Marchers say ‘No to ObamaCare’

Dr. Kevin Fradkin couldn't stop smiling as he watched health care professionals walk the Strip on Saturday carrying signs that included messages saying "Kill The Bill" and "No to ObamaCare."

It is well past time, the 36-year-old general surgeon said, that Americans realize that many doctors and nurses and others in health care oppose the health care reform bills championed by President Barack Obama and U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

"Just because the American Medical Association has backed these reform measures doesn't mean all doctors support them," the Las Vegas physician said as he prepared to take photographs of the protesters marching down the Strip near Flamingo Road. "People need to know that."

About 250 people showed up for the noon protest sponsored by the Nevada Healthcare Professionals Coalition, whose members often say the AMA doesn't represent the majority of physicians.

An AMA representative told the Review-Journal in August that 250,000 of the nation's 940,000 doctors are AMA members.

Dr. Joe Heck, a Republican running for the seat of U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., used the march to campaign, as did Dr. Robin Titus, a Northern Nevada Republican trying to gain her party's support for a run against Reid in November.

A few supporters of Obama and Reid's health care plan showed up, including Carolyn Essex, who described herself as a 49-year-old "stay-at-home mom" who wants the kind of "affordable health care" she says the Reid bill will deliver.

"People want reform now," she said. "We can't wait any longer."

Fradkin said the reform measures winding their way through Congress do nothing to stop much of the health care dollars going for administrative costs to insurance companies.

"There's really no reform regarding insurance companies at all," he said.

Recent studies have shown that about 13 percent of private health insurance premiums go to administrative costs that include marketing, claims processing, managing contracts with doctors and hospitals, quality assurance, regulatory compliance, information technology expenses, general overhead and profits.

Two registered nurses on hand for the demonstration, Pat Nelson, 62, and Joanne Lutman, 58, said they want the public to know what happens when government becomes more involved in health care.

"You see how they treat people over 65 when it comes to vaccinating people with the H1N1 vaccine," Nelson said. "Even though a person has the same kind of chronic health condition as someone under 65 who is able to get a shot, the government doesn't allow an older person to get it. The government is making a decision on how much a person's life is worth."

Lutman said she lived in Canada for two years and was upset that people had lengthy waits for care under that country's government-controlled system.

"They even gave counseling to people waiting for open heart surgery, helping them deal with the fact they might die waiting," Lutman said.

Las Vegas physician Richard Chudacoff, who spurred an October march on Washington by about 250 physicians from across the country, was on hand for the protest.

"More and more doctors are deciding to speak out," he said. "They should. They know the most about what's going on."

Contact reporter Paul Harasim at pharasim@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2908.