Jim McDermott has written a piece in the New England Journal of Medicine giving his view of how to improve health care.
Frankly, I was very disappointed. In these tough times, Seattle needs a congressman more in touch with the resources of his own district.
The editorial seems to me to be written by a staffer who has done minimal library research. Whoever wrote this is ignorant of serious debate as to whether preventive medicine, for example, cuts costs rather than helping people lead better lives. My understanding is that the Puget Sound Health Care Alliance has data comparing the Group Health system, with its great emphasis on prevention, to Primera. From what I have been told GH does not save money, esp since healthy people living longer increases the costs of healthcare for all.
Coming from a congressman from SEATTLE, the letter is astonishing in its lack of reference to the UW’s own programs that “give the lie” to many of the bald assertions here. For example , the UW School of Medicine is exactingly the sort of prestigious tertiary care facility the Congressman decries as setting a bad example for students training for primary care. Where has Jim been for the last twenty years. The UW School of Medicine is the home for a program that feeds medical students in Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska, and Montana as well as our own rural areas. I dare Jim to to tell the students in the WWAMI program that we here in Seattle set a bad example for them! What we do, is to offer rural and primary care experiences while giving these students a chance to become high quality docs able to provide real knowledge to their patients.
As a patient, what really worries me is McDermott’s facile praise for the Texas Tech “accelerated 3 yr M.D. ” Ask yourself what you want an MD to be? Do you want an expert who will recognize when you are really sick or someone whose education is limited to triage?
American medicine has seen this sort of make-a-doc for cheap effort before. Just before WWII, scandals about such programs led to the Flexner report and the closing of a large number of medical schools. The former Soviet Union and Mao’s China had similar efforts designed to turn out “feldlshers” and “barefoot doctors.”
Again. all Jim needed to do is to walk over to the UW . We are very proud of our excellent MEDEX programs and Nurse Practitioner programs , prgrams to provide the mix of professional patients really need.
Jim McDermott has longe claimed to be a an expert in healthcare, I urge him to take the time to spend more time learning from the UW School of Medicine!
> Wow you are one tough guy!! But maybe there is a good reason for his lack
> of leadership and status in congress. He tends to burn bridges and appears
> out of touch with those who do not share his somewhat liberal views, most
> notably his actions leading to bagdhad jim moniker.you cannot lead if you do
> not listen or care about other views.