OPINIONLetters to the Editor - Dec. 18, 2006Get politicians to go on the record about Medicare for their own care - Patients not well served by transparency proposals on price and quality reporting Get politicians to go on the record about Medicare for their own careRegarding "End Medicare hypocrisy by making it mandatory for those now in charge" (Letters, Nov. 6): Letter writer Benjamin T. Hu, MD, of Coupeville, Wash., has really hit on something important here. I support the concept completely. In Dr. Hu's letter, he suggests that we "force" politicians to live under the Medicare program's benefits and regulations. How do we move this idea into something proactive? I would like to see a simple program through the AMA or a subsidiary to contact each and every one of our politicians, local, state and federal, to ask them a simple yes-or-no question as to whether they would accept Medicare in its current state and enroll in that program, live by the rules, regulations and limitations. Simply to get them thinking along these lines would be worth the effort, but to create a public awareness may evoke the so-called "third rail" effect that politicians just plain want to avoid. It's time we stop letting them avoid their own unpleasantries while they heap it on us (both doctor and patient). --Daniel J. D'Arco, MD, Pottsville, Pa. Patients not well served by transparency proposals on price and quality reportingRegarding: "Not so transparent: Health care data hard to define" (Article, Nov. 20): I sincerely hope the American Medical Association does not condone this idea. The one-sidedness of this proposal is unbelievable. This policy will undoubtedly discourage the provision of care to the sickest, most vulnerable segment of our population. Comparing the fees of different hospitals and physicians is no measure of value or quality unless you are discussing cosmetic surgery. Fees reflect the negotiating skills and leverage of the parties involved, and we all know the physician is on the short end of that stick. I'd like to see an insurance company tell me exactly what percentage of every premium dollar goes to patient care and explain why that represents value to the patient in the United States when no other industrialized nation emulates our system. --David A. Konanc, MD, Raleigh, N.C. Copyright 2006 American Medical Association. All rights reserved.
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