Healthcare Reform: Bending the Cost Curve on the Backs of Patients

By Dr. Elaina George

After reading Bob Herbert’s column on how the Senate’s version of the healthcare reform bill is nothing but a tax hike that will adversely affect the middle class, it struck me how really awful this bill is for patients. Divide and conquer is a time honored technique used to advance an agenda especially when it is unpopular, and the Senate played into our worse instincts. It sounded great to tax the “fat cats” who have the best health insurance policies to pay for extending coverage to those without health insurance. The way it has been framed, it seems that the wealthy have somehow been gaming the system and denying precious pieces of the health care pie to those who cannot afford insurance. [more...]