'Majority of Americans Agree With Me and Bernie':

[Docreed2003]

10. "The healthcare industry"?

I will say at the outset that I believe healthcare to be a right and that no one should be punished for their inability to afford vital healthcare...but what is considered to be the "healthcare industry"?? Medicare is a government program which leans heavily on insurance companies to carry out its purpose. Frankly, the insurance companies, no matter how diabolical they are, are not the driving force behind healthcare costs in this country. The major source for costs are hospitals and providers. So, the question that no one seems to want to address or answer is this: how do you propose to reduce costs of healthcare without also reducing those costs?

Are we going to propose reduced payments to hospitals? Then say goodbye to the majority of small and rural hospitals that are hanging on by a thread as it is today.

Are we going to propose less reimbursement to physicians and providers? Would you or anyone else be willing to dedicate four years of college, four years of med school and 3-5 years of residency training at a minimum to work in a field that had no promise of reasonable income to pay for the costs of that education and the lost wages of those years of education and training? As a physician, I would not go through all of that again under those circumstances.

So, again, how do we bring about a massive structural change without upending the entire system?