New Orleans - As the U.S. Senate prepares for a crucial vote on health care reform, many local doctors are paying close attention. By and large doctors who have talked to FOX 8 News said some type of health care reform is needed to keep people without health insurance from doing without medical care.
Dr. Benjamin Sachs, Dean of Tulane Medical School, said thousands of people are dying because they cannot access medical care in a timely fashion. He said they show up in hospital emergency rooms sicker than they should be. "Their diabetes is worse, their heart disease is worse," Sachs said.
But a portion of the Senate bill also contains a proposal for taxing cosmetic procedures like botox injections, tummy tucks and breast implants. Dubbed the "bo-tax," it would require people having elective cosmetic procedures to pay a 5-percent tax. Cosmetic surgeons are blasting the idea as discriminatory.
Local surgeon, Dr. Gregory Pippin said the tax, if approved, would affect women in disproportionate numbers. He said, "86 percent of people undergoing cosmetic procedures are women, this essentially is a 5-percent tax on working women, on soccer moms and that definitely is discriminatory in my view."
Dr. Sachs said the health care reform proposals are not perfect, but doing nothing about the health care crisis is not an option. "The truth be told is the bill will try and fix the first and most important issue which is to try to provide insurance to everybody in the country or almost everybody in the country, and that to me is a moral issue. Dr. Pippin also supports reform, but said it should not be done on the backs of people getting cosmetic procedures, especially since some procedures are for health reasons.
Before coming to New Orleans, Dr. Sachs lived and worked in Boston and assisted the late Senator Edward "Ted" Kennedy with his health reform efforts.
