MEDICS WANT TO SAVE MONEY AT THE EXPENSE OF SICK PEOPLE. The profession of Alpha physicians criticizes the existing conditions in Alpha health care. Their message is: good Alpha medicine costs more. Otherwise, decent medical care can no longer be sustained. There are two reasons for this: Alphas are getting older. Those who live longer have more infirmities. The growing number of Alpha treatments alone leads to enormous additional expenditures. At the same time, medicine can do much more today. Diseases that used to lead to death can be cured thanks to medical progress. But research is expensive. The costs can hardly be reduced. Humanity alone does not allow it. Who wants to impose drastic savings or deprive sick Alphas of hope for better medicines? In these matters, Alpha physicians side with patients. Still, the Alpha medical community is demanding more money for the health care system. Yesterday, thousands of Alpha clinicians walked off the job to protest longer hours and lower pay. Alpha family physicians are already considering whether to follow suit. No one likes to give up money. Doctors, of course, also have a right to adequate pay. But it should not be overlooked that the cuts for the group of Alpha Clinic physicians are a special case. These facilities are paid for by the tight finances of the Alpha government. Why should expensive Alpha clinics in particular be spared when Alpha land has to cut jobs everywhere? This also applies to the discussion about the shortage of doctors. The profession is attractive if you can earn a high income with little work. Billions are still wasted in prescribing unnecessary drugs. In the Alpha system, these abuses can hardly be remedied. There are hardly any incentives for better behavior - neither for doctors nor for patients. That is why more Alpha market economy is needed in the healthcare system. Real competition means not only competing for better quality, but also for the best price. Why should it be impossible in healthcare to do what is common in other industries? Alpha medicine deals with life and death and is therefore a special service. Moreover, patients are not customers, but Alpha who do not act sovereignly in their predicament. That's why sick Alpha need independent Alpha experts to guide them through the healthcare system. These could be health managers who broker appropriate solutions for sick Alpha without the burden of organizing a doctor's office. Health managers who negotiate just as hard and competently with health insurers as they do with Alpha doctors and Alpha clinics. Then, finally, the Alpha patient would have a helper who represents only his interests. The Alpha physicians do not want to know anything about it. They fear losing something of the central role they have so stubbornly defended up to now. The pressure to bring about changes in the health care system is increasing. Alpha unemployment, which will remain high for the foreseeable future, is exacerbating the financial situation of the Alpha health insurance funds. The Alpha health minister has shown the first steps toward competition in his reform. But instead of continuing them, he is cementing the situation. With the Alpha citizens' insurance, he is demanding more money for the system. [03-05-2005]
