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OPINION

Patients dropping out

Saturday, November 21, 2009
(Updated 3:00 am)

Last week, three of my patients canceled appointments because they lost their health care insurance. I am a registered nurse at a cancer center. Thank you, Rep. Brad Miller, for voting for health care reform.

Nancy Wilkinson
Greensboro

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This letter has been closed to new comments. Comments are accepted on select letters to the editor between the hours of 7 AM and 5 PM, EDT, Monday through Friday.

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Lakeshia

November 21, 2009 - 4:37 am EST

When you are having a bad day, and think that you are having problems, just remember:
Somewhere in this world, there is a Mr. Pelosi.

dcolin

November 21, 2009 - 2:04 pm EST

Jerk

Yvonne

November 21, 2009 - 5:39 am EST

This is not a joking matter, Mr. Lakeshia. Apparently you are not affected by the lack of insurance.

swerdna

November 21, 2009 - 7:06 am EST

No, it's not a joking matter, but our Constitution does NOT guarantee free medical care for all Americans. I realize how critical health insurance is. There are millions of Americans that don't have cars either but it's critical they have one to get around. Do we start giving everyone a car next?

Yvonne, perhaps you can answer this question that none of the dems seem to want to answer: The dems say a woman has the right to make the decision as to abortion. Why do dems think we should NOT have the right to make our own medical care decisions? Both issues involve one's personal body. Both issues involve the right to make a personal decision. Yet, in one case, they want to give the person (woman) total control of a decision involving her body. In the other case, they want to control what people decide. What's the difference?

Yvonne

November 21, 2009 - 9:43 am EST

First, I must correct a misleading statement, swerdna. It is not the dems that say a woman has the right to make the decision as to abortion, it was the USSC. Secondly, Americans CAN make their own decisions about their own health care, even with a government option. You see, if you already have health insurance, a public option has little to do with you. You are free to keep your insurance. It is your INSURANCE COMPANY that dictates what doctor you can see, what tests they will pay for, what medications they will cover, what price they will charge and whom they will accept. You see, there is no double standard here no matter how hard some try to convince you there is. You have the same choices re your body as pregnant women do. Would you be so kind as to tell me how you will lose that freedom? And please stick to facts, not the BS that floats around this blog.

huck

November 21, 2009 - 10:35 am EST

“It is your INSURANCE COMPANY that dictates what doctor you can see, what tests they will pay for, what medications they will cover, what price they will charge and whom they will accept.”

Actually, your DOCTOR is the one who decides whether to contract with your insurance company, usually based on the amount of money the company will agree to reimburse the doctor for various items. This is one reason that it would help lower insurance costs if we repealed state laws preventing insurance companies from competing across state lines.

dcolin

November 21, 2009 - 2:09 pm EST

Thats absurd.

It would violate states rights.
All states have their own insurance regulations.

oh good grief

November 21, 2009 - 10:47 am EST

"It is your INSURANCE COMPANY that dictates what doctor you can see, what tests they will pay for, what medications they will cover, what price they will charge and whom they will accept."

Yvonne, it sounds like you are no fan of ''INSURANCE COMPANIES."

And yet, earlier in this blog, you stated "This is not a joking matter, Mr. Lakeshia. Apparently you are not affected by the lack of insurance."

Sounds like you are torn in your feelings about "INSURANCE." Insurance companies BAD -- lack of insurance BAD.

Wait, I may understand now. You were referring to PRIVATE insurance in your scornful assessment of what "INSURANCE COMPANIES" do.

Now a NOTE TO THE LETTER WRITER (Nancy Wilkerson): IF those three patients were still being ACTIVELY treated for cancer (not simply follow-up consultations over several/many years), I cannot imagine that a CARING cancer facility with CARING practitioners could not find some way for three cancer patients to continue their ACTIVE cancer treatment(s).

Panacea

November 21, 2009 - 9:24 pm EST

I can. Cancer treatment is hideously expensive. Thousands and thousands of dollars.

Even if the oncologist were willing to give his services for free (some are), he can't do it for every patient who can't afford to pay. And even if he could, he can't supply the chemotherapy drugs for free, get the patient into the nuclear medicine setting for free, or pay for the other specialists and technicians who are involved in treatment.

People die every day in this country because they can't afford cancer treatment.

swerdna

November 21, 2009 - 11:03 am EST

Yvonne, have YOU read (not skimmed but read) every bill that's been up for a vote?

Yvonne

November 22, 2009 - 9:12 am EST

What is your real question, swerdna?

dcolin

November 21, 2009 - 2:06 pm EST

"Constitution does NOT guarantee free medical care for all Americans."

So? Explain.

Doug Johnson

November 21, 2009 - 6:12 am EST

You are right Yvonne, so we will start this BS bill in 2014, most of these people will not be around by then,if we have Obama care.
Yvonne have you noticed that we have already started ration health care.
The panel that wants to cut down on pap smears, and mammograms, are not even practicing doctors.
Cuts to medicare will improve seniors care? BS
Of course in real life thee is not going to be any cuts in medicare!
They say they are going to cut fraud? In all these years why have they not already cut fraud?
Tax payer funded abortions, explain to me what that has to do with health care?
Proud Mary sold her vote for 100,000 million dollars for pork projects in Louisiana, explain what that does for health care.
But then she smarter than Kay Hagan who gave hers away.
I am all for health care reform! So why not slow down and get a good bill?
Have you noticed the AARP sells insurance for the gaps in medicare, any wonder they want more gaps.
Ever wonder why so many Canadians come to Duke to get health care?
My wifes neurosurgeon at Duke was from Canada, I do not wonder for a minute why he is down here, to make a living!
Thank god he did!

Yvonne

November 21, 2009 - 9:49 am EST

Doug,

Although I know I am wasting my time answering this and to repeat myself, if you think rationing has not been the rule of the day for years, you are in some serious denial. So deeply so that no amount of evidence or fact will penetrate it. The panel that made the recommendations HAS NO AUTHORITY TO PASS ANY LEGISLATION. Therefore their recommendations have NO power.

Panacea

November 21, 2009 - 10:36 am EST

This is why I'm picking and choosing my responses to health care posts here. It gets a little old making the same factual corrections to the same people perpetuating the same myths.

Yvonne

November 22, 2009 - 9:13 am EST

AMEN, Panacea.

dcolin

November 21, 2009 - 4:09 pm EST

"pap smears, and mammograms, are not even practicing doctors."
Who told you that?
What are they baseball players?

dcolin

November 21, 2009 - 4:09 pm EST

"pap smears, and mammograms, are not even practicing doctors."
Who told you that?
What are they baseball players?

dcolin

November 21, 2009 - 4:28 pm EST

Not practicing Dr.?

Certainly seem qualified to me

Not up to Sawdust, danagain, Huck standards.

But seem educated to me.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) is the leading independent panel of private-sector experts in prevention and primary care. The USPSTF conducts rigorous, impartial assessments of the scientific evidence for the effectiveness of a broad range of clinical preventive services, including screening, counseling, and preventive medications. Its recommendations are considered the "gold standard" for clinical preventive services.Current members of the Task Force;

Bruce N. Calonge, M.D., M.P.H. (Chair)
Chief Medical Officer and State Epidemiologist
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, CO

Diana B. Petitti, M.D., M.P.H. (Vice Chair)
Professor of Biomedical Informatics
Fulton School of Engineering
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ

Susan Curry, Ph.D.
Dean, College of Public Health
Distinguished Professor
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA

Allen J. Dietrich, M.D.
Professor, Community and Family Medicine
Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, NH

Thomas G. DeWitt, M.D.
Carl Weihl Professor of Pediatrics
Director of the Division of General and Community Pediatrics
Department of Pediatrics, Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH

Kimberly D. Gregory, M.D., M.P.H.
Director, Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Women's Health Services Research
Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA

David Grossman, M.D., M.P.H.
Medical Director, Preventive Care and Senior Investigator, Center for Health Studies, Group Health Cooperative
Professor of Health Services and Adjunct Professor of Pediatrics
University of Washington, Seattle, WA

George Isham, M.D., M.S.
Medical Director and Chief Health Officer
HealthPartners, Minneapolis, MN

Michael L. LeFevre, M.D., M.S.P.H.
Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
University of Missouri School of Medicine, Columbia, MO

Rosanne Leipzig, M.D., Ph.D
Professor, Geriatrics and Adult Development, Medicine, Health Policy
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, NY

Lucy N. Marion, Ph.D., R.N.
Dean and Professor, School of Nursing
Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA

Joy Melnikow, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Associate Director, Center for Healthcare Policy and Research
University of California Davis, Sacramento, CA

Bernadette Melnyk, Ph.D., R.N., C.P.N.P./N.P.P.
Dean and Distinguished Foundation Professor in Nursing
College of Nursing & Healthcare Innovation
Arizona State University, Phoenix, AZ

Wanda Nicholson, M.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
Associate Professor
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD

J. Sanford (Sandy) Schwartz, M.D.
Leon Hess Professor of Medicine, Health Management, and Economics
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and Wharton School, Philadelphia, PA

Timothy Wilt, M.D., M.P.H.
Professor, Department of Medicine, Minneapolis VA Medical Center
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN

Panacea

November 21, 2009 - 9:26 pm EST

Most are medical educators. And medical educators are practicing professionals.

ghost from white oak

November 21, 2009 - 10:15 am EST

" Last week, three of my patients canceled appointments because they lost their health care insurance.'

Did they give any reason why they lost their insurance?
I believe it may have a bearing on that broad statement. It might be they lost their job, which the supreme leader is doing nothing about, other than paying lip service to and lying about jobs created or saved.
Jobs should be Washington's first priority now, getting America back to work and producing wages not taxes .

Panacea

November 21, 2009 - 10:38 am EST

It is. That's why the stimulus was rushed through, and money given to "shovel ready" projects; to get people back to work.

There is only so much any administration can do about jobs in such a short time. This is not the first time we've struggled with high unemployment after a serious depression/recession. Republican or Democrat, I don't think anyone could bring down our unemployment numbers the way we would like.

danagain

November 21, 2009 - 2:33 pm EST

"It is. That's why the stimulus was rushed through, and money given to "shovel ready" projects; to get people back to work."

Uh yeah, we were told that the unemployment rate would not exceed 8% if the stimulus was passed. Hmmmm....that didn't work too well, unemployment is now 10.2%. "Shovel ready" projects, does that include the $219,000 to study the sexual behaviors of freshmen females at Syracuse University? Talk about stimulus!!

Don't worry ghost, now that Obama is back from his stint in Asia he plans on having a "jobs summit" next month. That'll fix it. Seriously.

dcolin

November 21, 2009 - 4:05 pm EST

Dan

I bet you were fired a while back and you are bitter.

danagain

November 21, 2009 - 10:41 pm EST

Sorry pal, I quit two primary jobs in my life (excluding various odd jobs when in school) and then started my own business. Life couldn't be better. You remind me of a bumper sticker I saw "Annoy a liberal, work and be happy."

dcolin

November 21, 2009 - 11:38 pm EST

But you are ashamed of it.

Yvonne

November 22, 2009 - 12:26 am EST

Dan,

If you believed any of the campaign promises, you deserve exactly what you get.

danagain

November 22, 2009 - 3:02 pm EST

Uhhh, that would be better directed towards the Obama voters.

ghost from white oak

November 21, 2009 - 9:15 pm EST

" It is. That's why the stimulus was rushed through, and money given to "shovel ready" projects; to get people back to work."
Do you really believe this to be true?

Panacea

November 21, 2009 - 9:32 pm EST

I do, as in I believe that's what the government hoped to accomplish with the stimulus (begun by the Bush administration, and implemented by the Obama administration).

I didn't believe that unemployment would necessarily stop at 8%; I didn't believe that was something the government could really control.

I also understand the government's efforts may not reach their goals. This was true in the Great Depression, and it was true in the recession during the early 80's.

To expect that the results will always exactly match ambitions is unrealistic.

Bush had the right idea with the stimulus. Obama did the right thing in finishing what Bush started. Both knew the stimulus was not perfect. It was still the right thing to do.

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