Public Forum Needed to Discuss Health Care Costs/Quality

Two recent articles attempted to discuss the topic of health care costs in America. One article appeared in The Oregonian, Onetime insiders help with health bills, and one article appeared in the The Arizona Republic, Globe-trotting to cut medical costs. My opinion is that neither of these articles were based on accurate facts and neither addressed the intended topic. I sent an e-mail to each of the authors stating "I am hopeful that you will try again to address this issue and use better journalism skills to write something meaningful and timely regarding health care costs".

The time has come for Americans to become knowledgeable about medical charges and medical payments and the role of the health care providers, hospitals, health insurance industry , pharmaceutical companies, and trial lawyers (liability and malpractice costs) have on the cost of health care in the United States. As a physician I understand I need to discuss health care costs with patients and I better be able to compete on quality and price in the future. Empowered with the true facts we can improve the delivery and economy of medical care in our country.