T. Haydel, DO, MHA

JUST IN: Trump announces RFK Jr. will investigate the link between vaccines and autism as the head of the HHS. NBC's Kristen Welker asks if Trump wants childhood vaccines to be eliminated. TRUMP: "If they're dangerous for the children." "If you take a look at autism, you go back 25 years. Autism was almost nonexistent. It was, you know, one out of 100,000 and now it's close to one out of 100." "Something is going on. I don't know if it's vaccines. Maybe it's maybe it's chlorine in the water, right? People are looking at a lot of different things. I want them to look at everything." Trump issued a nuanced take - saying some vaccines are great, but he still wants them looked into. "Maybe some aren't. If they aren't, we have to find out." Trump added that at Mar-a-Lago, he called up the top pharma companies and said he's going to devise solutions to our health and drug issues.

Why do so many doctors these days not take insurance? I can tell you my why. After I left the ER I joined a clinic that provided HRT for men and women, as well as comprehensive preventative medicine. We took insurance. They paid us about $90 for each patient visit. I spent 30+ minutes with each patient, face to face, plus another 20-30 min in preparation, ordering, and charting. So, I was getting paid $90 for an hour of my time. That's not enough to cover my staff, lease, utilities, supplies, malpractice and billing lady, much less myself. Primary care doctors who take insurance have to see a patient every ten minutes to make this math work. And, it took months to even get that $90. Months of haggling. And a full time staffer whose entire job was to make sure my charts were wordy enough to earn the maximum reimbursement. Also, oftentimes the insurance companies disagreed with my assessment and plan so refused to pay. They don't believe in "optimizing" or aggressive prevention. I understand that people pay for health insurance expecting to have all of their healthcare covered. But, a ten minute visit every 6-12 months is not enough. Good preventative medical care involves listening intently, educating carefully, motivating playfully and caring deeply. One cannot do even one of those things in a ten minute visit.

We need to take medicine back. For our patients. We need a movement and we need organization.