When I first read Blow's report, my mind shifted immediately to patients who come to our Community Health Services building here at Central Dallas Ministries.

I can't forget one hard working father who battled kidney stones. Uninsured, he went to the ER of a major hospital in town. The hospital treated him with pain killers and antibiotics. They never hospitalized him because they didn't have to. The law requires treatment on an emergency basis, not ongoing treatment for "self-payers" like him. By the time he reached our doors he was in the midst of end-stage renal failure.

We went to work to get him a kidney transplant and helped negotiate the rate and raise the cash to pay for the procedure that saved his life, sent him back to his family and to work. We were glad to help. But our response is not a replicable model for health care.

Sadly, our friend's case is not all that unusual. Emergency rooms were not designed to serve as "medical homes" to millions of uninsured Americans.

Then, what about prevention? You know, regular checkups that often lead to early detection. What about medications that can extend life and control the chronic conditions so many of us suffer with.

From a cost benefit analysis, this preventive strategy saves everyone lots of money.

Dr. Goodman, you've got to be kidding!

We need to do much, much better. All we lack currently is the will and the courage.

Steve Blow did a feature column in The Dallas Morning News on Goodman last week. Read his entire story here.