DJP Update 10-9-2010 Palmisano editorial re PPACA in Journal of Louisiana State Medical Society Sept-Oct 2010 issue
The 2010 “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act”: A Failing Grade
Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD, FACS
EXCERPTS (the beginning, mid-portion & end of article):
Danger invites rescue. The cry of distress is the summons to relief. Those words by Justice Cardozo in an opinion in 1921 certainly apply to the health law recently passed in Congress. It will be a disaster. It will not save money. It will put more bureaucrats between the doctor and the patient and it will reduce access to care. Certainly quality is not improved if one can’t find a doctor in the hour of need.
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When Speaker Nancy Pelosi made her widely quoted statement (on her website at http://www.speaker.gov/newsroom/pressreleases?id=1576 ),
“But we have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it, away from the fog of the controversy,” that was an understatement. Only now are the burdensome flaws and extra administrative costs coming to light, and we don’t even have all of the regulations! Imagine doctors tied up with thousands of strands of regulations, unfathomable & contradictory. Imagine Gulliver tied down by the Lilliputians! Swift relates how Gulliver tried to break the stands that bound him to the ground, “But the harder he fought for freedom, the more the little men shot arrows into him, and some of them even tried to run their spears into his sides.” We must not let this happen to medicine!
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Patients and physicians are not stupid. Give both parties the information, opportunity, and freedom and you will see the problems in access disappear. That is why the Kindle e-reader dropped significantly in price when the Barnes & Noble Nook and the Apple iPad came out. Free enterprise trumps government micromanagement every time!
Physicians and patients need to open the gates of the prison that government put them in. Just as the continued SGR payment formula is a mistake, the new health system reform law is a disaster that will not lower prices. Americans need to say NO to current actions and, if necessary, replace those in Congress. We need more individuals akin to “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.” My first testimony to Congress on this topic of health system reform was in 1976 and obviously eternal vigilance and action continue to be needed. It is time for all of us to get involved. Ethical science-based medicine hangs in the balance.
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DJP Comment: Hope you can share article with candidates!
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Links to article in tweet below.
The longer links to LSMS Website links are:
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DJPNEWS Donald Palmisano
Editorial #LSMS by @DJPNEWS – #PPACA : A Failing Grade http://tinyurl.com/38ubqt6 PDF at: http://tinyurl.com/32rw2on #hcr #tcot
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The PDF of the editorial attached in mailing to DJP Update list.
DJP
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Stay well,
Donald
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Donald J. Palmisano, MD, JD
Intrepid Resources® / The Medical Risk Manager Company
5000 West Esplanade Ave., #432
Metairie, Louisiana USA 70006
504-455-5895 office
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