A physician in Colorado writes an open letter imploring physicians to think about upcoming health reform:
Although I completely agree that there are genuine problems with the current system, more government interference in medicine can only make things worse, not better. One basic principle we all learned in medical school was, “First, do no harm”. This applies as well to politics as it does to clinical practice. Most of the problems of the current system have been the result of bad government policies. Adding more government bureaucrats to the mix will only make things worse.In my opinion, it is not the government’s role to guarantee health care for all Coloradoans, any more than it is the government’s job to guarantee all citizens a car, or a job, or a great haircut. It is morally wrong and economically unsustainable. It is precisely the attempts by the governments in Canada and Great Britain (or states like Tennessee) to guarantee universal “cradle-to-grave” coverage that has led to the runaway costs and inadequate health care in those places.
