Making Lemons from Lemonade: Squeezing the Joy Out of Medicine.

• Position: MEDICINE & HEALTH - Editorial

Scandal upon scandal has dominated the airwaves and the Internet. Other than those involved, we have no way of knowing the truth or misremembering of the allegations, but we do know it is beyond sad that our congressional representatives, who have the privilege and honor to serve their country, have used the public purse to whitewash their misdeeds. These critters certainly know how to drag a noble calling into the gutter.

In the case of medicine, it is not the few well-publicized bad apples, but government and corporations injecting themselves into clinical practice that is driving down the trajectory of patient care. The days of physician as independent member of the community are waning fast--thanks to those paragons who run our country.

According to an American Medical Association survey, a mere 47.1% of practicing physicians own their practice. Another report notes that hospitals acquired 31,000 physician practices, a 50% increase, from 2012-15.

Now, UnitedHeatth Group plans to purchase the physician group from DaVita, a chain of dialysis centers, adding to their urgent care and surgery centers. Insurers owning (enslaving?) physicians supposedly contains costs. While innovation in improving delivery of medical care is laudable, it is not without risks. Patients likely will have fewer choices of physicians or be told whom to see. As far as insurance pricing, economists agree that more competition benefits consumers.

We must be wary: as these behemoths consume and control medical care, sins are mounting. For instance, Northern California's Sutter Health intentionally destroyed 192 boxes of documents that employers and labor unions were seeking in a lawsuit that accuses Sutter of abusing its market power and charging inflated prices.

Anthem, the second-largest health insurer in the U.S., was fined $5,000,000 by California's Department of Managed Health Care for "flouting the law" in dealing with consumer complaints. In 2016, insurance company denials were overturned in nearly 70% of medical review cases. California already had fined Anthem more than $6,000,000 collectively for grievance-system violations since 2002.

Moreover, the Federal government has stacked the deck in its new QPP (Quality Payment Program) that "adjusts" physicians' government...