ObamaCare and Our Health System
There are few things as ill-conceived and downright dumb as ObamaCare. It is unwieldy, unmanageable and will destroy the finest health care system in the world.
Our existing healthcare system is far from perfect and is grossly overpriced. These problems could be solved by removing government interference in the industry rather than increasing it. Despite its drawbacks, it does delivers the best healthcare in the world as measured in cure rates as well as waiting times to get treated. Socializing medicine further will destroy the quality of medicine while dramatically escalating costs.
The queues and bureaucracy that plague other country’s healthcare systems are coming to America. Citizens of Canada, Britain and other countries do not come to the US for medical treatment because they like to travel or have serious procedures far from their families. They do so because they know they will receive better healthcare here than the systems they are fleeing. Soon that will no longer be the case.
Much nonsensical talk has been expended on how ObamaCare will “bend the cost-curve.” Lies about that were part of the unconscionable sales pitch the Administration and its supporters promoted. The cost-curve will be bent, but seriously UP, not down. Healthcare is about to become more costly and quality is about to decline.
The debate over ObamaCare was never about the quality or cost of healthcare. It was about insurance coverage. We will end up with more people “insured” and everyone, including the formerly uninsured, getting less healthcare at higher costs. How is that possible you ask?
ObamaCare is an example of legislation imposed by the political class from the top-down. Because politicians want something, they believe it can be imposed via legislation. To accomplish same, they created a Rube Goldberg legal contraption. What the central planners always miss is the bottom-up view. Change affects incentives at the individual level. These changed incentives then influence behavior.
What are the incentives facing workers in the healthcare field? Their jobs are about to become more difficult and less enjoyable while their incomes will decrease. Perhaps nurses, orderlies and other hospital staff haven’t grasped this coming reality, but doctors have. What is their reaction? How about a wholesale rejection of what is coming, at least as provided in the results of a recent survey:
Eighty-three percent of American physicians have considered leaving the profession over President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law – and 63 percent have called for repealing all or part of it, according to a survey by the Doctor Patient Medical Association.
The results from the non-partisan association of doctors and patients, founded last fall and headquartered in Alexandria, Va., is based on a national survey of 699 physicians, the Daily Caller reports.
I don’t pretend to know the objectivity or accuracy of this survey. I do know that it goes in the direction anyone would expect when work becomes more onerous for less pay. The quality and quantity of healthcare is going to suffer because it is ultimately dependent on the supply of doctors, pharmaceuticals, nurses, hospitals, etc. When you cut the returns to these suppliers, quality and quantity will suffer.
If no doctors decided to quit as a result of the burdens of ObamaCare, we will still have too few doctors. Even if the supply stays the same, demand will increase as a result of the legislation. Even with no premature retirements, demand will exceed supply. Prices must rise or the quantity and quality of services must fall.
But doctors will quit. I doubt the number will be 83% or anything near it, but there will be some non-zero number that will exacerbate further a situation that was made difficult, if not impossible, by the passage of the legislation. Damage will be more severe on the future supply of doctors. What parent who understands what is coming in the medical industry would let their children grow up to be doctors? Dentists make more money, require less training for less investment and have much less federal intrusions into their businesses. Seems like a “no-brainer” to me.
If you are going to get seriously ill, do so before ObamaCare makes it impossible to get satisfactory treatment. Either that, or stay well my friends.
Syrin
The Swedish Chef
craig
I am an MD, and can tell you these numbers are indeed accurate, and the situation is even worse than the numbers tell. First, look at the figure. It’s no co-incidence that the AMA represents 17% of MDs, and that was the segment that was surveyed before Obamacare took place. The 83% of us not enrolled into that academic liberal organization are now finally getting our opinion heard.
Furthermore, I can tell you it is FAR, FAR worse than this highlights. MDs have seen this coming for YEARS and already have their contingency plans in place. It’s just a matter of when to implement them. The young MDs who financially are unable to quit will cut back hours, call, hospital privileges, critical care coverage etc. The focus will be life style, not working 80+ hours a week to get a whopping 1% increase in income. I am in a group of 50+ MDs, all specialists that are in rare supply, and take a minimum of 5 years to train. In two years, 50% of my group will no longer be in medicine. That may be an under estimate. My specialty can’t be replaced by NP’s or PA’s. There will be HUGE shortages. Over half of MDs coming out of medical school are female, and half of those go part time or quit medicine after they have their kids (good for them), again this will lead to MASS MD shortages. the decline in quality and access will be RAPID, much, much, MUCH more rapid than anyone anticipated. I already have started a non-medical business in Canada and am looking to gain citizenship overseas. A neurologist and cardiologist in my hospital just started a microbrewery. Good luck seeing them in 3 years. That cardiology group will not take ER call post Obamacare. Complex patients with poor hours, poor revenue return, and litigation risk. Why bother? General surgeons have already said the same. Don’t rupture an appendix during off hours. Americans will be going to Canada to see MDs. There will be FAR shorter wait times. The good news? Hospice will be BOOMING