I am Bruce Hector, a member of Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) and family practice physician in the San Fernando Valley of Southern California where I have been in private practice since 1977. In 1991 I started a Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC) called Mission City Community Network. I started medical school in 1965, the year Medicare was passed, began medical practice in 1970, mostly treating middle and low income Americans. I have been a stakeholder in every medical transition in the modern era from the Ca. malpractice crisis of 1974, through the onslaught of HMO, PPO and other pre-paid programs personally never refusing to participate because I did not feel it was right for me to refuse care to sick or needy human beings simply because of their medical insurance type which was controlled by their employer. Below are 20 reasons why I am a Mad as Hell Doctor.
- I am a MAHD because all of my seriously ill patients who need medical care the most lose it when they are unable to return to work because of their sickness.
- I am MAH because for 20 years I have had to appeal to Wall Street employed nurses and managers to allow me to care for my patients in the manner that I determine to be in my patient’s medical best interest.
- I am MAH because these same people without ever speaking to my patient determine if they will allow care even though they have never examined a patient or provided medical care.
- I am MAH because private Wall Street traded insurance companies - care only about profit and not people.
- I am MAH because Wall Street insurance companies - call the delivery of medical services a "Loss" to their bottom line indicating their primary reason for existence is simply to make profit for themselves and their stockholders. Witness record stock market prices for health industry shares when the Obama Plan passed.
- I am MAH because Wall Street Insurance companies - dump all the truly ill patients into state and federal coverage programs and then call the government inefficient.
- I am MAH because Wall Street Insurance companies - only want to insure the 50% of persons who never use their insurance each year leaving care for the sick to be paid by others.
- I am MAH because the Wall Street insurance companies - do anything they can to avoid covering the 17% of people who annually consume 80% of medical costs.
- I am MAH because Wall Street Insurance companies - in the late 1980’s in response to abuse by 1% of medical practitioners, Wall Street conned the US Government and Main Street into thinking it could do a better job by overseeing 100% of doctors and then proceeded to drive costs even higher.
- I am MAH because Wall Street insurance companies - through their HMO and PPO plans used my name to market to employers and workers and rewarded me with reimbursement of $7pmpm regardless of the number of visits and took all my income from laboratory and X-ray rendering my office facilities useless.
- I am MAH because Wall Street insurance companies - destroyed the utility of my personally owned one stop medical care facility sending my patients through a disjointed maze of facilities they have identified as best for their bottom line.
- I am MAH because Wall Street insurance companies - have deprived me of caring for my own patients in the hospital transferring care instead to doctors my patient has never known or seen.
- I am MAH because Wall Street Insurance companies – now pay the specialists who used to call me after seeing any of my patients to coordinate care and encourage additional referrals now rarely bother to even send me a report.
- I am MAH because Wall Street insurance companies - can at will decide to drop me from their panel depriving me of access to the very patients I helped them get.
- I am MAH because Wall Street insurance companies - hire people to care for my hospitalized patients who do not even bother to call me often leaving me embarrassed to find they had been hospitalized since their last visit with me.
- I am MAH because Wall Street insurance companies - only pay for certain medications based on cost to them and not quality. If I want another medication I must write to them and beg it to be authorized.
- I am MAH because Wall Street insurance companies - each year change their covered drugs making it impossible for me or my patient to use a medication consistently.
- I am MAH because Wall Street insurance companies - each year take away some patients when employers change health plans and send others who have lost their primary doctor and now need another making it impossible for me to establish the long term relationships that build trust, security and confidence.
- I am MAH because Americans spend twice as much per person on healthcare as any other nation yet have 50 million people uninsured.
- I am MAH because Americans spend twice as much on healthcare per person and rank 39th in health statistics.