OPINION:
On the one hand, the political left is proposing health care for all. On the other, it’s proposing doing away with private insurance. Not even considering the estimated 22 million illegal immigrants already not paying into the system but receiving care, this proposal will lead to less health care for all and rationing of services.
Health care costs are already skyrocketing, and not being mentioned is the huge bureaucracy that has superseded clinical care. Administrators now oversee the provision of care. The clinical providers are no longer providing guidance and leadership in our nation’s hospitals. Add another level of bureaucracy through governmental oversight and our health care system will fall into oblivion. Imagine a system where the clinical level is only a third of the staff and the other two-thirds are administrators.
In addition, seeing a physician will be a luxury. The prime providers will be nurse practitioners and physicians’ assistants, a trend already happening across the United States. Further, clinical providers of care, especially nurses, will demand higher wages and comparable benefits.
Our politicians who enjoy perks not afforded mainstream America and have a separation between work hours and time off (yet still produce nothing) will have to defend their policies to clinicians who cover shifts 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including all holidays.
THOMAS WINTHROP
Fairfax, Va.
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