Time for lawmakers to listen on health care-debate

Dear Editor:

We’ve all heard politicians talk about the importance of protecting jobs and supporting small business.

Unfortunately, that rhetoric does not fit with the Senate bill to change our health care system.

Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus’ plan not only gives government control over our health care, but also threatens the vitality of small businesses that can’t afford to comply with government-mandated insurance policies.

Business owners are the first to tell you that the skyrocketing cost of health care is chief among their concerns. But, the answer to escalating prices is not a government mandate. Instead, we should be exploring ways to reform malpractice laws to prevent doctors from practicing defensive medicine. We should change the way doctors are reimbursed for procedures paid for by Medicare. And, we should make insurance portable and available across state lines. These ideas represent real reform.

And, these are the messages a group comprised of business leaders, doctors and other health care professionals is bringing to Washington in the hopes of directing efforts toward health care reforms that will benefit all – not just the special interests.

It is especially important that lawmakers hear from the doctors not just because they are on the front lines of providing care, but also because most of them oppose the kind of government-mandated reform that is behind the current reform movement.

We are all accustomed to hearing politicians talk; hopefully now, they’ll listen.

Michael A. Mitternight,

President, Factory Service Agency Inc., Metairie, La