Beware of government health care

Beware of government intervention in health care. In the next 20 or so years, all health care will be government ran. The progression has been slowly evolving for years and the last piece of the puzzle was Obamacare.

Medicine is a three-legged stool with hospitals, physicians and insurance companies the three legs. With the subsidies to the insurers, the triad was now complete and the slow erosion of health care became more rapid. Electronic health records, which was paid for by federal dollars, allows unfettered access for government agencies to monitor your information without your knowledge or even direct permission. And please believe me, they do. We are mandated to document numerous items outside of my specialty, and if not done, then my employer will lose reimbursement. Every key stroke I make is recorded, and my medical decision-making is questioned. Even prescribing a medication brings up a window asking me if I am sure I want to do what I just ordered, and then I have to justify the order.

I wish I could say the future of medicine is bright but I can’t. Medical students have no clue on how to practice independently, and the next generation is already being indoctrinated into this current system of inefficiency and loss of practice autonomy. This is expected because government knows it can’t change the system too quickly, but if done slow and let the older generation leave by attrition then, the new generation will assume this as normal.

ERIC MORTON, Cape Girardeau