An MD writes to Bill Sardi:

I thought I'd join the crowd and also state my wholehearted agreement with your article yesterday. I am a physician with a cash practice and am therefore uncoupled from the HealthCareSystem. My sight has even improved! I now enjoy seeing patients.

Every day I see patients who have been chewed up and spit out by the system. They are treated poorly by many of their doctors and their staff. They must wait, plead, sacrifice, leave messages, wait some more and when they finally get to see the doctor, they get 2 minutes, 3 prescriptions, labwork and a followup appointment before they ever know what ails them.

The current system is dysfunctional primarily because the healthy free market forces have been removed. Bureaucracy reigns, the consumer loses. Doctors lose, too, because almost all of us are miserable and feel out of control.

My practice is relatively new: 2 years. It is successful and has a good reputation. I have a real fear that it's not long before my type of practice will be shut down.