State:: Florida

Occupation:: Small Business Owner

Reform of health care must start with eliminating the trash – all the over utilization and unnecessary treatment that burden our health care system. Estimated at over $600 billion in a $2.2 trillion health care system, clearly it impacts on our ability to provide all citizens with quality care.

Who is creating $600 plus billion in health care trash? The medical community, of course, who must prescribe the over treatment. Don’t blame them thought, they’re just playing in the current system. But if we want to save health care, we better get some active trash haulers.

Let’s face it, the only people who can fix our health care problems are the trash makers – the doctors. They have to want to provide appropriate care and not over treat. Insurers have tried coercion and that hasn’t worked. The insurers pay them less for services but the number of services just goes up. We’ll never get control of health care costs by pushing down on the doctors. We need their willing cooperation.

Let’s look for ways to get doctors to voluntarily reduce over treatment. Let’s be realistic and address the problem where it begins.