By Michael Binder, M.D.
The Enquirer (Cincinnati), Letters, Jan. 22, 2014
Martin Luther King Jr. said, āOf all the forms of inequality, injustice in health care is the most shocking and inhuman.ā Sadly, the problem of massive inequality in health care persists to the present day. I saw a patient in clinic in the past week who is going through personal financial bankruptcy due to overwhelming medical bills. This is someone who actually has health coverage, but it was not enough to prevent him from going into tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
The Affordable Care Act has many noble aims, but it is not the solution to our current health care crisis. A fix to our current crisis would take a commitment similar to the one made when Medicare was introduced in 1965. The introduction of Medicare was in many ways the opposite of the recent ACA rollout. Whereas simplicity is ābaked inā to Medicare, complexity is ābaked inā to the ACA. The website is one example of that complexity. A Medicare-for-all plan (also known as a single-payer plan) would ensure excellent health care for all Americans.
Dr. Michael Binder resides in downtown Cincinnati.
http://cincinnati.com/blogs/letters/2014/01/22/medicare-for-all-ensures-excellent-health-care/