The California Academy of Pa’s wrote me regarding Gov. Schwarzenegger’s Bill proposal regarding health care, this was my response.

Dear CAPA,

I finally joined the state organization because you are right I believe as well as you do power does come in numbers, I also believe that the best health care plan comes with a commitment to also treat the most numbers, and the plan that is rite is the one that will provide comprehensive care to all members of this state. I find it ironic that the Governor now gets press regarding “his” health care plan when he failed to gain press as he vetoed senate bill 840 last September which would have provided this kind of care to all Californians. The only reason the people will support his bill is because it has the right spin, it is dressed in the nicest clothing. I guess this is even how we elect our politicians. Again the governors bill holds true to what I would expect. A plan that assures that those profiting of the miss-fortunae of others will continue, while everyone else gets stuck with the bill. Why would we continue to stick by ineffective individual plans that spend 30% of our health care expenditures trying to figure out how to bill each procedure. Why would we continue to support inadequate health plans that do not provide comprehensive preventative therapy, vision, psychiatric, and dental plans. Why would we do this? If we eliminate all the money tied up in the Merry-Go-Round of gov. spending and put it into the system we could all have great and affordable health care! Why you ask does this not happen, it is because as always the wealthy business owners run the world, proof positive that our governor would veto SB840, and accept this proposal which is ineffective and costly! I can not imagine that we live in such a selfish world, I guess true action does not occur until suffering must affect all social classes, only then will change truly happen!
I like you believe Pa’s are a fundamental building block to a state wide, if not a national health plan. We provide excellent care at a much lower cost. Why is this you ask, why do we work for less… as many of my patients ask…. why didn’t you become a Dr. or more likely when are you going back to school to become a Dr? My answer, I became a PA because I felt that there was a piece missing in the puzzle and found that I was a good fit. Is this not life? Was I acting so selflessly to get paid less to do much of what a Dr. does… absolutely not… was I too stupid to make it through medical school………. I will never know…. did I lack some kind of drive? The answer is as a PA I feel like more than any other filed in medicine I can truly act as a patient advocate. I have the power to affect great change, this lies not only in a prescription pad or the ability to write a work note, but in the love of seeing people more healthy, the idea of knowing that my hard work, no matter how much I make, means someone feels better (at least hopefully) because I got out of bed today. There is no amount of money that could bring this joy. There is no position or title that could make this any better. In life’s puzzle, I found a fit, what better way to live ones life?
The Governor should be ashamed. I have written to him many times. So many like our governor who have climbed up top a mountain fear so greatly that they may fall down, that they fail to do what is right. But as we all know when someone climbs a mountain it is not the ones up top that keep them from falling but those at the bottom who hold the ropes. I can only hope that someday a leader will see this, and that will be the day this country finally sees a good health plan pass……
Hopefully as Pa’s we can all help make this day a reality!!

Sincerely, Stephen Pasquini
www.stephenpasquini.com