CMA Health Policy Blog

Center for Medicare Advocacy Co-Hosts Tele-Town Hall and Local Event About Health Care Reform and Medicare With President Obama and Secretary Sebelius. Join Us on CSpan at 11am Today!

June 8, 2010 at 2:24 pm Judith Stein Leave a comment

Here is a comment about today’s health care reform TeleTown Hall from the Medicare beneficiary representing the Center for Medicare Advocacy at the live Town Hall meeting:

My name is Pat Conover. I’m 69 and I have heart disease, high blood pressure, and incurable fast-growing prostate cancer. I have other chronic conditions and special concerns as a transgender person.

I’m doing the wise things to take care of myself and am still productive in several ways. One of the big reasons for my sustained good health is my primary care physician, Dr. Gail Povar. In addition to being a good doctor she is an outstanding advocate and coordinator for my sometimes complex care. She has also had to spend time advocating for me to get the kind of drugs I need, a burdensome task because I am allergic to some of the most prescribed drugs for my condition.

 I am very pleased that health care reform included many positive elements that will recruit, support, and empower more primary care physicians. I believe you and the Congress can build on your success with stage one of health care reform by saving money and improving coordination of care by reducing current programs that try to coordinate care through complex organizations. Transparency and information exchange is valuable, but care coordination is intrinsically a network kind of activity that includes attention to the idiosyncratic aspects of the health care needs of people considered one-at-a-time. You don’t need to pay for a whole football team when the basic game is archery.

 Pat Conover – Silver Spring, MD

Entry filed under: Health Care Reform, Medicare. Tags: Health Reform & Next Steps.