The Million Med March, Doctors to March on Washington DC October 1, 2009

David Acton comments on Million Med March October 1, 2009 in Washington, D.C.
The MillionMedMarch will follow in October to remind our elected officials that we intend to keep coming back to Washington and keep marching until the doctors and the patients are the focus of the healthcare reform.
We will be joined by the Docs4PatientCare group as well as others that will be coming from all across the US. Please join us on October 1 in DC and don’t forget to sign the MillionMedMarch Petition. We look forward to seeing all of you in Washington.

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The Million Med March, Doctors to March on Washington DC October 1, 2009
Million Med March website
A physician grassroots movement to re-establish honor, dignity and worth to the medical profession. That its sole mission is to protect the relationship between the doctor and the patient…
The MillionMedMarch will follow in October to remind our elected officials that we intend to keep coming back to Washington and keep marching until the doctors and the patients are the focus of the healthcare reform.
We will be joined by the Docs4PatientCare group as well as others that will be coming from all across the US. Please join us on October 1 in DC and don’t forget to sign the MillionMedMarch Petition. We look forward to seeing all of you in Washington.

Mission Statement
Congress should scrap efforts for government to take over medicine through rationing, insurance mandates and the public option.
Congress should institute changes that empower patients and lower costs of health insurance through things like interstate purchasing, tort reform, individual tax credits to buy insurance and deregulation of the insurance market.
The AMA does not represent the physicians of America and are merely another special interest trying to gain financially while patients and the profession lose.
The American Taxpayer cannot afford the debt and entitlement programs – reform Medicare and Medicaid first.

September 17, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Mr. President,
I have followed the health reform debate closely from its beginning. In many ways, I have followed this since the beginning of my career in medicine 33 years ago. In your speech to Congress last week you said that the time for bickering should be over and we should get down to the real work of fixing the problems. I agree with you.
I have read HR3200 and the proposed bill from the Senate finance committee. I must tell you, Mr. President, that these proposed pieces of legislation will not fix the problems. Each of these or a compromise of the two will do nothing but add to the cost, the bureaucracy and the waste that you have said repeatedly that you want to reduce.
Although you have stated that we should keep what works and fix what doesn’t, the reality is that it is our systems of health care delivery, organization of government programs and the insurance industry that represent the true issues. These aren’t working for Americans and are at the heart of the issue. Massive new government intervention, billions of dollars of new government spending and regulation will not solve these problems. The problems will only be multiplied and it will be more difficult for physicians and patients to navigate an already overly cumbersome system.
America has the most advanced health care in the world. Although many of the advances in medicine and medical science have benefited from the financial support of the government, it is not the government bureaucracy that is responsible for how far we have come. The success lies with the individual physicians and scientists whose passion for the truth, for solving complex problems and for persisting until they are solved, has given us what we can be proud of as a nation, excellence.
The majority of physicians in this country are driven each day by the desire to provide excellent care to each patient they see. Doctors do not begin their days thinking about the joy they will receive from navigating the morass of insurance and government regulations that have become so entrenched in our daily lives. The joy comes from our work, one patient at a time, one problem at a time. The joy comes from a job well done and America’s patients benefit.
We have not, as a group, been engaged in a meaningful conversation with the administration or congress about solving the difficult issues of providing health care for all Americans while maintaining quality and integrity. We are a deep well of experience, wisdom and talent. We are willing to come to the table.
Yes, American medicine is fragmented. We are not represented by one uniform society. Less than 15% of us belong to the AMA and yet the media and your administration continue to speak as if the AMA speaks for all of us. It does not. Although its member physicians have made tremendous contributions to medical advances and patient care, the corporate organization of the AMA is a part of the problem, not a part of the solution.
This physician’s organization, Sermo, has outlined some basic ideas and ways to begin the discussion in our Open Letter and the Physician’s Appeal. You have the podium, Mr. President. You have the ability to slow this legislative freight train down before it pulls us off a cliff that will damage our ability to provide excellent care to America’s citizens, not improve it.
Personally, I have no political agenda. I am deeply concerned about the course you are taking. I implore you to take the time to meet with working physicians of America. I implore you to listen carefully for it is the healthcare professionals that have made medicine in America the best in the world, not the government. We can help you move this forward constructively. Please give us that opportunity.
Sincerely,
Richard A. Armstrong MD FACS

Wild Thing’s comment…….
Hopefully people will go to support the docs and nurses.