Physician questions nation’s proposed healthcare fix

Freda Wood Toups
August 4, 2009
Clara Arabie Hoskins
August 6, 2009
Freda Wood Toups
August 4, 2009
Clara Arabie Hoskins
August 6, 2009

Dear Editor:


As a physician, I have watched with great interest the push to reform our healthcare system. My personal belief is that reform is about more than paying bills: It’s about delivering quality care and treatment to patients.

Patients must come first. The way to do that is by thoughtfully fixing the current system, not trying to rush through plans to build a new one.


What I am most concerned about is the public option, a euphemism for another government insurance product designed to compete against private insurance companies. With Medicare near bankrupt and Medicaid bankrupting states, do we believe more government will be better? Original cost estimates for each of them were a fraction of the actual cost.


I see this state’s medical care up close every day. In Louisiana, 17 percent of our population is uninsured and 24 percent have Medicaid. These patients have major access problems, particularly to specialty care. The huge administrative costs and “certification” hassles of Medicare and private insurers need reform, but if we aren’t careful, we could make all of this worse.

Congress is facing a healthcare bill with 1,000 pages, which leadership has placed on the fast track. Hidden in the fine print is the fact that government bureaucrats will decide what treatments are “covered.” Patients will lose the freedom of choice at all levels of the healthcare decision-making process.

There are ways to reach our nation’s healthcare goals, which will leave us with choices in coverage instead of a one-size-fits-all approach.

We should proceed with caution and make sure that we are aware of just what is in this bill and what its impact will be on patients. Lives are at risk.

Michael S. Ellis, M.D., FACS,

Clinic professor, Tulane Department of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery, New Orleans, La.