A hint from Massachusetts of things to come:
A 2010 IBD/TPP Poll found that 45% of doctors would at least consider leaving their practices or taking early retirement as a result of the new health care law. And, an online survey by Sermo.com, a sort of Facebook for physicians, found that 26% of physicians in solo practices were considering closing. Of course, not every doctor who told these polls that he or she would consider leaving the field will actually do so. But if even a small portion depart, our access to medical care will suffer.
In fact, we have already seen the start of this process in Massachusetts, where Mitt Romney's health care reforms were nearly identical to President Obama's. Romney's reforms increased the demand for health care but did nothing to expand the supply of physicians. In fact, by cracking down on insurance premiums, Massachusetts pushed insurers to reduce their payments to providers, making it less worthwhile for doctors to expand their practices. As a result, the average wait to get an appointment with a doctor grew from 33 days to over 55 days.
Promising universal health coverage is easy. But what does universal coverage mean if you can't actually see a doctor?
Obamacare has been off the front pages lately, but we'd better not forget about it when we vote next year.
Comments
The doctors "said" they might retire. You know how these polls work.
Remember how many Democrats said they'd leave the country if Dubya won? They didn't. Remember how many Republicans said the same thing about Obama? They didn't either. Survey answers are often tailored to make a point, not to be honest.
Those poor, poor starving doctors.
I'd agree in general that survey results are dubious at best, but ask your Doctor next time you're there what his thoughts are. I did. Odds are good if he/she is young and part of a medical "group" they are non-committal. But ask a 50 something Family Physician in an independent practice and you may be surprised. My small town family Doctor is either going to get swallowed up by Parkview or Lutheran and get "salaried" and his patients will become "managed care" or he's going to retire because compliance and parity on government regulations alone is gonna whack him $60 to $80k a year just next year. Not an attractive choice.