unemployed and lose my ass because of it...My bad!!!!

 

My friend just burned himself with a heat gun that he dropped on his foot...He went to his ins. provider Kaiser, and he waited for 4 1/2 hours before he freaked out and left without being seen...What is going to happen when every tom, dick, and low life is in need of a new dope prescription??? I see 24 hour emergency waits and 6-10 month wait times to see your family doctor...

 

In vegas there are already 3 month wait times to see your doctor and that is only by the insured, how long is the wait going to be when 100 times as many people need to see that same doctor???

 

This is bad, real bad....