BIG MEDICINE
The Cost of Corporate Control
and How Doctors and Patients
Working Together Can Rebuild a Better System
In Dr.
Elaina George's new book, Big Medicine: The Cost of Corporate Control and How
Doctors and Patients Working Together Can Rebuild a Better
System, she explains the
impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) on patients and on America's healthcare
system. Dr. George is not unlike tens of thousands of physicians who fight each
day to preserve their liberty to practice not for themselves, but for their
patients... all the while having to comply with the voluminous and intrusive
nature of federal regulations, piled upon by state and local regulations. Here
she offers a unique perspective from the
practicing physician and gives an inside view of how and why the healthcare
system became broken and discusses solutions on how to fix
it.
Dr. George
asks: Why did Congress, the President and the special interest groups that
helped them write the ACA ignore the very people who could have provided wisest
guidance - doctors who have a firsthand understanding of how federal health
policy affects individual patients? Why did they instead turn to
academia and activists to write this law?
BIG MEDICINE describes the movement from individualized medicine
to corporate healthcare which relies on population-based medicine - a
one-size-fits-all approach at the expense of the doctor/patient relationship.
Dr. George channels her knowledge and medical experience into her prescription:
returning medical care to patient-centered delivery based on excellent care at a
reasonable cost, maintaining medical privacy and individuality - the cornerstone
of the patient-physician relationship. "We need to shift the paradigm back to
the doctor and our relationship with our patients."
"We have
been on the wrong track for many years: when we joined insurance panels; when we
signed their contracts without reading them; when we added physician extenders
to increase the patient volume in order to stay open; when we sold our practices
to the hospitals in order to navigate the financial onslaught; when we let
patients dictate the standard of care by requesting treatment by phone and
prescriptions for the newest medications as seen on TV..."
In BIG
MEDICINE, you will learn:
- How the ACA affects patients and physicians;
- How Obamacare has become the Trojan Horse for socialized medicine;
- That crony capitalism can be hazardous to your health;
- About the Administration's answer to high healthcare costs - rationing and cookbook medicine;
- The healthcare system endgame: If doctors choose to put patient care first, they might look forward to fines or jail time;
- How your medical information may be used against you;
- Six ways your health insurers make it harder for your doctor to take care of you;
- About the future of healthcare in the United States - what lies ahead; and
- A practicing physician's prescription for healthcare reform.
Among Dr.
George's prescriptions are:
- Change the tax code to allow private physicians to write off bad debt.
- Change medical malpractice law through tort reform.
- Allow Medicare and Medicaid patients access to cheaper drugs from other countries.
- Refuse to mandate, as matter of licensure, that physicians must accept Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare health plans.
- Solutions which include practical alternatives to Obamacare and new healthcare delivery systems.
- Improve care for the indigent by paying physician malpractice premiums in turn for doctors providing care for those financially unable to pay.
Dr. George
did not advocate for the outright repeal of Obamacare, although she strongly
points to it as a main hindrance to a restored healthcare system. "We are being
asked to become agents of the government - to give up our Hippocratic Oath and
to work against the interests of our patients." BIG MEDICINE is a
comprehensive litany of why Obamacare's good intentions - to cover the costs of
the poor and uninsured - come at a great cost to the middle class, patients,
doctors, and the nation as a whole. Dr. George reminds us that the
healthcare system cannot run without its doctors. "We have a great
deal of power - why don't we use it, and just take it back? It's time we move
away from this system that works against the interest of the doctor/patient
relationship."
Dr. Elaina George is a doctor in private solo
practice for 17 years in Atlanta, Georgia and an expert on healthcare as well as
Obamacare and its implications and controversies. She is also a
radio talk show host and is a popular expert commentator on talk radio and
national television shows all over America.
