Physicians, families debate Obama’s health care proposal

As President Obama comes closer than ever to implementing a public option health care policy, physicians, private insurance companies and the general population continue to speak up about what a public option could do to the industry and the country.

Obama’s health care plan reform addresses some of the main issues within the health care debate today: expanding coverage by improving quality and lowering costs while honoring patient choices. The public option would allow citizens the option of choosing health insurance from the federal government as an alternative to private insurance companies. The new plan could mean more affordable health care coverage for most Americans, but citizens are divided about the idea of a public plan.

Bloomington resident Darrell Richardson is a father of three and said he knows what it’s like to have good health care coverage and to be without any coverage.

“When you’re raising three kids with your wife, you are concerned about what will happen if one of them is injured, and you take additional precautions to prevent injuries or sicknesses out of worry you won’t be able to afford care,” Richardson said.

Richardson said he’s happy with his health care coverage now, which is provided by a private insurance company through his job, and he said he worries a public option will affect his current coverage.

“I know what it’s like to be without, and I don’t want that for anyone,” Richardson said. “But at the same time I’m worried a public option will put private insurance companies out of business and I won’t be able to select the care I want.”

American Medical Association president James Rohack has wielded strong influence in the debate during the last several months. The American Medical Association is America’s largest physician organization with about 250,000 members, according to its Web site.

Despite the medical association’s decrease in opposition to the health care reform, its biggest concern continues to be fighting for protection of private insurance companies, which currently provide coverage for 70 percent of Americans.

Rohack said if private insurers are pushed out of the market, the corresponding surge in public-plan participation would likely lead to an explosion of costs that would need to be absorbed by taxpayers.

Brad Woodward, an IU alumnus and medical researcher for Eli Lilly and Company, said the public option could be detrimental to patients if not properly implemented.

“Patients want to have the best care, and sometimes patients need the same tests more than once or a variety of tests to rule out other health problems,” Woodward said. “The public option will possibly remove the option to have multiple tests that can be life saving in some situations.”

Not all physicians or physician organizations are against a public option health care plan, though.

According to Physicians for a National Health Program’s Web site, the organization supports a single-payer system of insurance. In a single-payer system, a single public agency would collect premiums and pay hospitals for health services, but most care would still be delivered by private doctors and hospitals.

Physicians for a National Health Program support a public option health care plan as an alternative to the administrative problems that arise in working with private insurance companies.

Josh Chapman, an IU School of Dentistry alumnus, said a public option could be beneficial in the economic climate.

“Some people are already losing their private insurance policies and going without insurance, which means they are not going to the doctor and receiving proper care,” Chapman said. “A public option could work, and it should be implemented quickly to prevent more spending on people who are developing ailing health conditions while they are not having insurance.”

President Obama said in an Annandale, Va., town hall meeting that physicians are currently rewarded for putting patients through more tests, and to cut costs he said he wants to base public option medicine on the formula used by Mayo Clinic, a medical institute in Minnesota.

According to Mayo Clinic’s Web site, physicians work as a team in which primary physicians bring in a team of specialists to brainstorm and decide what tests will be most efficient to rule out unnecessary tests and avoid sending patients to different physicians, which often leads to overlapping tests.

Rohack told CNN the association supports an “American model” that would include both “a private system and a public system, working together” and said the public option should be based on the level of coverage provided to Congressional members and federal employees.

He said basing the plan on an existing one would avoid having to create a new program from scratch, which would cut costs for the implementation of the health care reform.

Although people said they are concerned about the possibility of a public option, some realize it might be the most effective solution.

Bloomington resident Larry Wesley, a General Motors retiree, said he’s concerned about a public option, although it might be the only health care option he has. Wesley has recently lost his dental and eye care General Motors once provided to retirees.

“I’m concerned because in retirement you have the budget based on what your company promised. Additional costs of paying for dental and eye care out of pocket will now be money coming out of my retirement I didn’t plan for,” Wesley said. “I’m concerned about the quality of a public option, but when it comes down to it, some health care insurance is better than none.”