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Health Care debate

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Dale L. Gillis

Published: November 2, 2009

The debate over health care reform has entered an unreal world where facts can always be shouted down.
Several letter writers have said they don't want the government choosing their doctor, but do we have a right to choose our own doctors? When I went to work for the City of Fort Lauderdale years ago, I was given a list of doctors I was allowed to go to if injured on the job.
More recently, I worked for an international conglomerate. My health benefits could indirectly be set by a board of directors that met in another hemisphere, whose minutes are circulated in an ideographic language. Actually, that company gave me a free annual checkup, one of the best benefits I've ever had. My employer chose the doctor, of course.
On a temporary job, I once collapsed while wearing a maladjusted gas mask. I was taken to a doctor chosen by the employer. A nurse put a thermometer in my mouth and said that I had a temperature of 120 degrees. A few minutes later they figured out that their newfangled electric thermometer wasn't working.
In 2005 I was scheduled to have a diagnostic procedure under anesthesia. When I arrived I was told that the insurance company selected by my employer had decided that a different doctor would perform the procedure.
Your insurance company may be a PPO, a Preferred Provider Organization, or if you are looking for medical insurance, that is one of the choices.
Although PPOs are considered less restrictive than HMOs, a key point is that they have a list of doctors their customers can use.
Clinics and hospitals must also be approved by your PPO if you want them to pay for treatment. Not all doctors in your area will be approved by your PPO. A PPO licensed to do business in your state may refuse to sign you up simply because they don't have any approved doctors or hospitals in your county.
Before a PPO customer can have a non-emergency medical procedure, they have to be "pre-certified" and perhaps have a "utilization review."
The notion that Americans have some right to choose their own doctor is largely a myth, unless you are so rich that you don't need insurance to help with the cost.
Dale L. Gillis
Sebring

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