Amnesia by Rick Simnitt Read Free Book Online Page A

farewell, and then closed it again. He turned, leaned his back against the door and shook his head in disbelief. National Medical Czar! Gregg knew exactly what he was referring to. It was the elder Stanton’s belief that the medical world needed shaking up, doing away with the current healthcare structure, and appointing a single man to direct, and correct, the nation’s healthcare crisis.
    This “Medical Czar,” Stanton believed, should be given direct and extensive powers to clean up the mess left in the wake of HMO’s, tort lawyers, and insurance companies. The Medical Czar would have the power to remove Medicare and Medicaid entirely and take all healthcare decisions back from the States. He felt that there should be one governing body that would control not only costs, but also the care given. It was a wild idea, one few would support, but the nation needed a solution that was fresh and new. This one might actually work, unlike any of the other politically correct attempts made thus far.
    Of course Stanton, a man made famous and rich through his own medical practice and political allies, had felt that there was no one better to lead this new organization than his protégé, the younger Doctor Stanton—the politically ambitious and savvy son of the medical baron: Darrion.
    Senator Windham partially agreed with the idea. He had seen skyrocketing insurance premiums that had beset his constituents; people going for little, or even no, insurance just to survive, then being hit with something catastrophic forcing them into medical bankruptcy. He even knew of families that had sold their homes and moved into apartments or trailers, just to afford the yearly increases in premiums. How could someone lose their home when all they wanted was health insurance to protect their family? It was enough to sicken him.
    He also knew that it wasn’t entirely the fault of insurance carriers. Medical centers, physicians, surgeons, all workers in the healthcare arena were constantly under the pressure to be perfect; in every way, every day. They were expected to always run the exact tests that were needed, use all the best equipment, and know almost presciently the exact ailment and cure. Then they were expected to wave a magic wand and make it all better. However all of this cost a great deal of money, for research, equipment, even training to stay current, and these costs are spiraling out of sight.
    Then came the tort and trial lawyers, always eager to line their pockets, caring nothing for either the physician or the client. Courts were deluged daily with attorneys trying to give clients “what they deserve,” seeking more creative ploys to elevate settlement amounts and court awards. No physician or health care center could handle these numbers, so they invest in their own insurance companies, who are all too willing to charge high premiums to protect their own interests, and possibly their clients as an afterthought.
    At first it looked like the Health Management Organizations, or HMO’s, were the silver bullet to end the spiraling costs. And they looked good too—at first. They pay their own doctors, they run their own tests, and they are the insurance carriers all in one. Of course businessmen, rather than physicians, run them so they were able to keep the bottom line firmly in sight, keeping expenses down, thereby holding the public premiums down as well. Unfortunately it was a two edged sword: they kept costs down by forcing doctors to avoid the more expensive tests and procedures, no matter how necessary they may be. Soon the horror stories began to be heard of people suffering or dying needlessly, doctors’ quotas, where the doctors are paid to not treat people, and people being refused service if they had been seen too frequently or out of the proper sequence.
    So what was the answer? All of Washington was searching for it, but thus far it had avoided detection. Then Stanton had come to see Windham. The senator had