A more just and humane society
EDITOR: As a local physician I am deeply disappointed in our current administration’s efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. The ACA has allowed 20 to 30 million Americans to obtain health insurance, including healthy people unable to afford it previously as well as those with pre-existing illness who were essentially excluded from the commercial insurance market. Having been a physician for nearly 30 years I have been gratified to witness the declining numbers of people postponing needed healthcare until it is too late.
The newly proposed healthcare legislation is estimated to cause 14 million individuals to lose their health insurance over the next year with another 10 million following in the next decade. This will undoubtedly result in at least thousands of unnecessary deaths, at a conservative estimate. As physicians, the majority of us view health care as a basic and fundamental right for all our people and thus many major groups have announced their opposition to the repeal of the ACA, including the American Medical Association and the largest internists’ and family practice physicians’ groups.
In California, we fortunately have very active health care provider groups, including physicians and nurses who for decades have been gradually developing the concept of a single payer system similar to Medicare to cover all Californians. Medicare is a remarkably effective and efficient system and allows seniors and the disabled to receive high-quality healthcare.
This spring, our state legislature will be considering this legislation, SB 562. I along with many other state heath care providers will be encouraging its passage so that we will join the ranks of the other wealthy nations of the world in compassionately providing health care for all. I hope you will join us in urging our state legislators to allow California to continue to lead the way towards a more just and humane society.
Niranjana Parthasarathi, MD
Alexander Valley Healthcare
