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Executive Vice President's Report -
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As a patient, I want a health care plan that belongs to me. I want a plan that places me in control and allows me to take responsibility for my health care. I want a plan that allows me to sit down with my doctor and determine together what course of treatment is best for meeting my needs. I do not want to continue with the plan I am in now which does not reimburse my physician because he is not on the panel, nor pay one cent towards the medication I use because it is not on the drug formulary.
Since the 1930s, the United States has favored employer-purchased health plans. These plans are employer chosen and do not belong to me! I fully understand that during the war years, wages were frozen and one way employers could give employees additional incentives and reward was by providing health insurance. Hey, World War II has been over for years! It is time to modernize our thinking.
What is wrong with an employer providing an employee with a predetermined amount of tax exempt money that the employee can use to purchase whatever kind of health insurance coverage deemed appropriate? What is wrong with an employee being able to choose from a variety of health insurance products the same way as those employed by the United States Government? What is wrong with an employee who is young and has a family being able to put up some out of pocket money in order to expand on coverage to meet the needs of the family? What is wrong with the employee being able to choose coverage offered by managed care, or an indemnity plan, or whatever?
What is wrong with the Duval County Medical Society providing Phil Gilbert with a set amount of money that he can use to select and own a health insurance plan of his choice? What is wrong with the Duval County Medical Society offering to its employees a program that is budget predictable and at the same time maintains a standard basic benefit for all of us?
What is wrong with government allowing Phil Gilbert to have freedom of choice? Freedom to pick his own doctor. Freedom to use a specified amount of tax exempt dollars over and above what the DCMS provides in order to meet the varying needs of his family as time and conditions change. Freedom to choose from a variety of insurance products.
In 1859, John Stuart Mill said, "The only freedom which deserves the name, is that of pursuing our own good in our own way, so long as we do not attempt to deprive others of theirs, or impede their efforts to obtain it."
Freedom of choice - it used to be one of the basic blocks upon which the United States was built. Darn it, I WANT MY FREEDOM.
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