If I never heard the name Ayn Rand again it would be too damn soon. You may have heard of her, conservatives have taken her philosophy and made it their own.

These are "free marketeers" who build their economic belief system on a work of fiction. Well now there’s a group, (heck for all I know it may just be the guy that put the page up) that is calling for doctors to go on strike in order to “preserve, protect, and promote freedom in healthcare”.

You see, according to Dr. Gregory Garamoni the problem in healthcare is that Washington politicians are poised to inject a lethal dose of statism into the heart of our healthcare system”. Not the fact that millions of Americans have no choice in health care because they have to see who ever is working at the free clinic that day.

He clearly despises the president, calling him the “Quack-in-Chief” and more and doesn’t have much good to say about the Congress or the media.

Dr. Garamoni has written a Declaration of Independence for Doctors and is calling for other physicians to e-mail him in order to sign it (hmm). Of course, that declaration doesn’t seem to say anything about health, it's a lot more concerned about the right to negotiate fees. (When was the last time you went to the doctor and negotiated the cost of your visit?)

They’re also trying to prepare doctors to go on strike “if the President signs into law any legislation that establishes another government healthcare plan” in the hope that the mere threat of such a strike would rile up the seniors and "help seniors focus their attention on this life-or-death issue”. Great, let me make sure I've got this straight, you want to get doctors to threaten to strike so you can scare old people into calling their legislators and cowing them into screwing over their grandchildren.

Why am I telling you about this? A couple of reasons.

First, it is just a matter of time before Dr. Garamoni or another one just like him is on the radio and Fox News as a legitimate representative of the “opposition”. If you are in favor of a public option in health care you need to know what we are up against. Combine this kind of philosophy with the $66.5 million dollars that PhRMA, has spent in the first three months of 2009 and the 1,300 lobbyists on payroll and that can buy a lot of television time.

How do you compete against a war chest like that?

* By telling the truth and telling your stories.
* By talking not just to your House Members or Senators but to your grandparents and your co-workers and your friends.
* By helping people who have never been really sick understand that paying for cancer treatment (COPD, MS, or MD or any of the hundreds of others) is not the same as paying for a broken leg.
* By writing letters to the editor and showing up at forums.
* By coming out of the medical closet and sharing what you went through and by holding your elected officials accountable.

It’s the only hope that we, those who can’t afford to buy insurance in the “free market” because of a pre-existing condition, have in this fight.
Originally Posted by Kate Burton at http://www.aftercancernowwhat.com