NJ Physician Alieta Eck, MD testifies before U.S. Senate Subcommittee

CLICK HERE to download testimony in PDF format.

Testimony to the US Senate Committee on
Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
On Reducing Inappropriate Emergency Room Use by the Poor 

May 11, 2011

Alieta Eck, MD

Physician in Private Practice in Internal Medicine, Piscataway, NJ
Co-founder, Zarephath Health Center, Zarephath, NJ
President-elect, Association of American Physicians and Surgeons

Good morning.  I am a physician specializing in Internal Medicine.  I welcome the opportunity to speak in front of this committee, and explain what I have observed in both my 23 years of private medical practice and the 7 years of volunteering in a free clinic.

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Many U.S. employers to drop health benefits: McKinsey

(Reuters) - At least 30 percent of employers are likely to stop offering health insurance once provisions of the U.S. health care reform law kick in in 2014, according to a study by consultant McKinsey. "The shift away from employer-provided health insurance will be vastly greater than expected and will make sense for many companies and lower-income workers alike," according to the study, published in McKinsey Quarterly.

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Mature Physicians May Quit Rather than Recertify

    While most physicians are genuinely dedicated to constantly improving their skills, increasingly costly bureaucratic demands for recertification may cause many to say “Enough!” just as baby boomers retire and a physician shortage looms.

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In Praise of Town Meetings, by Ralph Kristeller, MD

For the record I have been a member of AAPS for a number of years.  I have high regard for its members especially Executive Director Jane Orient, MD.  Alieta Eck and I also have a special relationship.

It comes from growing up in the same neighborhood and sharing relationships with some of the same terrific physicians.

I am bonded to our NJ AMA Delegation for which I also have very high regard - and the bond goes back to my first association with them.

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New Jersey Plan to Cut Medicaid Costs gets good National Press

Click on the link below to read about the Zarephath Health Center and the plan to provide a better way to care for the poor.

http://www.worldmag.com/articles/17948?CFID=419866&CFTOKEN=36188474

 

Then, if you haven't already done so, click here and sign on to register your approval of the plan to give free medical malpractice coverage to physicians who donate in non-government free clinics.

 

There is strength in numbers and when the legislators see that we mean business, they will push for the legislation.

AAPS is the only physician organization to file an amicus brief to overturn ObamaCare

Entities in support of ObamaCare do not want the US Supreme Court to grant expedited review, and maybe they thought it best not to attract attention to the case.  But the US Supreme Court has already taken an extra week to deliberate over whether to grant review.  A decision may be rendered on April 22 or possibly Monday, April 25, or maybe the Supreme Court will take even more time before deciding.

AAPS is the only group of practicing physicians that submitted a brief to the US Supreme Court Justices to consider in deciding how to approach ObamaCare.  Our brief was skillfully written by Andy Schlafly, our legal counsel (and incidentally a former classmate of President Barack Obama at Harvard Law School)

It is quite likely that our brief is being read over and over.

Please consider joining the AAPS to increase physician influence before the Supreme Court, and add your voice to the growing number of doctors who do not want the government to take over our profession.

http://www.aapsonline.org/hhslawsuit/aapsamicusapril42011.pdf

Support the Volunteer Physician Protection Act

To show your approval, go to http://www.njaaps.org/support-vppa, and fill in the short form.

We just got word that the New Jersey Medical Society Board of Trustees has overwhelmingly approved of our plan to reform the Medicaid system in order to enhance the way we take care of the poor in NJ, reward the physicians with comprehensive medical malpractice protection for all their professional work in the state, and to relieve the taxpayers of the huge burden of the current system.

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A Medical Malpractice Solution for NJ - Peter Leone, Address to NJ Legislators

April 14, 2011, Whippany, NJ

Thank you, Dr. Alieta and Dr. John Eck, and thanks also to Jeff Weingarten for the opportunity to address this group.  My name is Peter Leone, and for over two decades I was the head of the Claims Department at New Jersey’s largest insurance company.

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NJAAPS meets with the OLS in Trenton

On April 12, 2011, Andy Schlafly,  legal counsel to the AAPS, Peter Leone, expert in medical malpractice, Nora Craig, NJ-2011 co-founder, Lou Crescitelli, legislative Chief of Staff, and Drs. John and Alieta Eck went to Trenton to speak with government officials from the NJ Office of Legislative Services.

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Medicaid Facts and a Plan to Replace it in New Jersey

Medicaid in NJ- from Kaiser Health Facts- 2009 percentages  (http://statehealthfacts.org/)

1 in 7 New Jersey residents is on Medicaid

Current Medicaid budget- $10.7 billion  ($5.3 billion- eldercare; $5.4 billion- acute care)

Acute Care- Where does the money go?   (certainly not to physicians)

• Hospitals- 17%  =  $900 million
• Prescriptions   9%  =  $500 million
• Physicians, labs, x-rays  1.8% =  $90 million

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