The time is right to fix the problem of the uninsured

AMA Leader Commentary. By Richard F. Corlin, MD Jan. 21, 2002.

AMA LEADER COMMENTARY

A few words about current events in medical practice

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A message to all physicians from AMA President Richard F. Corlin, MD.

In September, I had a lung biopsy, and the next day boarded a plane to Chicago to attend an AMA board meeting. Over Kansas, I experienced a sharp stabbing pain in my chest. I made it to Chicago, where I rushed to the emergency department of Resurrection Hospital with a pneumothorax. After a few days of observation, I took the train home to Los Angeles, where I checked into UCLA Hospital. There, a resection of my left lower lobe showed a benign carcinoid tumor, no mitotic figures and no tumor cells in any of the lymph nodes.

Every doctor, nurse and health professional I dealt with was kind, caring and -- above all -- competent. And my health insurance paid for all of that first-rate care. My positive experience with everyday American medicine has given me an insight into correcting the issue of the uninsured. That is, most of our health care delivery system is working very well and should not be discarded under the guise of correcting the problems of the uninsured or any other aspects of health care that need our attention.

Most prior efforts to insure the uninsured have failed because the desire has been to replace everything in our system with something new and untried. This scares off the large majority for whom the system works well. I think I always understood this at an intellectual level. Now, through my own experience, I know it at a personal and emotional level as well.

The AMA proposal to help the uninsured recognizes that our system needs neither a political quick fix nor an ideologically based overhaul, but change that depends on the private sector to do its part. Let's quickly summarize our AMA proposal: [...]