Saving Health Care, Saving America as written By BRIAN KLEPPER, DAVID C. KIBBE, ROBERT LASZEWSKI and ALAIN ENTHOVEN in The Health Care Blog
"So far, Congress' response to the health care crisis has been alarmingly disappointing in three ways. First, by willingly accepting enormous sums from health care special interests, our representatives have obligated themselves to their benefactors' interests rather than to those of the American people. More than 3,330 health care lobbyists - six for every member of Congress - contributed more than one-quarter of a billion dollars in the first and second quarters of 2009. A nearly equal amount has been contributed on this issue from non-health care organizations. This exchange of money prompted a Public Citizen lobbyist to comment, "A person can reach no other conclusion than this is a quid pro quo [this for that] activity."
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It goes further down hill from there.
This article should give every physician a gut wrenching reaction, if not disgust at the corruption which has become rationalzied and rampant in some parts of the country. It points out how immorality creeps in slowly and devours a system. I reacted to the article in such a manner. From personal experience in such an environment I can describe how market influences alter perception and actions in order to survive in such a market. The financial imperatives create overwhelming features which can only be avoided if the overall physician community reacts appropriately in unison rather than in self interest. Beyond this the only moral choice for the individual physician is to leave that community (which in itself strengthens the hand of the 'cartel'.
In a second article on The Health Care Blog By JEFF GOLDSMITH
Atul Gofigure: Why McAllen Should Have Mattered in the Health Reform Debate
Back in June, Atul Gawande, a Harvard trained surgeon, published a riveting article in the New Yorker about the physician community in McAllen Texas.