Philip Pizzo, Dean of Stanford U Med School Nails Gingrich for Fearmongering

Excerpt from: Don't buy Newt Gingrich's doomsday healthcare prophecies

Like many other doctors, I have looked to the prospect of reform as a way for America to reclaim its place as an international leader in healthcare, and for physicians to focus on patients rather than bureaucracy and the bottom line. Undertaking such an important shift in how we deliver healthcare requires a robust national debate. Some leaders, however, choose to rely on fear instead of facts to make their case.

Newt Gingrich says nothing new in his Aug. 16 Times Op-Ed article, 'Healthcare rationing: Real scary.' Gingrich presents the same old litany of scare tactics that we've heard in the past: government bureaucracies run amok and limited choices resulting in rationed healthcare. Gingrich's doomsday prophecies are simply not consistent with the facts.

Every healthcare consumer in this nation (that's all of us) has a substantial stake in the success of reform. If we fail to pass the reform legislation, we will continue on our current downward financial spiral, and our fragmented healthcare system will ultimately collapse under the weight of increasing costs. Don't think for a minute that stopping reform is good for America. It's like deciding that a serious disease will get better if we ignore or fail to treat it -- even if the required treatment is painful.