Do your part

Editor,

It’s 2013 and Obamacare begins. Now, there is a movement afoot believing no one should benefit from people’s health problems. Why stop there? Since we need to eat, farmers should only charge for the cost of food.

It probably costs more than a million dollars from the first day of college to the first patient seen in private practice. Paying all costs that aren’t covered by grants and scholarships may take years. Forty years ago, the doctor had a nurse and receptionist. Today, since the HMO rules the costs, so many more employees are needed. They don’t work for free. Now, fees are being reduced even more. You think you doctor makes so much money, but there are costs of continuing eduction for the license, and so many electronic devices to give the care needed.

Yet, patients believe they should be taken in at the exact moment of the appointment, no matter that the previous person required more time due to a big problem. Shouldn’t you be given the same consideration for your needs? And, how often do you quit smoking, stop drinking alcohol, exercise, cut calories or take your medicine as ordered? You go back and want a quick fix to years of doing what you want. And, you don’t want to pay for it.

Just providing a health plan doesn’t guarantee good health. You have to do your part to keep costs low.

Priscilla A. Styer
Porterville