Mar. 24--On the same day that President Barack Obama signed health care reform into law, two South Pasadena doctors opened their offices for a day of deeply discounted and in some cases free health care.
While the president sorted through 20 pens to sign the health care bill, Dr. Gary Seto and Dr. Chai-Yung Tsai checked blood pressure, sore shoulders and gave medical diagnoses to many caught in the cracks of the current health care system. The giveaway was part public service and partially a way to bring attention to the need for reform, Seto said.
Patients either paid what they could or nothing for the services. Seto applauded the signing of the bill Tuesday.
"Anything is better than we have right now," Seto said
"It's a positive to not have patients fear for their health because they don't have health care."
Tsai expressed cautious optimism.
"All the debate was about a perfect plan and there is no such thing," he said. "But this is a great start. It gives people access."
Anne Kibbe of South Pasadena, is a self-employed single mother of two. Her decision not to keep health insurance was about dollars and cents, Kibbe said.
"The last quote I got for health insurance was almost twice as high as my car payment, and I can barely afford to make my car payment," she said.
She said she struggles to pay her bills and doles out cash for her children's doctor visits, a practice she knows is risky.
A chronic illness in her or the children would send Kibbe spiraling into debt, she added.
"Thank God my kids have nothing serious," she said.
The passage of health care doesn't relieve Kibbe of the burden she bears as the major parts of the legislation won't take affect until 2014. But once they do she is still worried about whether she can budget for health insurance that will be mandated.
"I don't know where the money is going to come from," she said. "I am a single parent and I have to pay for my car and my home."
Seto and Tsai agree that the health care reform represents a massive change for doctors, but both men want to see more changes especially from the inside of their profession.
"We need more primary care physicians," Seto said. "If you get people affordable preventive care they will be healthier. When you have good preventative care costs go down."
That preventative primary care is often done by family physicians, and many medical school students choose no to to enter family practice, said Analisa Armstrong, a third year students at University of Southern California Medical School.
She said the difference in pay between family doctors and specialist can be hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"I think when you graduate with a quarter million in debt, it tips the scales in favor of going into a specialty that pays more money," she said.
According to Tsai the economic incentives may shift with health care reform.
"If there is a need for more primary care doctors because more people have insurance, they have to pay those doctors more and people will fill that need," he said.
brian.charles@sgvn.com
626-578-6300, ext. 4494
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