To the Readers' Forum:
I wrote a letter to the editor recently about the need to repeal Obamacare. My first letter focused on the undeniable negative impact, the projected $1.7 trillion cost, Obamacare will have on a weakened and fragile economy. By the way, we were told before the bill passed that it would deliver a net savings. At least that lie has been unmasked by the Congressional Budget Office. I guess Nancy Pelosi was right, the bill had to be made law before we could realize what it will do.
The Doctor Patient Medical Association Foundation recently did a survey of practicing physicians. They discovered 83 percent of physicians are so fed up with the changes that they are contemplating discontinuing their practice. Obamacare does nothing to allay their concerns and does much to frustrate them. Their concerns are not centered around money so much, as they are around tying their hands, and forcing them to become paper pushers in order to accomplish anything beyond "take two aspirin."
New medications and new procedures are coming along all the time. In many cases they have universally or specifically better outcomes than old methodologies. Physicians are forced to run their patients through gauntlets of tests and procedures before insurance companies will approve the one that the doctor knew, from the get-go, would have the best results for the patient. This is guaranteed to continue to get worse under Obamacare. Shouldn't a physician, with years of experience and training, who knows the patient, be the one to decide in consultation with the patient, the treatment the patient should receive, or should it be some bureaucrat?
Add to this liability insurance cost, and frivolous malpractice case defense hassles, which Obamacare does nothing to address, and the Docs have had it. I don't blame them.
Jamestown already is having a hard time attracting and holding onto physicians. Do you think it is going to get better when Obamacare is fully implemented? Guess again.
Even the most outspoken local doctor advocating socialized medicine is looking to change careers. It makes sense. It's better to be a member of the state planning committee when socialism is adopted, than to continue to be a member of the working class.
It's not too late to turn back. We must send the message to repeal Obamacare and replace it with something affordable.
Geoff Turner
Ashville