Attitude and Gratitude: I am Proud to be an American Physician

Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.
Winston Churchill

This Thanksgiving day I’m feeling bad about the direction the health system seems to be headed

·         Health plan cancellations are running 10:1 over people signing up on health exchanges,

·         Physician surveys  indicate less than half of doctors plan to accept patients from health exchanges.

·         Some of our finest health institutions,  like the Mayo Clinic, are being excluded from the exchanges because their services cost more than average.

·         The small business mandate has been delayed for one year, adding to the uncertainty over ObamaCare.

It’s enough to put one in a bad mood, But as my Episcopal Priest son once told me, “Dad when you’re feeling bad, make yourself a gratitude list.

My Gratitude List

I am grateful I live in a country where,

• People can disagree disagreeably about the health reform law, but without riots, strikes, or violence.

• Voters can feel free to express their opinions about the health reform law – Only 38% approve of it while 59% disapprove.

• The Gallup poll indicates 82% of people are satisfied with their health care. That's not 100%, but it is impressive.

• Few citizens choose to go abroad to seek better care.

• Every citizen who goes to an emergency room will be treated no matter what his or her financial circumstances.

• No matter where you live in the U.S., most citizens still have quick or immediate access to the best medicine and technologies has to offer without government oversight, second guessing, or rationing. This is not true in most other countries.

• We provide such exceptional care that kings and potentates come here for treatment (The King of Saudi Arabia is now at Cornell to get a herniated disc fixed), and doctors come here from around the world to learn, to train, to practice, and to benefit from our research.

• We listen to the voices of the people when the majority protest a sweeping health reform law they fear will cost them their current coverage and access to doctors.

• We cover 110 million of our 310 million citizens through costly Medicare and Medicaid programs and pay for ½ of all health care costs, an expense per capita above that of other nations.

• Our political system allows us to engage in a lengthy, sometimes acrimonious debate, on what is the right thing to do in the long run to provide the best care for most of the people most of the time.

• As a country, we believe in individualism and choice, in government care as well as private care, in the independence of physicians to choose their specialty, where they want to live, and to provide care they think is best for patients based on individual human judgment rather than bureaucratic rules .

• We are a society that prides itself in our generosity to help others around the world , in our innovations that make us the Internet crossroads of health information of the world, the fountainhead of many advanced medical technologies- in genomics, cancer therapy, life-saving and life-style restoring procedures, our imaging technologies; and in vibrant entrepreneurialism in multiple health care spheres, a spin-off of free markets in a capitalistic society.

Tweet: I am proud to be an American physician, living in America, land of the free and home of those seeking health care choice.