BY LESLIE CHAMPLIN
 Voting is the route to political power, Jay Lee, M.D., tells patients at Long Beach (Calif.) Memorial Family Medicine residency, where he is a resident. Lee established a voter registration area in the clinic's waiting room. |
Thirty-four states are slashing about 1.6 million names from Medicaid rolls. A 48 percent explosion in health insurance premiums between 2000 and 2003 overshadowed the 12 percent to 30 percent spike in deductibles last year.
The scenario worries and angers patients, and they often complain to Jay Lee, M.D., a resident at the Long Beach Memorial Family Medicine residency program, Long Beach, Calif.
That's when he hands them the power. He points to the voter registration table in the waiting area.
"When people would complain, I'd ask, 'Do you vote?'" said Lee, who recently established the voter registration area. "They would give me a puzzled look and say, 'No,' and I'd tell them that's one way they can make a change."
Easy, simple procedure
Providing the registration area was simple, he said. With faculty approval and a little legwork, "We got going the next day," said Lee. "It was a lot easier than I thought."
Installed near a rack filled with patient education material, the registration box stirred spontaneous interest -- and voter registration -- among patients. Lee estimates he's delivered 300 voter registrations to the county elections office so far.
Political paradox
Lee's idea reminds people they have the power to change the system. When individuals feel disenfranchised, they behave, as a group, in ways that do disenfranchise them.
Harris polls in May 2003 and February 2004 found health care ranks among Americans' top three concerns.
"One of the most striking findings in this survey is that much of health care ... (is) paid for out of taxes," wrote Humphrey Taylor, chair of the Harris Poll, in an analysis of 2003 data at the Harris Interactive Web site http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=382. "A visitor from outer space ... would be puzzled by the popularity of politicians who favor tax cuts and, by implication, less money for the segments of the economy which the public believes should grow the fastest."
Getting people's attention
"People -- especially younger patients -- don't see a connection between voting and their access to health care," said Lee.
When Medicaid or private insurance restrict access by limiting physician panels and covered procedures or charging higher copayments or deductibles, patients begin to pay attention. They want to act.
"But for many, the biggest barrier is lack of a convenient way to register to vote," said Lee.
By helping people register and educating them about the link between voting and their personal welfare, physicians can make a difference, said Lee. FPs can refer patients to the Academy's "Policy & Advocacy" Web page at http://www.aafp.org/policy.xml for background on health care issues and how patients can influence political outcomes.
"In this age when organized medicine is really trying to bring back the voice of physicians through grassroots efforts, fewer physicians are interested in participating," said Lee. "It's almost a learned helplessness. But there is room for social change in medicine."
And with a little initiative, physicians can make it happen, he said. First step: Call your local board of elections. The staff there can help you get started.
To reach writer Leslie Champlin, e-mail lchampli@aafp.org.
FP Report is published by the AAFP
News Department.
Copyright © 2004 by
American Academy of Family Physicians.