To the editor:

Is medicine in Rhode Island market driven or patient driven?
Is it a business that requires a profit, and provides service as an advertising model?

These questions now are very important because in our state we have a major insurance company unable to get a contract with the medical industry, and as a result we have too many patients with cancer, diabetes, stents, and cardiovascular issues waiting for needed treatment because of money and a lack of a business contract.

Why?

The reason is medicine is not considered a right, but a privilege based upon earnings and ability to pay.

We are in a medical crisis, and the governor should call for the General Assembly to come back and face this issue. Many medical appointments and now being cancelled because their insurance companies have not signed a contract with many providers, and a major hospital is threatening to strike. Major diseases are regulated to a business labor strike.

The police and fire can't strike because of public safety and neither should licensed medical services be run as businesses. Police and fire contracts are resolved after negotiation, and if not resolved, then binding arbitration is required to solve the labor and management issues.

Cancer has no business, and neither do any of the other maladies. The Attorney General should go to court and get an injunction to force a solution, and the legislature should enact binding arbitration for all medical contracts within 30 days of negotiations or binding kicks in and a neutral arbitrator is assigned to resolve the disputes.

Public health should not be determined by a group of lobbyists worried by pure profits. Our state government should immediately step in. The time of disease is not negotiable.

Richard Ferreira
Riverside