THOUSAND OAKS : Doctor Says Reform Is Costly but Necessary

A Thousand Oaks cardiologist who is also a health-care consultant to the White House previewed the Clinton Administration’s health-care plan Friday at a Conejo Valley Chamber of Commerce luncheon.

“It will be complex and it will be costly, but reform is absolutely necessary,” said Dr. Irving Loh, founder and director of the Ventura Heart Institute at Los Robles Regional Medical Center and a member of the White House health care reform briefing team.

The doctor’s description of a plan managed not by government, but by individuals, businesses and health care consortiums drew enthusiastic responses from many of the health-care and business professionals attending the event.

“I was a little hesitant of this process before--I didn’t think it was a plan that could work--but now I think it could,” said Doug Ross, who works for Tech-rite, a printing firm for the medical industry in Thousand Oaks. “I’ve been an avid Republican for four years, but I do feel that the President has something on the ball here and I’m going to support him on this.”

Gary Koppenjan, the chamber’s communications manager, said that after buying his own insurance for the two years before going to work for the chamber, any national health plan appealed to him. “I’ve got nothing to lose,” he said. “It sounds great to me.”

Others attending the luncheon worried, however, that the intricate plan Loh described would sharply limit their choice of doctors. Ted Rohlfsen, a Thousand Oaks retiree, said he worried about what might happen to his wife, who is handicapped and suffers from asthma and arthritis.

“I’m concerned that she might not be able to retain those doctors that know her,” he said. “If you have a very serious condition, you need a doctor that knows your particular case. You can’t just go to anybody.”