Mad As Hell Doctors Makes a Stop in the OC in Irvine, CA

This was quite a large showing with physicians in Orange County participating, one an ER room physician from Kaiser Permanente. Many consumers also attended to find out more about what a single payer plan would entail. As I have mentioned before this would be a big undertaking and change. The insurers have so much of the data and infrastructure so for this to occur in a large fashion there’s a lot of work to be done for setting it up, although a public plan would be a good start to set the wheels in motion.

Mad As Hell Doctors Hit the Road for California Tour

From the Website:

Mad As Hell Doctors are physicians and other advocates who in August 2009 decided that we were indeed mad as hell about the cruel and inefficient system of health care that we have in the US. Last September, as the healthcare debate raged in Congress, we embarked on three week road trip through the heartland of America, speaking at single payer rallies and town halls in churches and union halls, universities, public parks and arts centers in 30 towns and cities in 15 states. We attracted 6,000 participants and interviewed hundreds of Americans on camera. We carried the message of their suffering under our current health care system to our Congress members in Washington, D.C.

IRVINE – Bill Honigman, an emergency-room doctor at Kaiser Permanente in Anaheim and Irvine, says the only way to make real progress on a health care overhaul is to get rid of private insurance companies altogether.

"Ultimately," he says, "we're going to have to muscle them out of the system."

The event is was held at the Irvine United Congregational Church.

Honigman shared the stage Saturday night with three other doctors – two from Corvallis, Ore., and another from the Bay Area – who have been touring California for the past week and a half addressing crowds both big and small about the inefficiencies of the current system. They don't think much of the Obama administration-backed bill that became law six months ago, saying it was written by and for insurance companies.