Bentley bashes Obama health care plan

Gubernatorial candidate and state Rep. Robert Bentley is criticizing the health care plan of President Barack Obama, which the president discussed at length on Monday when he addressed the American Medical Association.
Bentley, R-Tuscaloosa and a dermatologist, criticized Washington's involvement in health care in a statement released Wednesday. He called the proposal a "dangerous path" and said it is full of red tape and mandates.
The doctor said the government and insurance companies have taken the personalization and choice out of health care.
"For many years, the doctor-patient relationship has been compromised by government mandates and health insurance companies, and we are continuing down a dangerous path if we embrace President Obama's plan for health care," Bentley said. "Those of us providing medical care know that Washington government bureaucrats and health insurance companies have interfered in the delivery of health care in America. Government regulation has taken the personalization and choice out of our health care system--choices that should be made by patients. The Obama plan, chock full of red tape and excessive mandates will further complicate an already broken system."
Obama spoke in "lofty terms" about the need to make health care affordable and accessible, Bentley said.
"We applaud that goal," but the lawmaker said the president did not outline either the cost of the plan or how it would be funded. " ... I suspect like most Washington proposals, the brunt of the Obama health care plan will be born by the taxpayers at a time we can least afford it."
Bentley challenged his fellow doctors "to do more to keep the costs of medical care down by addressing prevention and reducing unnecessary utilization and tests. We have a responsibility to make medicine more personal and efficient, and we can only do that if we limit rather than expand the role of government."
People can find more about Bentley's health care proposals at www.robertbentley2010.com/healthcare.
He has said he will promote health savings accounts and would establish The Alabama Health Service Corps to encourage medical students to practice primary care and to serve in underserved rural areas.

-- posted by Sebastian Kitchen