|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
A Short History of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine: A Physician Faces the Clinton Health Care Plan—and Emerges a Champion of Capitalism
By Arthur Astorino, Jr., MD
July 1994
On July 4, 1992, I had been driving home from my ophthalmology
office, when I heard these words on the radio: "We hold these Truths
to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among
these are Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness..." As I
listened to the Declaration of Independence, I was struck with the
long list of tyrannies by the British government, particularly the
charge that the King of Great Britain "Has erected a Multitude of
New Offices, and sent hither Swarms of Officers to harass our
People, and eat out the Substance." I thought of similar tyrannies I
and my patients had suffered at the hands of the very government our
forefathers established to protect us from tyranny. I decided to do
what I could in the realm of medical care to defend our liberties.
My first step was to draft a proposal that I thought would give
control over medical care back to the individual patient in
consultation with his or her doctor. This first version of my
proposal was based on the concept of individual medical savings
accounts (MSA's); however, it involved the government's requiring
each American to maintain an MSA. At the time, I did not realize
that making MSA's required rather than voluntary would lead to
control by a government bureaucracy over people's medical care
decisions—the very thing I was trying to eliminate. I became
aware of this in January 1993, at a Washington meeting on health
care reform, when I met Dexter Bloome, MD, who introduced me to
such books as Patient Power and What has Government Done to our
Health Care?, and to people such as Jane Orient of the Association
of American Physicians and Surgeons. This began a phase of
tremendous learning on my part, and of networking with others who
shared my belief in liberty as applied to medicine.
I then drafted a revised health-care proposal which included
voluntary tax-free MSA's and high-deductible personal health
insurance, made possible by deregulating the insurance industry. I
promoted the plan in Washington, finally arranging (thanks to my
father's persistence with the phone) the meeting at the White House.
I presented my plan to two people from the office or Ira Maggaziner
(the director of the Health Care Task Force), showing them the
logic, economy, and morality of the medical savings account
approach. When I showed how individuals of modest means could
securely pay for their medical care, make prudent wise choices, and
accumulate tens or hundred of thousands of dollars in savings
tax-free over their working lives besides, they seemed very
interested. (Perhaps they were thinking of how government might be
able to get its hands on all the money?) But when I finished, the
reaction of Clinton's representative was only to say: "I am more
interested in seeing your proposed cost control measures on the
providers."
I concluded that those in political power today just don't get it—they believe not in freedom but in power and controls. I also saw
that, while books had been written making perfectly clear how a
free-market solution would be ideal for all Americans, the popular
press was almost completely silent about such a solution. If only
the American people could become knowledgeable about this solution
and demand freedom in medicine, then possibly the Administration and
Congress would oblige. I saw the need for an organization open to
all Americans that is proactive and stresses what we are losing and
what we must fight for: free choice, i.e., liberty. And so I founded
Americans for Free Choice in Medicine.
AFCM is an association of individuals dedicated to educating
ourselves and others about the importance of defending individual
rights in the realm of medical care. Our three guiding values are
individual liberty, personal responsibility and non-coercive free
markets. Only by allegiance to these principles will patients have
the ability to choose doctors who are their own advocates, not
government's or insurance companies' or "society's." Only by
allegiance to these principles can patients once again be confident
that their doctor is not being forced to place other considerations
above the individual patient's own life.
In our first year, I and other AFCM members have spoken to thousands
of people about the correctness and power of the values behind
freedom in medicine. This approach is finding broad-based appeal due
to its philosophic link to our American heritage, and its ability to
produce simple, specific reform ideas that work. [For details on
AFCM's reform ideas, write to .]
Dr. Astorino is the founder of Americans for Free Choice in Medicine (AFCM).
This article is taken from a longer version published in the July 1994 print edition of AFCM's newsletter, Pulse.
Copyright © 1994 Americans for Free Choice in Medicine. All rights reserved.
For reprint permission, contact AFCM.
|
|
|
Print Page
E-mail Page