Those were the words Dr. William Plested III, immediate past president of the American Medical Association, used to describe American health care and its rising costs.

Plested spoke at a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon attended by more than 200 members at the Four Seasons March 13.

In today's world, "we, and countries across the world, have been attacked by twin tsunamis: Technology and demography."

And costs are only going to continue to rise, he said.

"The crisis is, who's going to pay and everybody says, 'he will.' "

The chamber invited the doctor to speak because "it's an issue that resonates with every industry," chamber spokeswoman Cara Roberts said. "We're happy to provide a perspective on it, (but) there's many other perspectives out there."

Meanwhile, physicians, under pressure, are doling out "hamster care" to their patients, Plested said.

"Physicians are under the gun today," he said. "Primary care physicians are encouraged to turn over a patient every 8 to 12 minutes. That means the (patient's) history, a physical and an examination,"

Wait, there's more.

"Or a review of all the pertinent lab data," Plested continued, "ordering new studies, explaining what's going on with the patient, contacting consultants, and then writing a note that's got to withstand legal scrutiny seven years later."

All of these things together, he said, plus the primary care doctor turning patients over, "We call it hamster care," Plested said. "Docs say going into a doctor's office is like a hamster in his cage, running, running, running. I go home and dread when I have to show up in the morning."

Not to mention the malpractice issues.

"All these things put together affect kids' decisions to go into medical practice."

What frightens him the most, he said, is that today, for the first time in history that he knows of, doctors are telling their kids, "don't do it."

"Even though we love what we do, we usually say we love what we did," he said. "Today it's just a terrible grind."

There is a decline in medical students going into general practice, and the fast pace is just one of the reasons many decide on another career, he said.

"The compensation has gone way down in the last 20 years, the cost of education has gotten to the point that the average medical student graduates with $150,000 to $250,000 worth of debt and because of what's happening with compensation, they can't make that back.

The buzzword in Plested's talk was "reform."

But that debate has barely just begun, despite the months of presidential candidates touting this or that health care reform plan.

"We haven't really even heard anything but platitudes and soundbites," Plested said. "So we don't even know what anybody's talking about. It's hard to make major changes in this country. It's going to have a lot of debate A lot of different interests and they're all going to weigh in.

"A lot of money (and) a lot that have an awful lot at stake. I think its going to take a while. (There are) just too many interested parties to let something silly happen."

The debate is not being driven by quality, he said. Moreover, quality in health care is "difficult if not impossible" to define, he said.

"We have a private health care system that is dominated by huge corporations which act unfettered," he said.

Plested encouraged the group to reach out and continue the discussion of health care reform, but getting one's doctor to talk about it on the clock may not be possible.

Plested criticized what he called the American employer-based health care system, instead challenging individuals to seek their own insurance based on their needs and their family's needs. He posed the question of whether employer-based health care is a system at all.

"Ownership of a health insurance policy must be the individual's," he said. Now employers control the policy, he added.

Moreover, when people leave their employer, their health insurance is not portable, leaving them without insurance.

"What sense does that make? Who would dream up that system?"

He said the country's handling of the uninsured is "a national disgrace and we must do something about it."

The best minds in health care need to be put on task to solve the issue, he said.

"Affordable health care for all!" he said "What on earth does that mean? It's totally indefinable."