Letter: Healthcare Frustrations

A patient who was frustrated with a delay in testing recently told me “I now understand why Medicare pays you all less yearly”. The people suffering from broken healthcare are undoubtedly the patients, but doctors and nurses are not OK either. Unless we attend to this fact, none of us will be assured of getting healthcare when we need it the most. I have personally seen 4 excellent surgeons close our practices due to rising costs/inflation coupled with yearly cuts in reimbursement. I recently went to DC to meet with legislative staff of Senators Sinema and Kelly to share my story and how it affected the patients that had depended on me for 16 years in Oro Valley. Unfortunately, my experience is not isolated. There are many opportunities for improvement in US Healthcare, but most immediately, we must support adequate Insurance payments to assure adequate healthcare staffing in our communities.