US Doctors in favor of universal health care

Monday, March 31, 2008

US Doctors in favor of universal health care

I always wanted to believe that doctors actually cared about people's health, and now my faith has been restored.

Dr. Aaron Carroll of the Indiana University School of Medicine recently conducted a survey regarding universal health care and found that more than half of today's doctors are in favor of it.

"As doctors, we find that our patients suffer because of increasing deductibles, co-payments, and restrictions on patient care," said Dr. Ronald Ackermann, who worked on the study with Carroll. "More and more, physicians are turning to national health insurance as a solution to this problem."

I still do not understand why so many conservatives oppose this option. Those who can afford to pay for private health insurance would not be affected, so what's the problem? Now that doctors are speaking out, maybe politicians will pay attention.

The Indiana survey found that 83 percent of psychiatrists, 69 percent of emergency medicine specialists, 65 percent of pediatricians, 64 percent of internists, 60 percent of family physicians and 55 percent of general surgeons favor a national health insurance plan.