US News

2 fatal flaws: cost & lawsuits

This country is on the verge of a complete overhaul of our health- care system — one that could for ever change the way American doctors practice medicine and patients are treated.

It’s undeniable that more people being insured and having access to health care is a wonderful step forward for this country.

You’d be hard-pressed to find any doctor, let alone any American, who didn’t think that an additional 32 million people’s having access to health care was a welcome change.

In addition, thanks to this legislation, patients with conditions like breast cancer and diabetes can’t be denied coverage based on pre-existing conditions. We can and should rejoice in that.

Unfortunately, there are also parts of this bill that are very troubling to me as a doctor who has practiced in New York City for 20 years.

First, there’s the enormous cost. I’ve never seen any program that gets less expensive when the government takes it over. It’s just unheard of.

Besides, the slew of new taxes and fines that will help pay for the bill — which is estimated to cost close to a trillion dollars over 10 years — will surely stymie economic growth, which hurts us all.

Why aren’t the insurance companies kicking in more of their fair share? Surely, with tens of millions of new customers, they could pick up some of the costs for this program, which will benefit their bottom line.

These companies still have too much power over how doctors treat patients. They can and do block crucial testing, therapies and treatments simply by not providing coverage because they don’t want to pay for it.

That problem needs to stop and isn’t addressed in this bill.

Also, while I do believe people should have some kind of catastrophic insurance for unforeseen events, I find the federal government’s forcing people to get comprehensive coverage deeply disturbing and a violation of civil liberties.

Any serious debate about the skyrocketing costs of health care in this country must include malpractice tort reform. Fear of lawsuits has led health-care professionals to perform defensively, relying on testing more than clinical judgment. This can potentially alter the sacred doctor-patient relationship and waste millions of health-care dollars.

Despite all the tinkering that’s been done to the bill to satisfy a variety of special interests, I have yet to see one that includes any mention of tort reform.

Dr. Allan Perel, a past president of the Richmond County Medical Society, is a neurologist in private practice in Staten Island.