Panel warns against Obama's proposed health care reform

An assorted panel of doctors and professionals gathered at the Lubbock Municipal Auditorium on Monday in an attempt to answer questions Lubbock residents had about President Obama's health care proposal. Americans for Integrity in Government, the organization that hosted the event and opposes the health care plan, asked the panel several questions about government paying all health care bills, if government-run health care can ration or deny care and panelists' opinions of the health care system implemented in the United States. When asked about how the proposed plan would be funded, Dr. Mark Scioli, a recognized Texas Super Doctor in Texas Monthly since 2004 and one of the panelists, said costs would increase from premiums and taxes to gas and other common expenditures. "Everyone wants affordable health care," he said. "There is a difference between what the consumer wants to pay and what they can pay. If the federal government picks up the bill, they will make it to where no can pay." However, a unanimous opinion expressed by the panel was that one of the major problems in health care is the upward spiral of cost. "If you were to take every business, in every city, in every state across the country and combined their profits, a patient would only be able to pay for five months of health care," Scioli said. "The cost of current health care is staggering to comprehend." Scioli said health care professionals intentionally make medical bills difficult to read for the average American citizen. "If you were able to read it, you would be able to question it," he said. "This means you would be able to catch the overpricing brought on by the hospital and most likely fix it." Opinions also were expressed about the proposed health care legislation pending in Congress. "With a little under 40 employees, I am required to pay $20,000 a month for health care," said Bob Rogers, a Lubbock small business owner. "The amount of paperwork required by the government on the state and federal level is almost too much. If the federal government completely took charge, I wouldn't have any time to run my business." Elizabeth Ashmore, co-owner of an independent insurance agency in Lubbock specializing in employee benefits and compliance issues, said the more the government interferes and the more it offers aid, the less people expect to do for themselves. "The key is to make people responsible for their own actions and not depend on the government," she said. "Someone can only spend so much of someone else's money before it runs out." The panel proposed to implement a mandated health care savings account, an idea which has been supported by many Republicans and largely opposed by Democrats. Not only would the plan open the door to do away with Medicare, according to the panel, it would lower the cost for the average consumer, lower accountability and offer free insurance for 60 million Americans. "With a health care savings account, the premiums would be able to go down in the long run," Scioli said. "This would supply coverage for a catastrophic event and help the consumer to not depend on a co-pay from the insurance company every time they have a cough." According to members of the panel, the level of pay and qualifications in physicians would decrease under the proposed plan. "In 1964, for every one open spot in medical school, there were 15 applicants," said Dr. John A. Buesseler, the founding dean of the School of Medicine and founding vice president of the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. "Now there are two. Imagine the numbers if the salary incentive was reduced or taken away. Imagine the level of quality with no competition." Buesseler said the best thing about the health care system is the power to choose."(Patients) can choose everything from which physician to see to what insurance company they want to represent them," he said. "The power to choose represents the principles in which this country was founded on."