My recently discharged patient was on a ventilator in the hospital yet thankfully was found to be coronavirus-negative.

Typically, at home she is bedridden but not on many medications. Her drugs are expensive, so the family receives them from a mail-order pharmacy at a reasonable monthly fee.

That pharmacy was gobbled up by another company, and their new policy required the patient to receive a two-month supply of drugs instead of a one-month supply. This meant physicians legally had to change the prescriptions for all medications, and I elected to do this by phone.

I spoke with four people in 26 minutes, finally changing three prescriptions.

We will all be relieved once this pandemic crisis is over. But the existing problems related to the hoops and red tape physicians and other healthcare professionals still face will not change.

There will be many stories of honor and bravery surrounding the battle against this virus. But this war pales in comparison to the ongoing fiasco our country faces with the present healthcare system.

Gene Uzawa Dorio, M.D., is a geriatric house-call physician who serves as president of the Los Angeles County Commission for Older Adults and Assemblyman to the California Senior Legislature. He has practiced in the Santa Clarita Valley for 32 years.