'Mad as Hell Doctors' coming to town

Susan Schell

Nov. 4, 2009 (McClatchy-Tribune Regional News delivered by Newstex) -- A group of doctors made national news this fall as they caravaned across the country to spread the word about the benefits of health care reform.

Traveling with their "Care-A-Van" and dubbing themselves the "Mad As Hell Doctors," they motored toward their destination, a musical and informative rally at Lafayette Park in Washington, D.C.

The Fox Island United Church of Christ will host members of the group for a community health care town hall on Sunday.

Bob Wickline, a musician and member of UCC, helped to bring the doctors to the forum. Wickline traveled with the doctors for a portion of their tour and penned the Mad As Hell Doctors' theme song.

"There's a myth in this country that doctors are opposed to single-payer health care," Wickline said. "I don't understand why people are shooting themselves in the feet. People opposed to the plan are opposed to their own self-interest."

The UCC National Conference joined the movement with their support of House Resolution 676 for Single Payer Healthcare, which would offer Medicare for all.

Wickline said since everyone pays into the system, everyone should be able to use it.

"No matter what people say, if we get Medicare for all, it will reduce expenses," he said. "Everyone pays into it anyway, why not reap the benefits? That's all we're asking for. If you like your private health care, keep it."

Dr. Mike Huntington, one of the co-founders of Mad As Hell Doctors, will speak at the forum. He has been in practice as a radiation oncologist in Corvallis, Ore., for 35 years.

Huntington said his interest in the single-payer system was sparked 15 years ago when he saw how much high-tech equipment was costing cancer patients.

"Between 1996 and 2006, the cost for treating prostate cancer tripled," he said. "The reason for it happening is that the technology is seductive."

Huntington said the Mad As Hell Doctors concept was born last spring during a social gathering of doctors and health care advocates in Portland. It was discovered that doctors were upset that the single-payer plan was not being considered by U.S. legislators as a solution.

They formed the group and took the show on the road.

During the forum in Washington D.C., congressman Dennis Kucinich gave a "barn-burning speech about the suffering across the nation caused by our current health care system," Huntington said.

Wickline got involved with the doctors while he was on tour with folk singer Anne Feeney during a "sing out" for single-payer health care.

While playing at a venue in Sequim, an audience member suggested Wickline get in touch with the Mad as Hell Doctors. He did, and it was a perfect match for the doctors and the musician, who has been an advocate for universal health care since the 1970s.

"This has been going on a long time," Wickline said. "We need to be aware and beware of the health industrial complex. They put profit before people and greed before goodwill.

"There's a lot of money that goes into health insurance that we never get back," he added. "Health insurance companies have CEOs that are making millions of dollars."

Wickline said Medicare was originally meant to be for everyone, but health insurance and pharmaceutical companies have been standing in the way of progress.

According to a recent Harvard study, 44,000 people die each year nationwide because they don't have health care.

"When they finally realize they're so sick, they have to go to an emergency room, and by then, it's too late," Wickline said. "How can an insurance company pay the CEO $1.8 billion a year and then turn around and say they don't have the money for a liver transplant for a young girl?

"We have the money," he added. "We have the billions of dollars to go to war. It's time we started taking care of ourselves."

Huntington said insurance companies create their own problems by having so many plans, which produces chaos.

"It reduces that chaos to one funding mechanism with a standard set of benefits that everybody is eligible for," he said. "So the doctor doesn't have to sort through hundreds of pages of documents to find out if their patient is eligible for a particular drug or surgery."

The advocates believe education is instrumental in making options for health care reform clear.

The forum on Fox Island won't necessarily be a soap box gathering, but a musical festival, Huntington said.

"You do have to get information to people, but you also have to entertain them," he said. "You can tell the truth with words, but music gets it into the mind and into the heart. You have to stimulate their passion for fairness and their families and others, and music does a good job of that."

Health care town hall meeting

Doctors who traveled the country this fall will visit Fox Island on Sunday for an informational and musical public forum.

When: 7 p.m. Sunday

Where: Fox Island United Church of Christ, 726 6th Ave. on Fox Island.

Reach Lifestyles Coordinator and reporter Susan Schell at 253-853-9240 or by e-mail at susan.schell@gateline.com.

Newstex ID: KRTB-0276-39448201