Thanks to Dr. Kevin Pham for his candor about the elephant in the room: “Suffocating administrative requirements” that are “the largest contributor to physician burnout” and “job dissatisfaction” (“Doctors should take care of patients, not their computers,” Star-Advertiser, Sept. 29).

Doctors also spend hours negotiating with insurance clerks, requiring large office staffs handling documentation to get approval for needed treatments, which often are denied anyway.

Canadian Medicare doesn’t restrict doctors and it reduces paperwork, cutting Canadian health care costs by one-third.

Doctors fear students won’t enter medicine because present conditions hamstring a doctor’s ability to practice. A Medicare system that allows doctors to do their jobs again — freeing them from onerous insurance company micro-management — would help attract and retain doctors.

State law created the Hawaii Health Authority, which can create a Medicare system for Hawaii residents — if the governor would give it funds to do the job.

Renee Ing

Makiki

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