AAPS Doctors to President: Medicare Proposal a Bad Idea
Contact: Kathryn Serkes, 202-333-3855, 206-769-5417 (pager), for Association of American Physicians and Surgeons
WASHINGTON, June 29 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Jane M. Orient, M.D., Executive Director of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS), issued the following statement in response to President Clinton's Medicare proposal announced today:
"We cannot support President Clinton's proposal announced today as it appears to be just another incremental step in the expansion of government rationing of care to seniors.
"If President Clinton really meant what he said today about allowing seniors to get the best of free competition and the private sector, then he needs to deliver by removing the obscene controls on the practice of medicine under Medicare which restrict doctors ability to give the best care to their patients.
"As long as doctors are subject to government controls over how they can see patients, when they can see patients, and what treatments they can give, then our parents and grandparents are at the mercy of politicians and government regulators.
"By adding prescription drugs to the list of things that some faceless government bureaucrat decides means even less control for the patient. Setting aside the financial folly of adding a costly benefit that no one wants to pay for, allowing the government to control the drugs allowed under Medicare undermines a physician's ability to prescribe the best, most appropriate drug for each individual. Covering a drug that is the cheapest doesn't make it the best for every patient.
"This could start us on a very dangerous slippery slope of government rationing of prescription drugs equal to the rationing of surgical and clinical treatments we see right now under the Medicare system. If the government says you don't need a surgery, then you can't get it because Medicare regulations prevent a patient from paying out-of-pocket for that test or procedure. At least patients and doctors have been in full control of the prescription drugs they can use. But if the President's plan passes, once again, patients will be the losers.
------ The AAPS, a voice for private physicians since 1943, is dedicated to protecting the sanctity of the patient-physician relationship from all third-party intrusion.
-0- /U.S. Newswire 202-347-2770/ 06-29 17:38
Copyright 1999, U.S. Newswire
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