2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumDr. Mona Mangat of Doctors for America Defines Obamacare For All To Understand
While blogging at the Democratic National Convention I was honored to have Dr. Mona Mangat of Doctors for America sit with me for an interview on the Affordable Care Act also known as Obamacare at The PPL. Dr. Mangat was excellent in defining our health care problems in an easy to understand language.
Dr. Mangat presented real world examples of reasons why Obamacare was necessary. As I told her, if more doctors who support the Affordable Care Act would speak out, the average American citizen would be more at ease with the new bill. After all, politicians credibility are at best suspect and as such the word of primary care physicians carry much more weight.
Watch and listen HERE.
silverweb
(16,402 posts)[font color="navy" face="Verdana"]...and more like Dr. Mangat, speaking out.
As a medical transcriptionist for 5 different hospitals in my state, some of the things I hear almost daily from doctors at all locations are:
(1) Patients are not taking all their necessary meds as prescribed for lack of insurance coverage and/or funds;
(2) Patients are not returning for followup appointments for the same reason, or because their insurance changed and their doctor is not on their new plan (I've personally been through that nonsense several times);
(3) Patients are being hospitalized because if they have insurance, it covers inpatient care but not outpatient care (how frigging stupid is that?!?), but have no followup care after discharge from the hospital;
(4) And patients are putting off needed consultations, tests, and procedures for the same reasons noted above.
Patients are worn out, discouraged, and often fatalistic. Many doctors are disgusted, frustrated, and angry; I hear it in their phrasing and in their voices when they dictate. The ACA, as Dr. Mangat said, is a step in the right direction, but even fully implemented, it won't be enough. Hopefully, we'll soon reach another tipping point, with a vocal majority of Americans insisting that we need single payer ASAP and demanding it.
The sooner we join the rest of the civilized world regarding universal health care as an accepted human right -- (and just how are we supposed to secure our declared constitutional right to "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" without it?) -- the better.
Thank you for the excellent report, Egberto, and keep up the great work!
PS - And welcome to DU! I hope we see more of you.
If you don't mind, I'm going to post in the Health forum and in General Discussion so people there will come here to see your interview with Dr. Mangat.
niyad
(112,424 posts)SunSeeker
(51,367 posts)intaglio
(8,170 posts)They cannot see that the ACA and "socialist" healthcare is to the benefit of them and their families
lovemydog
(11,833 posts)K & R
cbayer
(146,218 posts)kdmorris
(5,649 posts)My doctor tries not to talk politics with his patients, but when I let it be known that I was a political junky, we discussed this. He said it's a step in the right direction and I told him that I would prefer Single Payer Universal Healthcare. He agreed. He said right now, he sees so many people that come in unable to afford the care that they need.
If I didn't have really good health insurance right now, I would be completely screwed. No insulin for me... that shit's expensive. No tests strips either. I would venture to say that I would just not be able to test or treat my blood sugar and eventually it would cause cardiac issues. For millions of Americans... that's the reality. Diabetes is a death sentence because they can't afford to treat it.