Dr. Robert Ferrell at March 10th Rotary Meeting

Tom DeRiemer introduced guest speaker, Dr. Robert Ferrell. In his presentation, Unaffordable, Dr. Ferrell, a geriatric psychiatrist familiar with the health care scene, lambasted the current Affordable Health Care law as “fatally flawed.” Describing it as in a “political morass” he sketched for us what has happened; where do we come from and, where are we going with it. The development of national health care has been a “convoluted process” tracing its origins to Teddy Roosevelt in 1914. The flaw, as Ferrell sees it, is the adoption of health care as a business formula, using a mix of “customers” following a marketplace plan to make a profit, beholding to the “shareholders.” This has created an unwieldy and complex situation controlled by the government where “people are forgotten”. He passionately presented his beefs. He described the affordable care “myths” and gave examples of the problems. He proposes a National Health Insurance which he claims will be more efficient and cost effective.

He’s not sure it will work but it is more comprehensive than what we face now.