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Your voice is not being heard about the Patients' Bill of Rights

PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER 
The two HMO stories in the South Jersey Section of the Monday February 19th Inquirer absolutely amazed me.  They amazed me NOT because of the shortcomings of the managed care physicians and claims administrators, but because after everything that has been written and published and broadcast about managed care (I prefer to call it Mangled Care) that there are those who still expect coverage without red tape.

Fifteen years ago I began advising my patients to “Just Say No to HMO.”  In fact, when I wear my Just Say No T-shirt, I get ordering requests galore.  Managed care is not for the ill.  Your insurance is fine until you get sick.  I foresaw the end of the practice of medicine as Marcus Welby MD knew it, and have attempted to steer my patients away from these medical policies.  Of course, in dentistry it is different.  We were better businessmen than the MD’s and saw that getting into bed with the insurance industry would be of little benefit to our patients’ health.  In dentistry, the trend now is to shed all entanglements with insurance companies.  Acceptance of insurance dictates leads to inferior care.  It also serves to undermine the doctor-patient relationship.  We in dentistry are going back to the 50’s.  You pay us.  You have insurance?  We’ll fill out the form and let them pay you.  

I have expended considerable energy over the past 15 years teaching my patients how to deal with mangled care.  I have created a web-site with resources for people who want to learn more about how HMO’s work, and how to deal with them at http://www.cent4dent.com.  Simply go to the bottom of the Insurance page.  There you will find excerpts from books, links to websites for consumers, and essays from prominent physicians.

You need to make your voices heard.  Tell your employer that you are fed up with this type of plan.  Tell Congress we need a Patient’s Bill of Rights with TEETH (especially Republican members – the insurance industry funded Bush’s election).  Read books like Health Vs. Wealth (excerpted on my website) and Don’t Let your HMO Kill You (available in my patient lounge).   You also have to be prepared to spend your own money on your health.  You should be well-aware, by now, that your HMO doesn’t care a whit about your health.  It’s all about money, and if you think you can outlast them and their lawyers you’ve got another thing coming.

The worst is yet to come.  Physicians are leaving medicine for other pursuits.  Hospitals are dangerously understaffed and their staffs are undertrained.  I was scared 15 years ago.  Now, 15 years older, wiser, and closer to death, I understand the importance of staying healthy and wealthy.  It could be the only way to stay alive.

Respectfully,
Stephen J. Markus, DMD
The Centre for Dentistry at Haddon
209 White Horse Pike
Haddon Heights, NJ 08035
528-3464
354 2188