Your Opinion: Health care plan makes physician ill

Dear Editor: I have been a practicing physician in this community for over 27 years and have seen a lot of positive and negative changes occur.

Without a doubt, the new health care law is the worst thing to happen to this country in years.

Health care needs to be reformed but not the way Congress and the Obama administration has. It should have been approached in a gradual and rational way.

The law of unintended consequences has resulted from this law in one glaring way. This only became apparent on Sept. 30. McDonald's corporation reported to Health and Human Services that they were dropping 30,000 people from their health care roles.

Why? Because the so-called "mini-plans" which cost less than $15 a week were involved. The law states that 85 percent of premiums must be used on health care benefits. It was believed by Congress and the Obama administration that too much of premiums go toward executive salaries and benefits. It turns out that because of high turnover of these employees and resulting undue high clerical expense that if is not possible to reach the 85 percent threshold. Hence, 30,000 people will be dropped. Also, many universities offer similar plans and they too likely will be dropped.

Government interference, instead of rational law making has taken place. So much for the Obama promise that you will be able to keep your existing health care plan.

This is important enough news that the Wall Street Journal and Fox News reported it. However, CBS News did not. Instead, CBS News reported on a rare "Llebsiella Super Bug" in hospitals as a leading story. This further takes the emphasis of the real issue of health care reform (or ill reform).

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All of this makes me, a physician who cares deeply about the direction of medicine, quite ill.

If you don't agree with me, I suggest you pay attention to what your government in Washington is doing.

If you do agree with me, vote. I feel the so-called silent majority in this country will be heard on Nov. 2.