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are complicit, when a patient says "I want Drug A", or a drug for whatever ails them, and the doctor, in order to save time or aggravation, complies.

Charging patients, $10, $15, $20 and more to fill out forms that require nothing more than a signature, increases the costs for patients. It used to be that the cost of a phone call or filling out a form or note was included in the cost of the visits. Often patients are now charged additional fees for these services, while the costs of the visits do not go down to reflect their previous inclusion.

(The allegation that medical malpractice awards drives up the costs is a fallacy. Public Citizen states "5.9 percent of doctors have been responsible for 57.8 percent of the number of malpractice payments from 1991 to 2005, with each of these doctors making at least two payments."(5)

If Dr. Cox and her colleagues sanctioned the recidivist bad doctors then the level of malpractice would decrease even further by weeding out the repeat offenders. If the insurance companies are gouging the doctors on their medical malpractice insurance the physicians need to fight this, rather than blaming the malpractice victims as has been the case, and passing on these costs to their patients.)

The reasons for the unaffordability of health care do not require deep searching.

There is no question that insurance must be made available and affordable for all but the medical profession, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies need look no further than in their own backyards to answer Dr. Cox's question.

_____________________ ______________________________ ______________________________ _____________
1.http://www.aarpmagazine.org/ money/Articles/a2004-06-28-mag -ripoff.html
2 Ibid.
3.Ibid.
4.http://www.heali ngdaily.com/conditions/pharmac eutical-companies-2.htm
5.http: //www.tortdeform.com/archives/ 2007/01/public_citizen_medical _malprac.html

Clinton's heath care plan: http://www.hillaryclinton.com/ Issues/healthcare/summary.aspx
Obama's health care plan: http://www.barackobama.com/iss ues/pdf/HealthCareFullPlan.pdf
McCain's hea;th cae plan: http://www.johnmccain.com/Info rming/Issues/19ba2f1c-c03f-4ac 2-8cd5-5cf2edb527cf.htm

Learn more about this author, Carol Levy.
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