Health care reform: we don't need Electronic Medical Records, yet access to affordable care!
Target:
President Barack Obama
Sponsored by:
As someone who works in the healthcare industry, I totally understand the benefits of EMRs. But, who will pay for this? And who will really benefit from this investment? It is true that it is an inconvenience to fill out forms at every point of care, and it is true that Emergency Rooms providers will have instant access to the patient's health information. But who else will be seeing your and my records? What about privacy? This will be a perfect tool for insurance companies to reject consumers for 'pre-existing conditions'. And we, the tax payers, will be paying to make hospitals more efficient? And what about the small healthcare providers - solo physicians practicing privately - who will help them pay for the cost of buying, implementing and maintaining the software and the interfaces? If this is to be a comprehensive measure, every single healthcare provider, large and small, would have to be included.Furthermore, I'm not clear what jobs will be created with the national implementation of EMRs. The software for Electronic Medical Records (EMR) or Electronic Health Records (EHR), however you call them, already exist; if anything, IT professionals will be hired for the installation and implementation; however, once installed, these programs only need a handful of people per organization, the most, to keep them running.
The concept of EMR is great and an important improvement for the delivery of healthcare, but this is NOT the Change we, the people, need right now. What we DO need is strong regulation and oversight over health insurance companies - they overcharge consumers and underpay providers; they limit or deny coverage, thus making it more and more difficult for doctors to deliver the quality and type of service they were trained for and are eager to provide.
The concept of EMR is great and an important improvement for the delivery of healthcare, but this is NOT the Change we, the people, need right now. What we DO need is strong regulation and oversight over health insurance companies - they overcharge consumers and underpay providers; they limit or deny coverage, thus making it more and more difficult for doctors to deliver the quality and type of service they were trained for and are eager to provide.
As someone who works in the healthcare industry, I totally understand the benefits of EMRs. But, who will pay for this? And who will really benefit from this investment? It is true that it is an inconvenience to fill out forms at every point of care, and it is true that Emergency Rooms providers will have instant access to the patient's health information. But who else will be seeing your and my records? What about privacy? This will be a perfect tool for insurance companies to reject consumers for 'pre-existing conditions'. And we, the tax payers, will be paying to make hospitals more efficient? And what about the small healthcare providers - solo physicians practicing privately - who will help them pay for the cost of buying, implementing and maintaining the software and the interfaces? If this is to be a comprehensive measure, every single healthcare provider, large and small, would have to be included.Furthermore, I'm not clear what jobs will be created with the national implementation of EMRs. The software for Electronic Medical Records (EMR) or Electronic Health Records (EHR), however you call them, already exist; if anything, IT professionals will be hired for the installation and implementation; however, once installed, these programs only need a handful of people per organization, the most, to keep them running.
The concept of EMR is great and an important improvement for the delivery of healthcare, but this is NOT the Change we, the people, need right now. What we DO need is strong regulation and oversight over health insurance companies - they overcharge consumers and underpay providers; they limit or deny coverage, thus making it more and more difficult for doctors to deliver the quality and type of service they were trained for and are eager to provide.
The concept of EMR is great and an important improvement for the delivery of healthcare, but this is NOT the Change we, the people, need right now. What we DO need is strong regulation and oversight over health insurance companies - they overcharge consumers and underpay providers; they limit or deny coverage, thus making it more and more difficult for doctors to deliver the quality and type of service they were trained for and are eager to provide.
Dear President Obama:We the undersigned appreciate the value of Electronic Medical Records. However, the are looking for more tangible and immediate change in the health care industry in our country. The problem is not our hospitals, our doctors or our medical schools. The issue lies with corporate interests, particularly in the health insurance companies and the pharmaceutical corporations. Their profits grow exponentially while access to affordable, or any, healthcare at all for the average citizen decreases in all parts of this country. Thank you for reading our letter and our petition.For the Health of Our Families,
We signed the "Health care reform: we don't need Electronic Medical Records, yet access to affordable care!" petition!
# 23:
1:33 pm PDT, Jul 19,
Rhonda Hasegawa, Arizona
Stop wasting our money by duplicating systems that already exist. We don't want socialized medicine of any kind.
Stop wasting our money by duplicating systems that already exist. We don't want socialized medicine of any kind.
# 22:
2:52 pm PDT, Jun 2,
Name not displayed, Ohio
# 21:
12:05 pm PDT, Mar 25,
Claudia Tapia Guerrero, Mexico
Health above all!
Health above all!
# 20:
11:37 am PDT, Mar 24,
Ari R. Kolman, Canada
We DO need Socialized Healthcare so everyone can get the health care they need. As well as strong regulation and oversight over health insurance companies - they overcharge consumers and underpay providers; they limit or deny coverage, thus making it more and more difficult for doctors to deliver the quality and type of service they were trained for and are eager to provide.
We DO need Socialized Healthcare so everyone can get the health care they need. As well as strong regulation and oversight over health insurance companies - they overcharge consumers and underpay providers; they limit or deny coverage, thus making it more and more difficult for doctors to deliver the quality and type of service they were trained for and are eager to provide.
# 19:
1:39 am PST, Mar 7,
Andrew Gram, California
Applying the scheme known as "insurance" to health care makes about as much sense as applying it to rain. Everyone knows that it will surely rain eventually, and if one is concerned about that happening one does not purchase "rain insurance" -- one patches roof leaks, or builds flood control projects, or establishes contingency plans. The only reason for the existence of health insurance as such a massive institution is because right now it is how the big corporations prefer to make their profits, having grown tired of such things as manufacturing, transportation, or sustainable agriculture. Nobody wants to find themselves in need of health care, but people do from time to time and everyone does eventually. For a society like ours (the USA) to refuse to do what is necessary to provide all citizens with basic health care delivered humanely while preserving dignity and privacy is nothing less than barbaric, particularly when many other less-wealthy nations have already done so, including our next-door neighbor Canada. Unfortunately to continue to resist taking the obvious steps is completely consistent with our national character, considering the history of our nation, because we are, after all, the social if not biological descendants of slavers. Those who were opposed to the abolition of slavery were undoubtedly just as confident, arrogant, and shrill as those today who cry from every television network about the spectre of "socialized medicine", as though such a thing were a greater threat to the nation than Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan seventy years ago. To have one's ability to obtain basic health care tied directly to one's employment status is tantamount to slavery. Many opponents of health care reform claim that health care is a privilege that is earned, and not a basic right. But if that were the case how long would a person need to be employed and in what profession before the privilege were considered earned, and how long would a person remain unemployed, through no fault of their own, before that privilege would expire, and what about those persons still too young to work full-time? From another angle, to depend on or require employers to provide health care cost coverage for those they employ is a major suppressing factor to business development and economic growth. This is a reason that engineering and manufacturing jobs are disappearing so quickly, especially in California, and it is also a reason that our business community has succeeded in getting our government to criminalize the simple activity of work, instead of criminalizing the act of building a business based on the employment of black-market workers, in regards to the issues surrounding illegal immigration. We need to make a basic decision as a society such that when a person is sick, they can see a doctor, period. And without any other terms, conditions, restrictions, or hardships. Would this include such things as free elective cosmetic surgery? Not in our lifetimes. But maybe that's how the health insurance corporations could stay in business - by selling cosmetic surgery insurance to people who feel they will absolutely require it as they age. Or maybe they could start selling rain insurance to people who live in or near flood zones. One thing is for sure -- they are not going to walk away quickly from this enormous institutional middle-man gold mine they've managed to create.
Applying the scheme known as "insurance" to health care makes about as much sense as applying it to rain. Everyone knows that it will surely rain eventually, and if one is concerned about that happening one does not purchase "rain insurance" -- one patches roof leaks, or builds flood control projects, or establishes contingency plans. The only reason for the existence of health insurance as such a massive institution is because right now it is how the big corporations prefer to make their profits, having grown tired of such things as manufacturing, transportation, or sustainable agriculture. Nobody wants to find themselves in need of health care, but people do from time to time and everyone does eventually. For a society like ours (the USA) to refuse to do what is necessary to provide all citizens with basic health care delivered humanely while preserving dignity and privacy is nothing less than barbaric, particularly when many other less-wealthy nations have already done so, including our next-door neighbor Canada. Unfortunately to continue to resist taking the obvious steps is completely consistent with our national character, considering the history of our nation, because we are, after all, the social if not biological descendants of slavers. Those who were opposed to the abolition of slavery were undoubtedly just as confident, arrogant, and shrill as those today who cry from every television network about the spectre of "socialized medicine", as though such a thing were a greater threat to the nation than Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan seventy years ago. To have one's ability to obtain basic health care tied directly to one's employment status is tantamount to slavery. Many opponents of health care reform claim that health care is a privilege that is earned, and not a basic right. But if that were the case how long would a person need to be employed and in what profession before the privilege were considered earned, and how long would a person remain unemployed, through no fault of their own, before that privilege would expire, and what about those persons still too young to work full-time? From another angle, to depend on or require employers to provide health care cost coverage for those they employ is a major suppressing factor to business development and economic growth. This is a reason that engineering and manufacturing jobs are disappearing so quickly, especially in California, and it is also a reason that our business community has succeeded in getting our government to criminalize the simple activity of work, instead of criminalizing the act of building a business based on the employment of black-market workers, in regards to the issues surrounding illegal immigration. We need to make a basic decision as a society such that when a person is sick, they can see a doctor, period. And without any other terms, conditions, restrictions, or hardships. Would this include such things as free elective cosmetic surgery? Not in our lifetimes. But maybe that's how the health insurance corporations could stay in business - by selling cosmetic surgery insurance to people who feel they will absolutely require it as they age. Or maybe they could start selling rain insurance to people who live in or near flood zones. One thing is for sure -- they are not going to walk away quickly from this enormous institutional middle-man gold mine they've managed to create.
# 18:
6:59 pm PST, Feb 22,
Name not displayed, New York
# 17:
5:21 am PST, Feb 21,
Lynda Harding, United Kingdom
# 16:
11:56 pm PST, Feb 18,
Pam Boland, Georgia
For more impact, add a personal comment here
For more impact, add a personal comment here
# 15:
1:34 am PST, Feb 18,
Name not displayed, New Jersey
# 14:
9:42 pm PST, Feb 17,
Karin Rettig, California
# 12:
3:35 am PST, Feb 17,
Name not displayed, Germany
# 11:
4:06 pm PST, Feb 16,
Steve Dale, Australia
# 10:
1:50 pm PST, Feb 16,
Connie H., Pennsylvania
# 9:
6:56 am PST, Feb 16,
Name not displayed, Ohio
I OPPOSE rationed, socialized health care. I OPPOSE electronic medical records.
I OPPOSE rationed, socialized health care. I OPPOSE electronic medical records.
# 8:
6:56 am PST, Feb 16,
Name not displayed, Ohio
I OPPOSE rationed, socialized health care. I OPPOSE electronic medical records.
I OPPOSE rationed, socialized health care. I OPPOSE electronic medical records.
# 7:
3:48 am PST, Feb 16,
Bill C, Germany
# 6:
2:51 am PST, Feb 16,
Name not displayed, Washington
# 4:
12:29 am PST, Feb 16,
Toni Sokoloski, Massachusetts
# 3:
8:53 pm PST, Feb 15,
Mieke Bernaards, Belgium
# 2:
8:20 pm PST, Feb 15,
Kristina Salgado, Arkansas
# 1:
7:46 pm PST, Feb 15,
Adriana Faillace, Florida
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