Thursday, January 20, 2011

Doctors pretty excited about ObamaCare...



... as revealed in a poll conducted by Reuters.



Nearly two-thirds of U.S. doctors surveyed fear healthcare reform could worsen care for patients, by flooding their offices and hurting income, according to a Thomson Reuters survey released Tuesday.

The survey of more than 2,900 doctors found many predict the legislation will force them to work harder for less money.

"When asked about the quality of healthcare in the U.S. over the next five years, 65 percent of the doctors believed it would deteriorate with only 18 percent predicting it would improve," Thomson Reuters, parent company of Reuters, said in a statement.

The U.S. House of Representatives began debate Tuesday on efforts to repeal President Barack Obama's overhaul of the U.S. healthcare industry.

Repeal of the bill is likely to fail in the Senate.

Polls show consumers are divided about the impacts of healthcare reform and the House debate has presented an opportunity for many groups to make their arguments for or against it.
(italics, ours)

Of course, allowing for health care reform to receive a proper airing in Congress would've been a swell idea before it was passed into law. But now we know we had to pass it first to then find out what was in the damn thing.

222 businesses representing 1.5 million people seeking and being granted waivers from having to comply with ObamaCare and now baby-boomer doctors already leaning towards the exit are inclined to sprint towards it exacerbating a looming doctor shortage... ObamaCare not off to such a hot start. And to think we've still got until 2014 before it's fully operational.

4 comments:

steve said...

I think Cowen gets it mostly correct on the GOP approach to HCR.

http://www.frumforum.com/with-repeal-vote-over-the-real-work-begins

Also, docs will not leave en masse. Interestingly, there is a counter meme that docs will make a fortune because of the ACA. Most physicians know little about economics. Many are ignorant of basic accounting. The guy Interviewed for a job yesterday had no idea about how pensions and taxes worked or what accounts receivable meant. Their beliefs about the ACA are based upon tribal affiliation.

The waivers come from not having the subsidies in place yet. In 2014 that will be resolved. Read Mark Pauly for more on subsidies.

The health care reform bill took 13 months to pass. It totally stalled for about 5 months while the Gang of Six worked on it. Given that it was one of the biggest topics of the presidential debates, the GOP should have been prepared. How long do you think it should take to generate health care legislation? If 13 months is not enough, should they take two years? Three years?

Steve

Dean said...

Steve, I don't care how long it takes. Get it right.

Obviously the Democrats didn't really care how long it took, either. In order to game the CBO numbers, they made sure O-Care did not kick in fully until 2014.

I do not believe they will leave en masse, either, but the polling indicates they are disincentivized from continuing to practice. Any way you look at it, not a good sign.

Road Dawg said...

Is leaving it to politicians the smart way to get it right. Washington is corrupt at it's core. Why isn't torte reform on the table? Follow the money.

When a benefit to the constituency can be met, but won't be discussed because of the leverage from a special interest, you can call it whatever you want, it's still corruption.


We can't expect reform in our best interest comming from politician. Steve hammered me a few weeks ago about data. These folks didn't use data to pass Obamacare. Remember we had to pass it to see what's in it!?!? All those opposed were villified and the bill was passed with all kinds of shady if not corrupt deals.

Maybe the doctors aren't experts on economics and accounting, but I'm sure they have some common sense. Get the hospital administation and staff involved. Get the insurers involved. Get the corrupt politicians out.

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