September 7, 2009

Dear Congressman Neugebauer,

I very much love reading your weekly updates.

I’m so very pleased that you have stated, "I cannot support any plan that includes a government-run option...but I do not believe bigger government and more spending is the solution."

Thank you sir.

But I must take exception to the center portion of your statement..."We can all agree there is room for improvement in our health care system..."

Randy,
The health care system here in the U.S. is WITHOUT A DOUBT the very best in the entire world...!

I have been a health care provider right here in Texas since 1980.

Randy, there is NO health care system ANYWHERE that even comes close to what we provide right here in the U.S.
Never ever do you hear of Americans traveling to Canada for health care...!

Never ever do you hear of Americans traveling to Great Britain for health care...!

Never ever do you hear of Americans traveling to France, or Cuba, or Saudi Arabia, or Sweden, or Russia for health care...!

Randy, I am sooooooooooooooooo appreciative that you have said, "as long as a plan to nationalize our healthcare system is on the table, I will vote against it".

But Randy, here’s my problem:

• Realizing that there is NO health care system ANYWHERE that even comes close to what we provide right here in the U.S., and
• Realizing that Americans just simply don’t travel abroad for their health care...
  

I DO NOT agree that, "We can all agree there is room for improvement in our health care system..."

May I suggest that conservatives stop using that phrase, which has implications that are so far from the truth that are so unrealistic that it misleads the American public.

When people say that, "We can all agree there is room for improvement in our health care system..." they are misunderstanding something of critical importance...

• there is NO health care system ANYWHERE that even comes close to what we provide right here in the U.S.,and
• they are impugning the integrity of physicians like myself.
  

It’s not our health care system that is broken..............!

It’s ACCESS to our health care system that people are really talking about...!

We’re not really talking about the health care system itself, but some sort of reform of health insurance coverage.

Most of the current polls say that Americans are satisfied with their current health care insurance.

I know that you are NOT a liberal, but liberals like to spout things that too many conservatives tend to latch onto. For example, I don’t accept the liberal premise that our health care system is broken, and my patients throughout Abilene and all of West Texas don’t either.

Randy, please stop saying that, "We can all agree there is room for improvement in our health care system..."

Sincerely,

Dr. Chris Albritton
Abilene, TX