Health Care Reform

The doctors for the 21st Century have arrived in force at Los Angeles County/Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, armed with their spanking-new medical degrees and eager to begin treating patients. Yet many of the young physicians starting their internships this summer are doing so on a note of trepidation, unsure what awaits them in the brave new world of health-care reform.

Unilab Corp., one of several large medical-testing companies subpoenaed last month in a federal investigation of possible abuses of Medicare and Medicaid claims, got in trouble for its billing practices a year ago. But that trouble was with its shareholders. Unilab, which does everything from Pap smears to AIDS blood tests, had problems last year installing a new computerized billing system at its Northern California labs.

Brad and Jennifer Webster spare no time and effort when it comes to their children's health. Because their baby son has health problems, the Costa Mesa couple drive more than an hour to Riverside and two hours to San Diego to take their child to doctors with whom they feel confident--and comfortable. "I like a doctor who says, 'How are you? How is your son?' " says Jennifer. "They should be concerned for the whole person and the whole family. I'm not saying any doctor is perfect.

Allergan Inc., a maker of eye- and skin-care products, said Monday that proposed health-care reform and cuts in Medicare reimbursement for artificial lenses have forced the company to eliminate 56 jobs. Allergan spokesman Jeffrey B. D'Eliscu said the staff cuts were effective immediately, but he did not know how many of the positions being eliminated were currently vacant.

"Pay or play," a phrase that sounds like a new game in Las Vegas, is the catchy nickname for a health-care reform proposal that has been introduced by Democrats in Congress. Advertised as a simple way to get more people insured, it's really a back door to national health care, which would be a cumbersome bureaucratic system. The idea is simple--deceptively so.

Wrestling with how to fund a massive overhaul of the nation's healthcare system, congressional Democrats began to acknowledge Wednesday that their ambitious schedule for sending President Obama legislation by October may be slipping. The Senate Finance Committee, which Democrats had hoped would begin public debate of a healthcare bill this month, appears likely to delay that until July, congressional aides said.

Liberals were disgusted when Sarah Palin warned that President Obama wanted "death panels" in his healthcare overhaul. They called it a deliberate deception and a despicable tactic. But the term went viral. And now two groups that favor the legislation, including Obama's own grass-roots organizing network, are trying to turn the phrase to their benefit. Search Google for "death panels," and often an ad headlined "Death Panel Myth" will appear. It directs users to a "Setting the Record Straight" page on the barackobama.

In an effort to maintain control of the healthcare debate, President Obama on Tuesday ridiculed critics of his government-run insurance proposal, saying private insurers have nothing to fear if they are efficient and consumer-friendly. "If private insurers say that the marketplace provides the best-quality healthcare -- if they tell us that they're offering a good deal -- then why is it that the government, which they say can't run anything, suddenly is going to drive them out of business?"

The gaffes keep piling up: the untimely comments stoking fears of swine flu, dismissals of Russia that seem straight out of the Cold War. But in defiance of the normal rules of American politics, Vice President Joe Biden appears to be solidifying his relationship with his boss and accumulating more assignments central to the administration's agenda. Having lined up support in the Senate to assure passage of the $787-billion economic stimulus plan, Biden was recently tapped by President Obama to play a bigger role in the healthcare debate that is now dominating the congressional agenda.

Like most everyone in this small, scruffy city of boat builders and fishermen, Sammy Duffy tends to rave about surgeon general nominee Regina Benjamin and all that she has done for the hard-working people here who labor without the safety net of health insurance.