I read recently the account of Dr. Kenneth Stubbs getting away from overwhelming government regulations in reference to medical care and escaping from the insurance companies who are trying to run the show. According to the report, he has decided to go on a cash only plan.

Those of us in the medical field know Dr. Stubbs as one of Natchez’s finest physicians. He is dedicated to the well-being of his patients and is a tenacious diagnostician. It is so discouraging to see a professional of his caliber become discouraged about his profession.

The long-term effect of the Obama care thing is that smart students who would go into medicine are also discouraged and go into other professions not showing such turmoil. Physician fees somewhere down the road will become less and a physician’s earning power will be compromised. Enter then the clowns, because the smart kids are doing something else to earn more money more easily than those in medicine.

There is no question that the high medical costs in this country are due to the insurance companies and government agencies establishing the price rate of hospital charges, medical procedures, pharmaceuticals and medical devices. This is truly a condition of the fox keeping watch over the henhouse. It has long been a situation that welcomed and paid for ever increasing higher costs.

In any situation in which a third party pays the costs, there will always be inflating costs. I don’t know how many will remember when there were no food stamps. Poor people were supplemented with surplus commodities from the state such as rice, dry milk, cheese, dried potatoes, etc. When the food stamp program began, the cost of groceries sky-rocketed. One of the reasons I believe is the cause of continually increasing food prices is due in large part to the food stamp program. Whatever the grocer asks, the government will pay; no need to compare prices.

Added to all the medical payment problem, along comes a presidential administration who lives in la-la-land and has no inkling of how things are in the real world. They play Robin Hood in a futile effort to do away with poverty and consequently sap our coffers dry.

They believe that all problems can be solved by bowing to each other and having warm chats. They are vindictive and uncooperative and attempt to force their beliefs down our throats. This has caused utter mayhem with our economy, foreign policy, as well as medicine.

I wish I could offer a solution for all the problems that this country is facing right now. The only suggestion that I can make is for people who work and pay taxes make an all-out effort to vote in every election. We have voter ID now, and I believe it has made a difference.

 

Ed Field

Natchez resident