What Do I Know? I’m Just a Doctor

ObamaCare is not a tax. ... ObamaCare is a tax.

That reminds of the old joke: "But how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?"

ObamaCare is bad medicine, plain and simple. But what do I know? I'm just a doctor.

In the 2,500 pages of the Unaffordable Act, there is very little mention of what the doctors on the front line would recommend.

Let me explain what "front line" is. We're the ones who take care of you, your wife, your husband, your mom, your dad, your son, and your daughter. My daughter was in your daughter's class in high school. My son played basketball with yours. Our spouses go to the same supermarket. We stop at the same Coffee Bean on the way to work.

In other words, we are you. We see 100 patients a week in our offices and spend hours fighting the insurance companies to approve your treatment. We worry about meeting payroll and paying the rent. No one on the "front line" was involved in writing ObamaCare. Those doctors in the high ivory tower don't even know what a stethoscope looks like, let alone know where to put it! Heads of insurance companies never waited an hour to see their doctor. Congress and the president sure as hell get preferential treatment when it comes to their own health care. I don't think Obama worries about whether his colonoscopy will be covered.

It seems that Obama and his fellow legislators don't trust us, the doctors, to do what's best for our patients. I'll admit there are bad doctors, just as there are bad lawyers, politicians, and baseball players.

The difference is that we are on the front line. We know what works and what doesn't. ObamaCare doesn't.

ObamaCare is fiscally dishonest. Not only will it not save any money, it will also cost at least 1 trillion more than originally thought. That's from the CBO, not from some right-wing doctor in Alabama.

The 23% proposed cut in Medicare reimbursement to your physician will likely force him to stop taking Medicare. We can't treat you if it costs more to take care of you than we would make.

What do you think will happen to the additional 30 million on Medicaid?

It is projected that by the end of 2013 only 33% of physicians in our country will be in private practice. The remaining will be corporate doctors who will work 9 to 5. You will be assigned to one of these doctors. There is no choice.

If you don't like him or her... tough. He or she may not like you! Oh wait, that can't be true. President Obama promised that if you like your doctor, you can keep you doctor.

Then there is the Physician Advisory Board: 15 non-practicing physicians who will decide what will be covered and what won't. There will be a simple algorithm for quick decision-making. No clinical thought process here.

Are you 85 years old? No bypass for you! Never mind you're in otherwise tip-top shape and can live another 15 years in good health. Mammograms? Bah, humbug. It's cheaper if we start testing after 50.

FINISH