Challenging AAD: Doctor disagrees on House bill 3200

Dear Editor:

I was dismayed to learn that the elite leadership of the American Academy of Dermatology has hastily supported House Bill 3200.

Not only does this bill introduce massive spending in the face of already ballooning budget deficits, it also promotes a government-run "public option" designed as an incremental step toward a single-payer system.

The explanation from our president, Dr. David Pariser, that support of the bill is necessary to "retain a seat at the negotiating table" is dumbfounding. We are the providers of healthcare, and if we do not have a seat at this negotiating table, then we would be obligated to inform the voting public of our exclusion.

The academy should have limited its support to general principles involving universal access, tort reform, insurance reform and fair reimbursement. Passage of this bill may remedy some currently scheduled cuts in reimbursement, but it will help create a system whereby future cuts would be innumerable and inexorable.

Reform is long overdue, but prematurely agreeing to a specific plan that marches us one step closer to socialized medicine is not in the best long-term interest of our patients or our profession.

Brian L. Baker, M.D., F.A.A.D.Somerset, Ky.