Success!

After a lot of hard work, Linsy has managed to set up an appointment with Senator Casey! The time is tentatively set for 2:00 this Friday, and hopefully we will be able to confirm that later today. Senator Casey will be in DC, but since it's only going to be a 15-30 minute meeting, we felt it made more sense for us to go to Harrisburg, and we will have the meeting via video conference.

The only hitch is that to request an appointment, we had to give a set of names of who might be attending, and we had to limit the list. We thought we would be able to add more names when we actually got an appointment, but now it is unclear if we can or not. Linsy is working on finding out what we're able to do, and we'll let you know as soon as we have more information. For now, we want to know who is interested and available to attend on Friday. We were also wondering if anyone would be willing to babysit for those who are at the Capitol. Please let me know ASAP if you are interested in either or both.

Here is a list we compiled of our top concerns, put together based on what we heard back from you last week:

1. Quality of Care: Increased government involvement in healthcare takes away the doctors’ and patients’ ultimate discretion in making individual healthcare decisions. H.R. 3962 creates excessive government intervention through the creation of new bureaucracies (H.R. 3962 Sections 2401, 1162, 1401, 241, and 1802-3). Taking choices away from doctors and patients by giving authority to bureaucrats will lead to decreased quality of care. We believe that a new Center for Quality Improvement “to prioritize areas for best practices in the delivery of health care” will be cumbersome and costly and will not benefit patients. We believe that the quality of medical care available in this country is evidence that those most capable of recommending best practices are the medical experts in each respective field through continuing research and evidence based medicine.

2. Tort Reform: The House bill does not include comprehensive tort reform. Tort reform is inextricably linked to lower health care costs. Providing protection against frivolous and excessive law suits will allow physicians to focus on performing the necessary and warranted treatments as well as make the field of medicine a more desirable career choice by alleviating the current burdensome premiums.

3. Costs: As physicians we believe H.R. 3962 will create inefficiencies and will be very costly to America. Section 101 provides the HHS Secretary with authorities including “reducing benefits, increasing premiums, or establishing waiting lists.” The resultant rationing of care will be devastating for patients, causing many to never receive necessary treatment or suffer unnecessarily while on waiting lists.

4. Career Choices: This bill will impact career choices for seasoned physicians, physicians in training, and prospective physicians. Many existing physicians will be forced out of practice due to decreased physician reimbursement and the exponentially rising costs of compliance. Career choices of physicians in training will be directly impacted by this legislation, discouraging the costly training of advanced fellowships or deterring entrance to the specific fields most affected by the oppressive regulations. Many physicians will no longer pursue fields that are their ultimate interest or talent; ultimately a great disadvantage to patients. This legislation will also discourage prospective physicians from entering the medical field at a time when there is a shortage of healthcare providers.