KOSCIUSKO — After reading the July 12 letter to the editor by Ms. Sue Harmon, chair of the Attala County Democratic Executive Committee, I felt compelled to respond. I completely agree with her on one point. She encourages the reader to get the facts and educate themselves on the “Affordable” Care Act. She directs them to one Website which basically restates the White House talking points, which she eloquently summarizes in her well-written letter.

Since the bill itself was so long that nobody in Congress read the whole thing and now over 12,000 pages of new laws and regulations have been added since it was passed, it will probably take too long for the average reader to tackle it. So I will direct you to a schematic diagram which you can find by Googling “Obamacare Diagram”. It looks like “Where’s Waldo” but it is not a cartoon.  It’s an attempt to show what the law will look like when fully implemented in 2014. Scary.

Another source of facts that is not a government Web site is done by a grassroots organization of doctors and patients who are concerned about the direction this law is taking us.  In a recent survey they found 83% of doctors had at least considered leaving the practice of medicine. Their website is www.doctorsandpatients.org . I started to do a formal political rebuttal but decided to give readers some other places to look for facts and make this more personal.

As a pediatrician who has taken care of children in Attala and surrounding counties for over 25 years, both with Medicaid, CHIPS, and private insurance, I’m deeply concerned about what will happen to the chronically ill children particularly the tiny preemies. They tend to have multiple chronic problems, require expensive medicines and treatments, require multiple doctors, and may need wheelchairs and other devices. When the money gets tight which is inevitable since the country is running on borrowed money, what happens to those babies with all those special needs? The same concerns exist for people at the other end of life when most of the healthcare costs are incurred by elderly people with chronic conditions. There may not be “Death Panels” per se but there will be rationing just like every other country with socialized medicine.

As doctors, both my husband and I have considered leaving medicine if they force us to write abortifacients (morning after pills) and to pay for abortions through our insurance for our employees. We are prolife and morally opposed to these things. The so called Affordable Care Act would force us to do both.

The problem is not access to contraception, it is immoral sexual behavior. The problem is not access to care but it certainly will be if this law is not fully repealed and doctors stop accepting Medicaid/ Medicare or leave medicine outright.

As a cancer patient this law scares me to death since my survival depends on access to good medical care and expensive medicines. My husband and I went to MD Anderson, a world-renowned cancer center in Houston, Texas, and saw people from all over the world there. We were the only English speaking people on our shuttle bus from the hotel to the cancer center. Why were people there from all over the world? It is because America has the best healthcare system in the world- not a “current broken for profit healthcare system” as Ms. Harmon put it. When was the last time anyone went to Cuba for healthcare? They have universal coverage for all, but with what?

It all comes down to this – Who do you trust to make the best healthcare decision for you? The government or you and your doctor? Politicians of either party cannot be trusted to make the best decisions for your life. Anybody who thinks the government can possibly do anything affordable and reliable that won’t be riddled with fraud, abuse, and inefficiency is deceived. Ask any veteran who has to depend on the VA Hospital and their clinics just how efficient that is.

This law is just like a cancer because it will surely kill this great country as we know it if it is not quickly and completely repealed and treated like the disaster it is. And that’s the truth.

Dr. Betty Turner