there is NOTHING wrong with the HEALTHCARE in America. The problem is the healthcare INSURANCE. i retract that, as there is a SHORTAGE of QUALIFIED individuals that provide the healthcare. As for me, i will continue to treat my ailments with herbs, which, being a natural growing plant, the dosage is not always correct nor is the correct herb for the ailment always readily available or even known. for broken bones, i will have a friend reset it, and for wounds i will continue to visit my local tailor, after all, HE knows how to sew. For AMPUTATIONS i will go see a doctor (they were called 'sawbones' for a reason in the 18th and 19th centuries). IF i ever have need for an amputation, i am sure that at that time i can work something out with the doctor as to payment. That is my BIGGEST problem with a 'socialistic' approach to medical insurance. I don't need ANY insurance, and i see no reason why i should be FORCED to have it, nor do i see the jusification in being forced to pay for other's to have it. And the PENALTY for NOT having insurance... --- On Sat, 8/22/09, Lynda Brasier <[email protected]> wrote: From: Lynda Brasier <[email protected]> Subject: [CCCC-USA] Dr. G. Wesley Clark responds to Obama's NYT op-ed To: "ThinkAboutit" <[email protected]>, "5W's" <[email protected]>, "cccc usa" <[email protected]> Date: Saturday, August 22, 2009, 8:33 PM Dr. G. Wesley Clark, an internationally recognized leader in the field of bariatric surgery, responded to President’s New York Times opinion piece, Why We Need Health Care Reform, in a letter posted on the American Thinker blog. Mr. President, I just read your op-ed in the New York Times. You must either be incredibly ignorant (e.g., pediatricians performing tonsillectomies, surgeons being paid $50,000 for an amputation), or else you believe that Americans are incredibly stupid. You justify a hasty and massive healthcare "reform" to save money, by spending an additional trillion dollars. You would fix a "broken" and broke Medicare system by adding another 47 million beneficiaries to government programs while arguing this will reduce overall costs. I've itemized your inaccurate claims, with my comments in italics. You assert that your healthcare reform will: Force insurance companies to insure pre-existing conditions. That's like allowing bettors to wait till after the race has been run, to place their bets. That won't cut costs. Eliminate lifetime limits on coverage. Unlimited lifetime coverages must increase premiums to pay for them and will raise total costs. Require insurance companies to pay for routine examinations, preventive care, and screening tests like mammograms and colonoscopies. Once again, how can you be insured against a sure thing? The only way my company can pay for a colonoscopy is to add enough onto the premium to pay for it, plus their overhead. Make Medicare more efficient, so tax dollars won't enrich insurance companies. Insurance companies do not derive income from Medicare, because it is a federal program. Incidentally, its costs per patient have increased much faster than private insurance. Cut hundreds of billions of dollars in waste and inefficiency in federal health programs like Medicare and Medicaid. These programs have been in effect over 40 years -- and I've seen the waste and inefficiency for most of that interval. Did you just find out about the waste and inefficiency now, and why hasn't something already been done about it? You claim that: "If you like your health care plan, you can keep your health care plan." But didn't you just imply this week that Medicare Advantage subsidizes insurance companies and should be eliminated to save money? "If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor." But large numbers of doctors have indicated that they will quit or retire if this plan is enacted "You will not be waiting in any lines." Maybe you won't but we will. Your plan will add up to 47 million new insured, with no increase in the supply of primary care physicians that are already in short supply. We physicians live with our healthcare system, all day and every day. We care about being able to heal. We hate disputing with insurance companies, and especially with government bureaucrats. Certainly changes in insurance practices are needed, and would have occurred long ago, absent a government record of 60 years of meddling with the market. As you say, "...let's disagree over issues that are real, and not wild misrepresentations" such as those in your op-ed, "that bear no resemblance to anything that anyone has actually proposed." And I agree, this is about America's future: whether Americans will remain free, or be ruled by an increasingly intrusive and authoritarian statist government. G. Wesley Clark, MD Dr. Clark is a native on New York State. He graduated from the University of Notre Dame and the State University of New York, Upstate Medical Center, in Syracuse, with a Doctor of Medicine degree. He interned at Albany Medical Center Hospital, received his surgical training at AMC and the Great Lakes Naval Hospital, after joining the U.S. Navy as a General Medical Officer. He served on the surgical teaching staff of Naval Hospital Long Beach, and Naval Hospital San Diego, and as an instructor in the surgical training programs at Long Beach Memorial Hospital, and at Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara. He is a member of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery, the San Diego Society of General Surgeons, the San Diego County Medical Society, and the California Medical Association. He is now retired. Source For an opinion from another doctor, Atlanta based Zane F. Pollard, click here to read ObamaCare and mehttp://www.examiner .com/x-6571- Atlanta-Politica l-Buzz-Examiner% 7Ey2009m8d18- Dr-G-Wesley- Clark-responds- to-Obamas- NYT-oped __._,_.___ Messages in this topic (1) Reply (via web post) | Start a new topic Messages | Files | Photos | Links | Database | Polls | Calendar What is The Answer To The Greatest Question? http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097871461X?ie=UTF8&seller=A1AVPSERX4QF0E&sn=jperna12 Click here to find out about Answer To The Greatest Question: http://reasonmustprevail.org/ or http://1smartest.net/ Visit the ultimate resource for defending liberty CLICK HERE: http://targetfreedom.typepad.com:80/ 1. Links to liberty defending organizations 2. Links to liberty defending web pages 3. Links to A MASSIVE assortment of liberty defending videos 4. A stream lined system for contacting legislators with suggested letters 5. Links to liberty defending egroups 6. 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