DOCTORS WANT MY SYMPATHY? THE ANSWER IS, "NO!"

It seems to me, year after year, that the medical profession is trying harder and harder to force a show down.

Bad enough that costs have sky rocketed, forcing many who need certain care to have to opt to go without it.

But now we have doctors at war with insurance providers. One well-known Dallas doctor, for an example, refuses to accept any health insurance underwritten by Aetna. Aetna is one of the largest providers in the nation. Tens of thousands of teachers, for an example, are group insurance clients of Atena.

And then there's Aetna: Aetna will make payments to Baylor Hospital but refuses to acknowledge bills from Baylor Imaging. Baylor is Baylor. What's going on here? Either accept all or nothing.

Dental insurance covers 50%, so the dentist uses that as a reason to increase the amount of his regular billing. The patient saves little or nothing by having a dental policy. In fact, it could easily be that self-insuring is both cheaper and more wise.

It seems to me that anyone who was trained in a state supported medical school and hospital, has an honor-bound duty to make certain he/she serves the citizens of that state.

A significant part of that doctor's education and the facilities for him/her to work in while learning were paid for by the people of the state. Take that opportunity away, the likelihood is he/she wouldn't have been able to study for that profession at all.

If, on the other hand, the doctor was educated at a private medical school, say Harvard, then if the doctor wants to practice patient elitism, then so be it.

What's my point? It is absurd that getting medical care has required sick people to go to war with the people who are suppose to cure them, and the insurance companies who contracted with the patient to pay the major portion of their care.

While I was previously somewhat sympathetic to the doctors' position, from what I've observed in recent years, I'm not anymore.

Like many, I'm ready to try new ideas. It just doesn't seem to me they can be any worse than the status quo.