A bunch of radicals? Oh, really, how 'bout Ohio physicians? Those radical physicians!

From John Curry, August 10, 2008

"Meanwhile, Ohio physicians questioned the insurance organization's motives."

Some people may want to tell that to the good MD who....also happens to be the President of the Ohio State Medical Association... said these words in a downtown Columbus rally in July of this year:

"We can't help but wonder where the industry has been for the past 20 years," said Warren F. Muth, president of the Ohio State Medical Association.

"While physicians and patients have been struggling to maintain access to quality care, health plans have focused on protecting their profits. Are they as serious about reform as they say they are? Only time will tell."

I guess the MD's must be a radical bunch, huh? John

P.S. Don't tell them that the next time you go "under the knife!"

Insurers talk health care Physicians, advocates doubt sincerity of national campaign to discuss reform

Columbus Dispatch, July 23, 2008

By Catherine Candisky and Alan Johnson

With reform seemingly inevitable, the health-insurance industry launched a national campaign yesterday to craft a solution to soaring health-care costs and coverage rates.

America's Health Insurance Plans, the industry's trade group, picked Columbus for the opening salvos because it is at "the epicenter of the presidential race," said the association's chief executive officer, Karen Ignagni. She met with a group of uninsured Ohioans at the Downtown YWCA.

Ignagni said it's a different approach for an industry consistently blamed for putting profits ahead of care by charging high premiums and denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions.

"We plan to have a policy proposal and push for its enactment," she said.

Even the attempt at conciliation included confrontation, however. On the sidewalk near the YWCA, about 200 sign-carrying protesters, many of them members of the Service Employees International Union, cheered, chanted and shook water bottles filled with unpopped popcorn.

When the nation debated health-care reform in 1993, insurers shot down the reform plan led by then-first lady Hillary Clinton, with its catchy "Harry and Louise" ads.

This time around, they plan a massive outreach effort, holding "listening" meetings around the country and airing television ads.

Ignagni heard from a dozen central Ohio residents at the hour-long session. They complained about high premiums and out-of-pocket expenses such as for co-pays, doctor visits and prescription drugs.

"The insurance companies are out to make a profit," said Derek Farmer, a Columbus attorney without health insurance who participated in the discussion.

Afterward, he said his biggest fear is that he or his wife will be involved in some catastrophic event in which health-care costs would bankrupt them.

Barbara Wirebaugh, a mother of three from Bucyrus, said, "I didn't even want to drive down here today." Her family became uninsured last year when her husband lost his job of 28 years.

The association supports coverage for the nation's 43 million uninsured and tax credits for working families to help them buy insurance.

The effort has been met with skepticism.

Addressing the crowd from the bed of a pickup truck, several speakers directed angry comments at insurance officials gathered inside the YWCA.

Linda Skamacha of ACORN, a nationwide grassroots advocacy group, said consumers "will mobilize from the bottom to the top to ask our elected officials, 'Which side are you on?' "

Cathy Levine, co-chairwoman of Ohio Consumers for Health Coverage, said the health-care system "is broken and we've got to fix it now. We've got to take control over health care from the insurance industry."

Another speaker, Chris Conrad, said she lost her job and became one of Ohio's 1.2 million uninsured. She now works at a low-paying job in a nursing facility and struggles with fibromyalgia.

"I feel I have to stay on the job for the health care," she said. "The health-care system in Ohio is failing me."

Meanwhile, Ohio physicians questioned the insurance organization's motives.

"We can't help but wonder where the industry has been for the past 20 years," said Warren F. Muth, president of the Ohio State Medical Association.

"While physicians and patients have been struggling to maintain access to quality care, health plans have focused on protecting their profits. Are they as serious about reform as they say they are? Only time will tell."

ccandisky@dispatch.com