Dr. Bruce Gardner mounted a show of support last week at his Queen Anne Family Medicine clinic for Chris Gregoire's run for governor. "I believe she has a viable health-care plan," he said.
Gardner's not alone. Statewide, 39 doctors and nurses listed on a large placard in his office during the event have also pledged support for the Attorney General.
Gardner said the event came about because he had met Gregoire's daughter and campaign worker, Courtney Gregoire. "And I told her I'd do anything for her mother."
The upshot was that Courtney asked him to put together a group of doctors who support her mother's candidacy, and he did, Gardner said.
One of the doctors was Peter McGough, a former staff member at Gardner's clinic and former president of the Washington State Medical Association at the University of Washington.
Reading from a prepared statement that was also mounted on a placard, McGough noted the state's health-care system faces many difficult problems. "The rising rates of malpractice insurance have forced many physicians to either give up the practice of medicine or move their practice to other states," he said of one example.
That was an issue Gardner also addressed at the event, saying his medical-malpractice-insurance premiums took a 25 percent jump this year, and that's without any suits being filed against him, he added.
McGough also noted that because of skyrocketing costs - many state residents can longer afford health insurance - even if they have jobs - and he added that many small employers no longer offer the coverage.
There is no "silver-bullet" solution to the problem, McGough conceded, but he said the state needs a leader who understands the complexities of the issue and is ready to start tackling the problem from day one.
"Chris Gregoire is that leader," he said, adding later, "And she has laid out a detailed plan to tackle the challenges facing our health-care system." Gregoire's plan will lower prescription-drug prices, streamline bureaucracy and paperwork, and invest in new research to cure Alzheimer's and diabetes, McGough said.
She would also provide common-sense medical malpractice reform, McGough said, by supporting a three-part solution that involves "increased competition in the medical liability insurance market, quick resolution of cases with fair compensation for legitimate claims, and a ban on frivolous lawsuits."
"We want to revolutionize health care in Washington state," is how Gregoire put it. She said she will push for real tort reform that could lower insurance costs for doctors if elected, and she called for making health insurance cheaper by pooling the coverage.
Gregoire also called for further stem-cell research, and for opening up the border so that cheaper prescription drugs can be imported from Canada. "It is not a safety issue," she insisted.
The Democratic candidate for governor also took a swipe at her Republican opponent, Dino Rossi, saying the former state senator proposed cutting medical insurance for 40,000 children in Washington.
Still, in response to a television reporter's question at the event, she admitted that the cut wasn't made. It didn't happen, but Rossi proposed the cuts as a bargaining chip in budget negotiations, according to Gregroire, who slammed the idea. "Our children should not be bargaining chips in budget negotiations," she said.
Staff reporter Russ Zabel can be reached at rzabel@nwlink.com or 461-1309.[[In-content Ad]]
