Politico: Doctors Willing to Make a House Call

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

 Is there a doctor in the House? Well, yes. There are nearly 20 of us in the House of Representatives. Include other health care professionals, such as nurses and pharmacists, and there are even more. But you would not know it from the makeup of the president's health care summit.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama plans to meet with members of Congress with the hope of rejuvenating health care reform. Leaders from both parties have been invited to bring ideas. But not one member of Congress with a background in health care will be present.

When the administration and Congress meet on judicial reform, surely there are lawyers in the room. When funding or strategy for the military is debated, veterans serving in Congress are involved. So why is it that for an issue as important as health care, not one person in the room has treated a patient or diagnosed an illness?

Health care accounts for 17 percent of the nation's economy. Nearly half of the $2.5 trillion spent each year comes from taxpayers through programs like Medicare, Medicaid and veterans care. Something is wrong when members of Congress with health care backgrounds are left out.

The GOP Doctors Caucus, which I co-chair, was formed to separate the politics from the policy and focus on reforms that improve the quality of care, reduce costs and increase accessibility for all Americans. There are 14 members that use their professional expertise to offer ideas on improving health care, including how to eliminate the $800 billion to $1 trillion wasted each year in the health care system, the use of information technology to improve patient safety and ways to eliminate health care-acquired infections.

My colleagues and I have worked in the system.We know what needs to be fixed.Our counterparts on the other side of the aisle have their own experiences that can be drawn on to reform health care.These sentiments have been shared with congressional leadership and the White House with the hope that invitations will be extended to the medical community in Congress.

Without doctors, the summit raises the question, is this meeting meant to come up with solutions or just more political posturing?

Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), a psychologist, is co-chairman of the GOP Doctors Caucus.

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