Justice in Medicine - The following article was presented by Dr. James Blore as a Minute for Mission during worship on Sunday, August 18, 2002. We have reprinted it for your information. The sample letters are available at the end of this article.
“Access to Health Care. Something that in this area we tend to take pretty much for ranted. But Access to Health Care isn’t always easy. Over 40 million Americans have no health care insurance – so they don’t seek health care until they absolutely have to – sometimes too late. Many Medicare recipients have no prescription drug coverage, so they stretch medications or don’t take them at all due to cost. But what if you need a doctor and can’t find one to begin with? Then it makes little difference whether you have health insurance or a prescription plan or not. You can’t get Access to Health Care if there isn’t a doctor to see you.
Is this scenario a dream or a scare tactic? No, unfortunately, it’s not. This is a very real problem. Doctors are leaving southeastern Pennsylvania, even Doylestown.
Because this affects each of us and our families on
a personal level, and because Access to Health Care as we have come
to expect it is being threatened, the Christian Health ministries Committee
sees this as an issue of Christian justice, and has organized an Offering
of Letters to our state and national legislators.
Because as a physician, I am to be my patient's advocate, and as a Christian,
I am to be my brother's advocate, I am here this morning to give this
Minute for Mission.
For those of you who don’t know me, I’m a family doctor who has lived in Doylestown for 25 years. During that time, I’ve watched Doylestown Hospital grow from a small community hospital with a handful of dedicated physicians serving our basic needs, to an outstanding community hospital with a medical staff of over 400, providing sophisticated, state of the art medical and surgical procedures. Members of this congregation have provided vision and leadership along the way. But now I’m seeing doctors leaving town, the hospital cutting services. Why? The crisis revolves around medical liability, or malpractice insurance, and the need for meaningful tort reform.
How did we get to this point? There is no simple answer to that. A variety of factors has created serious problems with medical liability insurance across the country. Pennsylvania was one of the first states to feel this, and is still one of the hardest hit states in the union. By law, in Pennsylvania, physicians may not practice without malpractice insurance. And yet many Pennsylvania physicians find this insurance to be unaffordable, or unavailable at any price. Only one or two private companies are now writing policies in the state, and they are writing very few new policies. The only alternative for vast numbers of physicians is the state-sponsored Joint Underwriters Association, which has become too expensive for many physicians.
If I were an obstetrician, I might be telling you that I, like three obstetricians in Doylestown, can no longer afford malpractice insurance, so I am no longer going to deliver babies. In fact, as with two of the three, I'm moving to another state to start over.
Or … I could be an orthopedic surgeon telling you my two partners and I can't afford $180,000 per man per year for medical liability insurance. And I have an offer on my desk to go to another state at a fraction of the cost and a lot less headache.
Or … I could be a neurosurgeon who left Abington Hospital after 25 years to start a new practice in North Carolina. Or one of Doylestown Hospital’s emergency room doctors who may have to close the emergency room if unable to pay another 35 - 50% increase in premiums due September 1.
Or … I could be the CEO of Doylestown Hospital telling you that the increase in medical liability premiums from $1.9 million last year to $3.8 million this year has forced us to cut valuable services and jobs, and to eliminate community outreach programs, like the Parish Nurses, simply because the money to fund them isn’t there anymore.
Or … I could be one of 161 doctors on the Doylestown Hospital medical staff alone, who will be without medical liability insurance after December 31 of this year because our companies have dissolved or left the state.
Or … I could be a young doctor named Scott Blore, who grew up in DPC, is close to finishing medical training, and would love to come back to Doylestown to practice, but who says, “Dad, it just doesn’t make any sense to do so now.”
Access to Health Care. What can we do? What should we do as Christians to alleviate this serious situation?
First, let’s each step back and take a look at our Christian values. Let's each reassess what we think is truly an injury or a wrong that requires compensation, and what we think is fair and equitable. Let's all begin to take more responsibility for our own actions, and let's recognize that not everything undesirable that happens in our lives is the fault of someone else who must be made to pay, not only in health-care, but in the rest of our day-to-day lives as well.
Next, we need to become more aware of what is happening, more educated as to what is needed, more active in our efforts to find a remedy, and more assertive with those to whom the ultimate responsibility falls: our elected representatives, both state and national.
Join the Christian Health Ministries Committee in writing to our state legislators and telling them we have to have meaningful tort reform, even if it does require a state constitutional amendment. Let's get working on it.
Contact Jim Greenwood and tell him you support his HEALTH Act, a bipartisan bill in the US House of Representatives for national tort reform. Contact Arlen Specter and Rick Santorum. Tell them to support Sen. John Ensign’s bill for national tort reform in the US Senate.
Tell them that you're concerned for the present. I am. Tell them that you're afraid for the future. I am. Tell them that the hour is late. We must do something meaningful now, before the health system we all depend on, we all need, dissolves for now and for years to come.”
Sample
Letter #1 to Pennsylvania State Legislators
(Write to all 4 or the one in your voting district)
Senator Joe Conti
10 Garden Alley, Doylestown, PA 18901
or call 215-348-2233
Representative Chuck
McIlhinney
199 N. Broad Street, Suite 200, Doylestown, PA 18901
or call 215-489-5000
Representative Kathryn
Watson
1410 West Street Road, Warminster, PA 18974
or call 215-674-0500
Representative Paul Clymer
(for Perkasie residents)
311 N. 7th Street, Perkasie, PA 18974
or call 215-257-6350
Dear __________
I am writing to thank you for your continued efforts to address medical liability reform. We understand that you stand united as our area representatives and senator in requesting that Governor Schweiker call a special session of the legislature to deal with immediate reforms before the end of the year. The various reforms in which your hard work has already been invested has made small inroads in protecting our citizens and our quality of life. Hopefully your efforts to stem the rising costs of liability coverage will eventually bring stability back to the insurance market in our area and keep the physicians, surgeons and obstetrician / gynecologists from leaving our state.
From my perspective as a citizen and health care consumer, this isn't an insurance crisis, or even a business crisis. It's an ethical issue impacting constituents in our area and across the state. Lets keep our doctors, hospitals and emergency services in the business of providing quality, affordable, local health care. It's the right prescription for Pennsylvania health care, and the best medicine for our families. Thank you for your support and consideration of this important issue.
Sincerely,
Sample Letter #2 to National
Legislators
(IMPORTANT!)
Senator Rick Santorum
One South Penn Square, Suite 960, Philadelphia, PA 19107
or call 215-864-6900
Senator Arlen Specter
600 Arch Street, #9400, Philadelphia, PA 19106
Dear __________
I am writing to ask your support for HR 4600, The Health Act of 2002.
As a citizen of Pennsylvania and a resident of Bucks County, I am concerned about our community's access to quality health care. The cost of malpractice insurance in our state increased an average of 152% in the last three years, and additional increases are expected. This growing cost is driving doctors to close their practices.
Many Pennsylvania physicians are relocating to states with less expensive insurance coverage and more attractive legal environments, and others are retiring earlier than planned. The impact on our health care is unacceptable: longer commutes to see fewer doctors, more limited choices among providers, and the elimination of critical specialty care - from urgent care medicine to obstetrics.
The malpractice crisis doesn't just impact individual doctors, it directly affects hospitals, clinics, and the Pennsylvania families they serve. At the current rate, facilities won't be able to recruit quality physicians or afford their own malpractice insurance. Bucks County is known for its fine facilities and outstanding physicians. The reality for this community is a loss of vital services, gifted specialists, and potentially the closure of our emergency room.
Let's keep our doctors in the business of providing quality, affordable, local health care. It's the right prescription for Pennsylvania health care, and the best medicine for our families. Thank you for your consideration of this important issue.
Please support legislation to rebalance our legal system. Please support The Health Act of 2002, introduced by Rep. Jim Greenwood as HR 4600.
Sincerely,
Sample Letter # 3 to Representative James Greenwood
Representative James Greenwood
69 E. Oakland Avenue
Doylestown, PA 18901
( or call 215-348-7658)
Dear Rep. Greenwood;
I am writing to thank you for initiating and introducing The Health Act of 2002 as HR 4600 and for developing a bipartisan coalition and support for this important legislation. You have recognized that the health care crisis is impacting our community, our families, our physicians and our hospital because of the medical malpractice insurance crisis. Quality, affordable, local health care is the right prescription for our community and the best medicine for our families. We need you to continue to use your influence and reputation for fairness to push for this legislation not only in the House of Representatives but also in the Senate.
Sincerely,