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As lawmakers debate the logistics of President Obama’s health care overhaul and other equally important healthcare related matters doctors in congress make a difference. Politicians often cast their vote based on the sentiments of their constituents without fully understanding the complexity of an issue while a practicing physician has firsthand experience in dealing with the reality of health care economics such as the denial of a necessary procedure or medication by insurance carriers.

Insurance reimbursement is a factor most doctors will need to consider in how they will treat each individual patient. The physician must consider the financial consequences to their practice and the patient if the carrier decides a costly surgery or diagnostic procedure is not medically necessary. Sometimes against their judgment and medical training they must deny certain services to patients with insufficient coverage or without insurance altogether.

Without the input of practicing physicians important health care bills would certainly overlook the required verbiage necessary to make them practical and workable for real patients with real medical conditions. It is only through actual experience that one is able to predict the impact of issues such as Obama’s healthcare plan, funding for medical research, the AIDS epidemic, insurance regulation, etc.