Well, that was fun.
This past Friday, I participated in Health Care Reform: Putting Patients First, an event put together by Better Health’s Dr. Val Jones. It was an impeccably organized gathering, and provided medical bloggers a valuable opportunity to discuss health care reform. Great timing too, given the fact that two major reform bills were introduced earlier that week.
Despite the partisan overtones of some of the speakers, I believe that every panelist in the event wanted to do what’s best to preserve the doctor-patient relationship. There will always be contentious disagreement as to how to do it, and no doubt, Congressman Ryan gave an impassioned plea against the Democrats’ current effort. But can the status quo continue? Are the current proposals within the House and Senate, flawed as they may be, better than doing nothing and watching health care crumble around us? Alas, that’s a question for another post.
But whether you agree with Congressman Ryan’s conservative viewpoint, or not, what should be concerning to both sides of the debate is the speed at which the bills are being rammed through Congress. Many have not had the time to properly digest the consequences of, let alone read, such sweeping legislation. That is truly alarming.
The event has received some criticism for not having patient representation on its primary care or specialist panels. But patient blogger, and frequent KevinMD critic, Duncan Cross was present as well, and rest assured, he will write several posts critiquing the event from a progressive point of view. It was nice to meet and chat with him, and I agree that if there’s one voice that even less heard than physicians, it’s that of the chronically ill. Most doctors will advocate on a patient’s behalf, but as he poignantly expressed to me, clinicians cannot understand a chronically ill patient’s life away from the exam room. And he’s right, we don’t. So, I appreciate his views, along with him pointedly reminding us that health reform truly affects patients first.
It was also great to meet some of my fellow medical bloggers in person for the first time, and as Rob Lamberts pointed out, “It amazed me at how these people who I had never met in person were already good friends. That has always been my experience with other bloggers – there is no work needed to get to know them. There are very few surprises either – they all acted as I expected them to.” That’s completely true.
Be sure to catch event recaps from the other participating blogs: Musings of a Distractible Mind, Dr. Wes, The Covert Rationing Blog, and Emergiblog.
The event was live-tweeted throughout, and is recapped at survive the journey. You can also follow at #patientsfirst.
And finally, thanks to Dr. Val for her hard work in pulling it off. It was a precious opportunity to express our blogging voices at the epicenter of health care reform.
Related posts:
- Discussing health care reform at the National Press Club, Friday, July 17th at 9am
- What doctors can learn from patients in the health care reform debate
- Why health reformers and politicians should listen to medical bloggers
- Do some patients not deserve health care reform?
- Medical bloggers are held to a double standard
- Patients still trust their doctors, and how that can influence health reform
- Health care reform needs to improve physician satisfaction
{ 4 comments }
The case for health reform often hinges on, “Something has to change”, or “Change is inevitable, and we should be there helping to shape it”.
The fallacy in this is that we must accept the changes proposed as good, right, and proper. However, if we seem them as deeply flawed, and likely to do more harm than good, we are duty-bound to oppose them, and indeed, seek to ensure that the efforts at reform fail. Change for its own sake is simply stupid. There should be a rational cost-benefit analysis, and that is simply not being provided by those “shaping change”. Further, we are being marginalized regarding any real decisions regarding reform; rather, our presence serves to validate a politcal process that has very little to do with medicine.
At this point, rather than allow ourselves to be used as scapegoats for the horror that has so far been presented to us as reform, we should have the courage to denounce it for what it is: a naked power grab that has nothing whatever to do with medicine, and is all about expanding the role of the state. We are physicians, not politicians. By supporting this “reform” we are moving out of our caregiving roles into social justice, where we have no training and rely on what we feel, rather than rational considerations.
Is reform needed? Sure. Should it come from the government? No. The government already plays a distorting role in healthcare with Medicare and Medicaid, and has contributed heavily to the systematic devaluation of primary care. Considering what the government has done to us thus far, I trust the free market much more than another top down government program.
Glad you-all had a good time.
Even though my case (as a doctor beyond-burned-badly in public service – and falling through every black hole of oversight one could fall through) would seem to be the poster-child for government ineptitude in healthcare management . . . and I’ve only been blogging my guts out about it for almost five years . . . I didn’t get an invite.
Probably because, unlike Obama’s current nominee for Surgeon General, I’m an “NHSC” (National Health Service Corps) failure. Doesn’t fit the agenda.
Alas. Woe is me.
I agree with Tom – and expressed my concern on ABC news today about rushing a bill that’s NOT ready for prime time. http://www.getbetterhealth.com/abc-news-covers-better-healths-putting-patients-first-event-at-the-national-press-club/2009.07.20
As for Mary – so sorry we didn’t have you on the panel. Let’s keep you in mind for next time.
I won’t be holding my breath.
After eleven YEARS of being dumped on and sneered at (since the administration of another set of reforming Dems on white horses who were going to “fix” healthcare), do you know what “change” would really be, Val? Kevin? It would be one of the big guns in the Obama administration (or the AMA or even AAP) – reading this blog and picking up the phone – or dropping an e-mail – to say, “We don’t like what happened to you, and we’re going to do something about it. And if people/institutions actually broke the laws we already have in place, we’re going to do something about it.”
I really don’t want to hear about making new laws or building new bureaucracies until we enforce/fix what we already have.
Comments on this entry are closed.