A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that 1 in 3 doctors in the United States has altered a diagnosis or modified a report to make sure that his or her patient was covered by insurance.

Thursday, April 13, 2000

A recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that 1 in 3 doctors in the United States has altered a diagnosis or modified a report to make sure that his or her patient was covered by insurance.

After all rhetoric, all the posturing and all the arguments, there is no better piece of evidence that Americans are still suffering from a health insurance crisis.

Even if more families have insurance, it is still hard to get the care that they need without high co-payments or battles with pre-existing condition clauses. And, there are still plenty of working families who can’t afford any real health insurance.

A doctor shouldn’t have to alter his diagnosis to make sure a patient’s medical care is covered by insurance. Providing affordable health care to working families and retirees is as important as making sure poorer families can get to doctors if they need to without worrying about paying the bill.

Although some strides have been made with managed care and the offerings of the healthcare profession have expanded, this country still has a long way to go to get to the place where no American family has to worry about finding and paying for a doctor.

Congress doesn’t really want to face the fact that there is still work to be done on health care and insurance. This JAMA study is just another bell in a loud wakeup call.