Physician Talks Universal Health Care on Local TV Show
LEE, Mass. — Dr. Michael Kaplan appears this week on the local television program "Spirit of the Berkshires" to discuss a universal, single-payer health insurance plan with show host Andrew Cort. The show will first air on Tuesday, Sept. 1, at 6:30 p.m. on Community Television for the Southern Berkshires.Kaplan is a family practitioner with Lee Family Practice, a faculty member at Tufts University School of Medicine and the University of Massachusetts Medical School, and a member of Physicians for a National Health Program.
According to Kaplan, universal health-insurance programs, in which every citizen is fully covered for all necessary medical expenses, have proven to be extremely effective, fair, and cost-efficient in every developed nation where such plans are utilized. In the bill that is currently before Congress, everyone will have full choice in choosing their own doctors, he said, and all medical decisions will be be made by patients and their doctors.
The only time the government insurer will be involved is when they process and pay a bill. It is true that tax money will have to be used to pay for this, but these taxes will be more than offset by the fact that taxpayers will no longer have to pay monthly premiums or co-payments, said Kaplan, let alone the enormous costs of care that the uninsured and poorly-insured currently have to pay, and everyone will be assured of the best health care available.
"Spirit of the Berkshires" is produced at CTSB-TV for public access Channel 16. It can also be seen on the following days and times:Wednesday at noon, 12:30 and 10 p.m.; Friday at 10 p.m.; Saturday at 7 p.m.; Sunday at 2 and 7:30 p.m.; Monday at 10:30 a.m. and 8:30 p.m.; and Tuesday at 4:30 a.m.
The show is also being run on various days and times by PCTV (Pittsfield), NBCTV (North Adams), WilliNet (Williamstown), ELCAT (East Longmeadow), LCTV (Longmeadow), NCTV (Northampton) and GCTV (Greenfield).
In addition, all episodes of Spirit of the Berkshires are available on the Internet at www.andrewcort.com/spirit.
The host, Dr. Andrew Cort, D.C., J.D., is a teacher, an attorney, and a doctor of chiropractic. He is the author of Return to Meaning: The American Psyche in Search of its Soul (Outskirts Press, 2008) and several other books. Dr. Cort lives in Tyringham.
